February 28, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

At least two people were killed and 14 others wounded as a result of Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon Wednesday night local time, according to Lebanon's state-run NNA news. 

The airstrikes hit areas in the towns Kafra and Seddiqine, situated near the border with Israel, NNA said. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a short statement Wednesday night that "IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in the areas of Kafra and Seddiqine in southern Lebanon."

Some context: According to figures released by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health on February 23, at least 199 people have been killed and 941 people have been wounded since October 8 as a result of "Israeli aggression against southern Lebanon."

Nearly 90,000 people have been displaced from areas and towns close to the border with Israel since the conflict started, the Lebanese health ministry said in its report. 

The United States called on Israel to sign a letter pledging it will not commit human rights violations with US weapons, State Department spokesperson Matt Miller confirmed. He noted the request is not specific to Israel, but applies to all nations who receive US military assistance.

He said the letter calls on countries receiving US assistance to "provide us written assurances that recipients, number one, will use the weapons in accordance with the US with a law of war and, number two, will facilitate and not arbitrarily deny or restrict humanitarian assistance."

More context: Israel has come under immense scrutiny for the way it has prosecuted its war in Gaza. Tens of thousands of people have been killed and US officials have repeatedly called on Israel to do more to decrease the death toll. There are growing calls from Congress to condition military aid to Israel. Nations around the world are sounding the alarm against a potential military offensive in Rafah, where more than a million people have been displaced.

Miller previously confirmed that the US is assessing civilian harm from US weapons in Israel.

At least six children died in recent days as a result of dehydration and malnutrition in Gaza, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health in Gaza. 

At least four children died at Kamal Adwan Hospital in the past few days, and two children died at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex on Wednesday, the health ministry and a local doctor said.

"Another baby died today as a result of malnutrition at Kamal Adwan Hospital, which is the only pediatrics hospital in northern Gaza," Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the acting director and head of the pediatrics at Kamal Adwan Hospital, said in a statement Wednesday.

Safiya said the generators would stop working tonight because of the hospital's fuel shortage, "which means our incubators and oxygen supply will stop and only will run on solar panels during the day."

Safiya also pointed out the lack of medical aid and baby formula in the hospital and said babies are getting milk that's "diluted and not concentrated" every five or six hours instead of the recommended three to four hours.

Mothers are unable to produce natural milk "due to dehydration and lack of nutritional food," Safiya said.

The United Nations is urging an investigation into indiscriminate Israeli fire that killed half of a family in Gaza, after a CNN report about it was published Wednesday.

The UN does not have its own information on the incident, “but they need to be investigated,” Dujarric said, reiterating the UN’s plea for Israel to allow more journalists in Gaza.  

Israel still has not provided evidence to support its allegations that members of the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks, according to the head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

"We haven’t received anything more than what we see on the media," he said.

Lazzarini called footage that purports to show a UNRWA staff member participating in the kidnapping of Yonatan Samerano — who was killed in kibbutz Be’eri on October 7 — "shocking images."

Background on the footage: A video screened last week during a press conference with the Hostage and Missing Families Forum showed a white SUV approaching the entrance of what appears to be the kibbutz. Two men exit the vehicle and are seen carrying a body from the road into the vehicle. One of the men is identified in the footage as an UNWRA worker. CNN could not independently verify the identity of the men or Israel’s allegations about his involvement with Hamas.

Lazzarini said Wednesday that he "personally cannot recognize the person on the video." He called for "more forensic evidence to be provided," while acknowledging the name of the accused man in the video "matched our staff list" and that his UNRWA contract was terminated.

Remember: UNRWA fired 10 of the 12 staff members accused by Israel of involvement in the October 7 attacks and launched an investigation into the allegations, in hopes of keeping international funding to the agency flowing at a critical time. At least 16 countries have paused or suspended funding to UNRWA since the allegations emerged, Lazzarini said, warning that operations beyond March will be impacted unless more money is donated.

The US called on Israel to allow worshippers to go to the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem for Ramadan, as Hamas calls for Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march on the mosque on the first day of the holy month.

Far-right Israeli cabinet minister Itamar Ben Gvir has proposed increased restrictions to the holy site for Palestinians during Ramadan. Such restrictions, if instituted, threaten to ignite already increased tensions.

About the site: The al-Aqsa compound is one of the most revered places in Islam and Judaism. The sacred grounds — known to Muslims as Al Haram Al Sharif (Noble Sanctuary) and to Jews as Temple Mount — have been a flashpoint of tensions between Israel and the Palestinians for decades. 

Miller said allowing access to al-Aqsa is “a matter that directly is important to Israel's security," adding that “it is not in Israel's security interest to inflame tensions in the West Bank or in the broader region.”

CNN's Salam Abdelaziz and Abeer Salman contributed to this report.

After US President Joe Biden projected optimism that a hostage-for-ceasefire deal in Gaza could be reached by the end of this week, officials from Israel, Hamas and Qatar have distanced themselves from his comments.

Meetings are currently taking place, but there are disagreements over "numbers, ratios and troop movements," Majed Al-Ansari, a Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Hamas' political leader Ismail Haniyeh said the militant group has displayed flexibility in negotiations but remains ready to continue fighting.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza is approaching 30,000 people, according to the health ministry in the enclave. The total number of people killed in Gaza is around 29,878, with the number of injured reaching 70,215, since October 7, according to the ministry.

Here's what else to know:

The right side of Roba Abu Jibba’s face is almost completely gone – a deep, bloody wound is where her eye should be.

The 18-year-old, confused and in pain, lies on a gurney in Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza. She tries to explain how she got there. She had been sheltering with her family for two months in an industrial warehouse on Salaheddin Street, the strip’s main north-south highway, she explains, when they came under heavy fire from the Israeli military.

In a whisper, she recalls being shot at, explosions and bulldozing. She says she watched her brothers and sisters die around her. Her mother and three of her siblings were able to flee, but she’s not sure where they went.

After a chance encounter and the discovery of Roba’s identification card under rubble, a weeks-long CNN investigation has been able to piece together what happened during one terrifying night in early January, which left five of her siblings dead. Their story offers a window into the Israeli military’s overwhelming and often indiscriminate use of force in areas where civilians were told they would be safe, helping to uncover an atrocity that would otherwise have remained hidden.

CNN interviewed seven eyewitnesses to the attack, tracking down relatives now scattered across the enclave, including Roba’s mother. Their testimonies were cross-referenced with hospital records, satellite imagery and dozens of videos and photos from the scene, reviewed by forensics and ballistic experts, who analyzed the damage to the building and injuries of the people found inside of it.

Read more about the CNN special report here.

Watch the full report here:

RELATED

'They are all gone, I have no one left': Young woman's story reveals previously undocumented atrocities in Gaza | CNN

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh said Wednesday the militant group has displayed flexibility in negotiations but remains ready to continue fighting.

“Any flexibility we show in negotiations out of concern for the blood of our people and to put an end to their great pain and enormous sacrifices…is paralleled by a willingness to defend our people,” Haniyeh said in a televised statement.

“We are reaffirming to the Zionists and Americans…that what they have failed to impose on the battlefield they will not take through political machinations,” he said.

Haniyeh called on Palestinians in Jerusalem and the West Bank to march to Al Aqsa Mosque on the first day of Ramadan.