March 12, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

A ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza has departed the port city of Larnaca in Cyprus, according to World Central Kitchen (WCK), a non-profit that said it was the first maritime shipment of humanitarian aid to the enclave.  

WCK said it had partnered with the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus and the Spanish NGO Open Arms to coordinate the dispatch. 

Maritime aid corridor: The departure at 8:45 a.m. local time comes after announcements that Cyprus, the European Commission, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom were working to establish a maritime corridor to deliver aid to Gaza.

The ship will tow a large barge packed with pallets of food aid, including rice, flour, beans, lentils, and canned meats.

To transport the pallets from the barge and ship to land, a temporary jetty will be built in an undisclosed location in Gaza, though the details of those efforts are unclear. 

On Sunday, WCK Founder Jose Andres said the jetty would be built with material and infrastructure in Gaza with help from barges and amphibious vehicles. He said on X that the pier would be built "With @openarms_fund serving as our logistics and command in the water…carrying the initial barge near the beach….plus a big cargo boat for reloading.”

Why only a trickle of aid is getting in: Israel put Gaza under siege following the October 7 Hamas attacks. It says there is “no limit” on the amount of relief that can enter Gaza, but humanitarian groups have repeatedly warned restrictions on land crossings into the strip have throttled aid distribution efforts.

Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting, began in Gaza as its population of roughly 2.2 million people faced severe food and clean water shortages.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “viability as a leader” is “in jeopardy,” according to an annual unclassified threat assessment from the US intelligence community.

Netanyahu has faced fierce criticism within Israel for his government’s failure to predict or forestall the October 7 Hamas attack, and public polling suggested many Israelis question whether his crushing military offensive in response is the best way to recover the hostages.

The report also warns that Israel will struggle to defeat Hamas militarily.

“Israel probably will face lingering armed resistance from HAMAS for years to come, and the military will struggle to neutralize HAMAS’s underground infrastructure, which allows insurgents to hide, regain strength, and surprise Israeli forces,” the report reads.

Here are the latest headlines on the conflict:

US strikes destroyed an uncrewed underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles on Monday in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, according to US Central Command.

The Houthis have been targeting ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since shortly after Israel's war with Hamas began, with the group trying to pressure Israel and its allies to stop its offensive in Gaza.

CENTCOM said Monday that it struck after determining that the Houthi weapons “presented a threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships,” according to a statement. 

Earlier on Monday, Houthis fired two anti-ship missiles toward a Singaporean-owned, Liberian-flagged merchant vessel named Pinocchio, CENTCOM said. The ship was not hit and there were no injuries reported.

Last week, a ballistic missile by the Iran-backed militant group struck a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, killing three crew members in its first fatal attack since October.

The UN Security Council has never convened to discuss sexual violence against Palestinian men and women, said Dr. Riyad H. Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN.

During a briefing on sexual violence on Monday, Mansour said that for years and decades, "reports and investigations regarding sexual assault against Palestinian women and men, boys and girls, have not led to the convening of a single council meeting on the matter."

In the briefing, Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence, discussed her report where her team found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape occurred” during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.

The team also received reports of violence against Palestinian men and women in the occupied West Bank.

A World Health Organization team and its partners has reached Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a Monday post on X.

The team delivered food, 24,050 liters of fuel and medical supplies for 42,000 patients, which included anesthetic drugs, surgical materials and medicine, Ghebreyesus said.

The team also reached Al-Helou hospital, which has limited services and dire needs, the WHO chief said. "The hospital urgently needs medical staff, fuel, surgical equipment, food."

Israeli fighter jets struck two Hezbollah compounds in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley in response to aircraft attacks launched toward the Golan Heights in recent days, the Israel Defense Forces said Monday.

“The sites belong to Hezbollah’s aerial forces that planned and carried out various attacks against the State of Israel,” the IDF said. 

Bachir Khodr, the governor of the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate, said the strikes hit the towns of Duris, Taraya, and Shmustar.

Khodr said in a social media post that there is “no accurate information so far” regarding casualties from the strikes. 

The Bekaa Valley, which is considered a stronghold of Hezbollah, was last targeted by the IDF on February 26. The valley is more than 100 kilometers (about 62 miles) from the Israel-Lebanon border — the farthest north Israel has struck in the country since October 7.

The US ambassador to the United Nations on Monday urged UN Security Council members to avoid “drawing false equivalency” between allegations of sexual assaults by Hamas on October 7 and claims of sexual violence against Palestinians detained by Israel.

All parties to “this conflict must uphold their obligations under international law” regarding the treatment of detainees, the ambassador said at a Security Council meeting. “We expect Israel to hold all of those who have committed these acts accountable for such acts.”

Pramila Patten, the UN special envoy on sexual violence, briefed the council on her team's report that found “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape occurred” during Hamas’ attack on October 7, as well as reports of Israeli violence against Palestinian men and women in the occupied West Bank.

Thomas-Greenfield thanked Patten for her report and asked why the council won’t “finally condemn Hamas’ sexual violence.”

US President Joe Biden said Monday there were no plans "at this moment" for a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or for him to address the Israeli parliament.  

Biden was caught on a hot mic during Thursday’s State of the Union telling Sen. Michael Bennet that he told the Israeli prime minister: “You and I are gonna have a come to Jesus meeting.”

On Saturday, Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart he was open to addressing Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, but declined to offer more details on if he’d do so at the invitation of Netanyahu or Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

Pressed Monday on whether he planned to meet with Netanyahu, Biden left the door open, telling reporters “we’ll see what happens.” 

Some background: Divisions between Biden and Netanyahu burst out into the open over the weekend as the two traded barbs in interviews over Israel’s war against Hamas.

In the MSNBC interview, Biden also said Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” in his war on Gaza, adding that he wants “to see a ceasefire” in the context of a deal that also brings back Israeli hostages held there by Hamas.