(7 Mar 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Southern Israel, overlooking Gaza Strip - 7 March 2024
1. Various of aid packages being parachuted into Gaza Strip
STORYLINE:
Aid packages continued to be dropped into the Gaza Strip on Thursday as talks over a cease-fire and hostage release between Hamas and Israel were halted until next week.
Concerned by the lack of access to food, the United States, Jordan and other nations have begun making air drops of aid in recent days, but aid groups say only a fraction of the needed assistance can be delivered by air.
Gaza is mired in a humanitarian crisis, and conditions are particularly dire in the north, where the offensive has caused widespread devastation.
Many of the estimated 300,000 people still living there have been reduced to eating animal fodder to survive, and the U.N. says one in six children younger than 2 in the north suffers from acute malnutrition.
Hamas said Thursday that its delegation has left Cairo and that talks will resume next week, making it extremely unlikely that mediators will broker a deal before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Egyptian officials had earlier said the negotiations reached an impasse over Hamas’ demand for a phased process culminating in an end to the war.
But they did not rule out a deal before Ramadan, which is expected to begin on Sunday and has emerged as an informal deadline.
Hamas has said it will not release all of the remaining hostages without a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
Palestinian militants are believed to be holding around 100 hostages, and the remains of 30 others, captured during Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack into Israel that triggered the war.
Hamas is also demanding the release of a large number of prisoners, including top militants serving life sentences, in exchange for the remaining hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly ruled out Hamas' demands, saying Israel intends to resume the offensive after any cease-fire, expand it to the crowded southern city of Rafah and battle on until "total victory."
He has said military pressure will help bring about the release of the hostages.
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