U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says north Gaza is ‘unrecognizable’
Daniel Arkin
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a tweet early Thursday that north Gaza is “unrecognizable” after months of brutal bombardment from Israeli military forces.
In a post on X, UNRWA quoted an employee of the agency identified as Abdallah: “The situation is catastrophic. There is not a single house that was not damaged.”
UNRWA has drawn intense international scrutiny amid an investigation into allegations that some workers participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. The agency is entrusted with getting humanitarian aid into Gaza.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has said that he was “horrified” by the accusations, adding that those found to have been involved would be referred for potential criminal prosecution.
U.N. human rights chief says Israeli destruction near Gaza border a ‘grave breach’ of Geneva Conventions
Daniel Arkin
The United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights said today that Israel’s reported destruction of all buildings along the border inside the Gaza Strip — an operation with the goal of creating a “buffer zone” — constitutes a war crime.
In a statement, Volker Türk cited those reports and said: “I stress to the Israeli authorities that Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits destruction by the occupying power of property belonging to private persons, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.'”
Türk added that reports of Israel’s attempts to create a buffer zone “do not appear consistent with the narrow ‘military operations’ exception set out in international humanitarian law.”
“Further,” he said, “extensive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly, amounts to a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and a war crime.”
American support is vital, prime minister of Iraq’s Kurdish enclave tells NBC News
Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, told NBC News’ Keir Simmons that he would continue to seek America’s support, although the nature of U.S. backing might need to change.
“The challenges we face today are different than the ones we faced against ISIS,” he said. “We need to be economically strong, we need to be politically strong, we need to be militarily strong,” he added.
German frigate heads to the Red Sea on mission to protect ships
Associated Press
A German Navy frigate set sail today toward the Red Sea, where Berlin plans to have it take part in a European Union mission to help defend cargo ships from attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels that are hampering trade.
The Hessen set off from the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven with about 240 service members on board. The aim is to have it in place once the E.U. mission is given the official go-ahead and the German parliament has approved a mandate for the ship to join in, which is expected at the end of February.
E.U. foreign ministers are expected to sign off on the Red Sea mission on Feb. 19. Officials have said that seven countries in the bloc are ready to provide ships or planes.
More than half of Gaza’s population crammed in Rafah, U.N. says
Mithil Aggarwal
Intense fighting in southern Gaza is pushing more displaced Palestinians into Rafah, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a report yesterday.
Gaza’s southernmost city was already hosting over half of the enclave’s entire population of around 2.3 million.
Martin Griffiths, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said families who have already “endured the unthinkable” are now facing the prospect of hostilities in Rafah, as Israel warns of an expansion of its military campaign.
OCHA added that the population influx is battering the already stretched health and food distribution system.
U.S. woman detained for incitement on social media, IDF says
Caroline Radnofsky
Tavleen Tarrant
Marin Scott
An American woman arrested in the occupied West Bank on Monday is being held for “incitement on social media,” a spokesperson for the Israeli military told NBC News today.
Samaher Esmail, 46, was picked up as part of an operation in Silwad by the Israel Defense Forces Binyamin Brigade, the spokesperson said. “Suspects arrested in the operation were transferred to the security forces for further questioning,” the spokesperson added.
Esmail, a U.S. citizen from New Orleans, had been staying on a property she owns in Silwad, about eight miles northeast of Ramallah, her son Ibrahim Hamed said in an interview earlier this week.
Rep. Troy Carter, a Democrat who represents Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, where Esmail lives, said in Facebook post on Monday that he had been in contact with the State Department to “inquire why a U.S. citizen is being held.”
The U.S.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the State Department to demand Esmail’s release.
Maersk reports massive drop in net profits, warns of uncertainty due to Houthi attacks in Red Sea
Mithil Aggarwal
Shipping giant Maersk today reported a massive drop in profitability as it warned that tensions in the Red Sea had impacted its operations.
Maersk reported an overall loss of more than $400 million in the fourth quarter of last year, compared to an almost $5 billion profit the same period in 2022, according to its earnings reports released today.
“The Red Sea crisis has caused immediate capacity constraints and a temporary increase in rates,” it said, as it warned of the “high uncertainty” of the disruption through the critical shipping route.
Maersk is among the critical sea carriers that have suspended shipping through the Red Sea in light of the Houthi attacks, forcing its ships to take much longer routes.
Displaced Gazan children sleep on shelves in chicken cages
Yasmine Salam
Several young children are sleeping in chicken cages on a poultry farm where they are sheltering with their family in southern Gaza.
On a visit to the farm yesterday, an NBC News team filmed the flimsy mattresses and blankets on shelves inside the large cages where they now rest at night. Toothpaste and a few toys were seen nearby.
Fadil Hanoun, 13, said the mattresses were shared among several family members.
“I sleep here with my sister and a little girl, my niece,” he said. “Here is the place for my cousin and his brother. Here is the place of my cousin and her father,” he added.
Fadil and several other children said the foul odor from the chickens and sewage kept them up at night, along with the cold temperatures.
“We now live like chickens; here we became like chickens,” Fadil said as he pointed at a chicken in a closed cage near his own makeshift bed. “I would stay awake all night to avoid hitting the iron,” he added referring to the metal cage shelves.
Fadil’s father, Ibrahim, said it took several days to convince the children that the cages were safer than the previous places they had stayed despite “the terrible conditions.”
After fleeing their home in Gaza City, in the north of the enclave, he said the family had lived in a school facility and other parts of the enclave where they had been bombarded.
“We did not expect to live like that,” he said, adding that he spent days trying to convince them it was better to live there because it was “protected from shelling.”
U.S. carried out more self-defense strikes against Houthi targets
Dan De Luce
U..S. forces in the Red Sea carried out two “self-defense” strikes last night against Houthi militants in Yemen, with one against anti-ship missiles about to be launched and a second against a land attack cruise missile, according to U.S. Central Command.
“CENTCOM identified these missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” it said in a statement this morning.
“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.”
Hamas sends delegation to Cairo for cease-fire talks
Mithil Aggarwal
Hamas has sent a delegation to Egypt to follow up on its counterproposal that was rejected by Netanyahu and termed an “absolute nonstarter” by Blinken.
The delegation was sent to Cairo “in the framework of following up on the ideas we presented and to achieve the best results that serve the interests of our people,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan said in a statement yesterday. He added the delegation would be led by Khalil Al-Hayya, a senior official with the militant group.
It came as Blinken met with Israeli lawmakers in the hope of advancing a deal that could see the release of some hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting.
