The Times of Israel is liveblogging Thursday’s events as they happen.
IDF says air defenses working to intercept ballistic missile from Yemen
The Israel Defense Forces says that it has identified a ballistic missile fired from Yemen, which air defense systems are working to down.
Smotrich announces tenders for 3,401 housing units in long-frozen E1 settlement project: ‘Burying the idea of a Palestinian state’
Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announces that he plans to approve tenders to build more than 3,000 housing units in the highly controversial E1 settlement project between Jerusalem and Ma’ale Adumim in the West Bank, saying the move “buries the idea of a Palestinian state.”
The project has been frozen for decades amid fierce opposition from the international community, who fear the new settlement neighborhood would block a contiguous, viable Palestinian state.
“Approval of construction plans in E1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state and continues the many steps we are taking on the ground as part of the de facto sovereignty plan that we began implementing with the establishment of the government,” Smotrich says in a statement.
“After decades of international pressure and freezes, we are breaking conventions and connecting Ma’ale Adumim to Jerusalem. This is Zionism at its best – building, settling and strengthening our sovereignty in the Land of Israel,” says Smotrich who is also a minister in the Defense Ministry responsible for the West Bank civilian issues.
The potential construction of a new neighborhood for the Ma’ale Adumim settlement in the so-called E1 zone has long been cause for alarm in the international community. It would divide the West Bank into northern and southern regions and prevent the development of a Palestinian metropolis that connects East Jerusalem to Bethlehem and Ramallah, which the Palestinians have long hoped would serve as the foundation of their future state.
However, according to the Peace Now settlement watchdog, the approved plans are not for the original E1 plan, but rather a separate neighborhood of Ma’ale Adumim.
“The 3,300 housing units in Ma’ale Adumim represent an increase of about 33% in the settlement’s housing stock — an enormous expansion for a settlement whose population has been stagnant at around 38,000 for the past decade and has experienced net out-migration. The tenders are for a large neighborhood that will connect Ma’ale Adumim’s built-up area with the industrial zone to its east,” Peace Now says.
Hamas health ministry says 8 died of malnutrition complications in Gaza in past day
Eight people, including three children, have died over the past 24 hours due to complications from malnutrition, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
The figures bring the total number of hunger deaths to 225, including 106 children, since the start of the war, according to the Hamas office, whose figures have not been verified.
UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric says in a briefing that 53 “validated child deaths from malnutrition have been reported,” since the start of the year, including 39 under the age of 5.
Israel has taken steps since late last month to surge aid into Gaza after imposing a 78-day blockade and subsequently only allowing limited amounts into the Strip.
Jerusalem has denied accusations that it has used starvation as a weapon of war and has exposed that several widely disseminated photos of malnourished-looking children were of individuals suffering from other diseases.
While there are indications that the steps are gradually easing the crisis, aid groups long warned that impacts of a hunger crisis are difficult and take time to reverse once in place.
Dujarric says the entry of goods has improved the market situation in terms of both prices and availability, with sugar prices dropping from $175 to $12 per bag over the past two weeks.
However, severe cash shortages are preventing families from being able to buy food, water and medicine.
Israeli strikes have destroyed the banking system in Gaza, and cash is only available on the black market where those seeking it have to pay fifty percent commission fees. While digital banking services were increasingly used during the previous ceasefire, Israeli restrictions aimed at preventing Hamas from accessing funds through this mechanism have led to a significant reduction in its use.
While Israel said 320 trucks of aid were offloaded from the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings, Dujarric says half of the 15 requested UN missions to collect food and fuel were either cancelled, denied or impeded by the IDF.