ShortCuts

A file photo of a Palestinian refugee in Gaza
At least a 107 people were killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a huge crowd of desperate refugees scrambling to get food from an aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday, according to Palestinian health officials and eyewitnesses .
Israeli military sources said the troops opened fire when the crowd approached them in a “threatening manner” and “dozens were killed and injured from pushing, trampling and being run over by the trucks.” Drone videos released by the Israel Defense Forces showed thousands of people swarming around the aid trucks in northern Gaza.
Describing it as a massacre, Palestinian Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said around 760 people were wounded, many grievously, in the firing and stampede. Officials said the incident took the death toll since Israeli forces launched their operations to over 30,000.
Gaza City and its neighbourhood were the first targets of Israel’s massive, multi-pronged military offensive in response to Hamas’ October 7 attack. in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were slaughtered and over 250 taken hostage. While around half of them were freed during a November ceasefire, over 100 hostages and the remains of 30 are still held by Hamas and other militant groups.
The aid convoy was the first major consignment to reach northern Gaza this month. The UN says a quarter of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians face starvation; and warned that an Israeli offensive in Rafah at the southern tip of the Gaza strip, where more than half of the population has sought refuge, could lead to a total suspension of aid and mass casualties.
The U.S., Egypt and Qatar are trying negotiate another pause in the fighting and the release of some of the hostages before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts around March 10.
Separately, Palestinian factions met in Moscow Thursday to try and forge a new government after the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority cabinet resigned on Monday.
In his opening remarks, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for solving the problem of creating a Palestinian state in accordance with the resolutions of the Security Council and the United Nations General Assembly, and advocated resuming direct dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Also See:

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron urged President Vladimir Putin to continue with talks over the war in Ukraine. The Elysee confirmed the call in a statement, adding that EU leaders would be discussing the conflict in Ukraine at their summit in Versailles on Thursday evening. The conversation came after the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine held their first face-to-face talks in Turkey on Thursday. This did not lead to any progress. However, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said talks would continue.

A team of experts from the UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, which monitors the Islamic State, Al-Qaida and the Taliban, called on Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla and Deputy National Security Advisor Rajinder Khanna. They were briefed on India’s counter-terrorism priorities and concerns, particularly in the South Asia region. Discussions were also held on a range of related subjects, including organized crime and narco-trafficking as well as unconventional methods of terror financing.

The 5th NSA level meeting of the Colombo Security Conclave in the Maldives, saw a roadmap adopted with the focus on five key areas: Maritime Safety and Security, Countering Terrorism and Radicalisation, Combating Trafficking and Transnational Organised Crime, Cyber Security and Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Technology and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief. In this regard, India’s NSA Ajit Doval suggested a meeting of the heads of the Coast Guard Forces this year to discuss areas of cooperation and the creation of two joint working groups on drug trafficking and transnational organised crimes and cyber security and emerging technologies. The conclave has three members, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, while Bangladesh and Seychelles are observers.

Iran unveiled a new solid fuelled ballistic missile with a range of 1,450 km, sufficient to hit Israel or U.S. bases in the region, according to state television. It is called Khaibar-buster, which refers to a Jewish castle overrun by Muslim armies in the early years of Islam.