Israel 'escalating genocide' as power, aid cut off to Gaza

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The White House has sparked widespread backlash after posting the Hebrew greeting "Shalom, Mahmoud" in reference to the arrest of Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil.

The comment, made on the official White House social media platform, was interpreted as a taunt directed at Khalil, who has been detained over his outspoken activism against Israel’s war on Gaza.

The phrase "Shalom" means "peace" in Hebrew, but its use in this context has drawn strong reactions from many, who see it as an attempt to mock Khalil’s detention.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has vowed to take decisive action against any threats to the nation’s security, despite efforts for de-escalation in the region.  

In a phone call with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Pezeshkian emphasized that while Iran seeks to avoid conflict, it will respond "forcefully" to any challenge to its interests.  

Pezeshkian also reiterated Iran's stance on Israel, accusing it of being the "root cause" of ongoing regional tensions and violence, particularly through its actions against the Palestinian people.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed promoting a stable government in Syria, Houthi threats in Yemen and reconstructing Gaza with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the State Department said on Monday in a readout of their meeting.

Officials are in Saudi Arabia for talks aimed at ending the war between Ukraine and Russia. 

Hamas has condemned the Palestinian Authority (PA) for the killing of Abdul-Rahman Abu Muna, a Palestinian fighter in Jenin, accusing PA forces of directly opening fire and killing him.  

The group called the incident a "dangerous escalation", denouncing the PA’s actions as an ongoing campaign against Palestinian lives. Hamas highlighted this as part of the broader repressive approach by the PA’s security forces, which they claim has led to the deaths of numerous Palestinians.  

The Palestinian Authority has confirmed the death of Abdul-Rahman Abu Muna, described as an "outlaw" in Jenin, following an exchange of gunfire with its security forces.  

According to a statement from the PA’s security forces, Abu Muna opened fire at the unit, prompting them to return fire in line with established rules of engagement. The statement confirmed that Abu Muna was later injured and died in the hospital.  

The PA has vowed to continue its efforts to maintain security and order in the area and pursue those considered outlaws, ensuring that such actions are dealt with firmly.  

Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp has condemned Israel's decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, stating that blocking humanitarian aid and essential services is a violation of international law.

In a social media post, Veldkamp emphasized the urgency of ceasefire negotiations, calling for a swift resolution to address the release of hostages, the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and an end to the violence.

The head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, has rejected Israel’s claim that other organizations could replace the agency in Gaza.

He said that only a Palestinian state "institution" could take over its vital services.

Israel recently banned UNRWA from operating in Gaza, with Israel’s UN ambassador, Daniel Meron, stating that the country is seeking alternatives to UNRWA’s work in the region. However, Lazzarini pushed back, emphasizing that only Palestinian state institutions could replace the agency’s role.

"It can’t be an NGO, it can’t be another UN agency," Lazzarini said, adding that the only viable alternatives are capable Palestinian institutions within a Palestinian state.

Jordan has condemned Israel’s decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, labelling it a "scandalous violation" of international law. 

The Jordanian Foreign Ministry strongly criticized the move, stating that it represents a continuation of Israel’s "policy of starvation and siege" against Palestinians.

The statement further emphasized the compounded humanitarian crisis, highlighting the ongoing blockade on essential aid entering the Gaza Strip.

The United Nations has expressed deep concern over Israel’s decision to cut electricity to Gaza, warning of severe repercussions for the civilian population.

Seif Magango, spokesman for the UN human rights office, highlighted the potential risks, stating that without power and with fuel blocked, Gaza’s critical services—such as water desalination plants, healthcare facilities, and bakeries—could soon shut down. This, he warned, would have "dire consequences" for civilians.

Magango said that as the "occupying power", Israel has a legal responsibility to ensure basic necessities for Palestinians. He also raised concerns over the potential for collective punishment, as blocking access to essential resources in an effort to pressure the population could violate international law.

US Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler has defended the decision to hold direct talks with the Palestinian group Hamas, insisting that Washington was acting independently and is "not an agent of Israel".

Speaking to Israel's Channel 12, Boehler said: "You’re going to do anything you can to move forward and to get something accomplished."

He added: "We’re not willing to sit back, and the president is not willing to sit back and just wait a couple of weeks with nothing happening."

His comments provoked frustration in Israel, where senior officials criticised Boehler for bypassing Israel in the negotiations.

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Yemen's Houthis said on Monday that they would take military measures as soon as a four-day deadline for lifting a blockage of aid into Gaza ends.

The leader of Yemen's Houthis said on Friday the group would resume its naval operations against Israel if Israel did not lift a blockage of aid into Gaza within four days.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that the arrest of a Palestinian graduate student who has played a prominent role in pro-Palestinian protests at New York's Columbia University will be followed by others.

"This is the first arrest of many to come. We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro-terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity, and the Trump Administration will not tolerate it. Many are not students, they are paid agitators. We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

(Reuters) 

The watchdog of Norway's $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund said on Monday that most companies it reviewed over their activities in the occupied Palestinian territories met the fund's ethical guidelines.

It said a second company could face divestment, however, after the fund pulled out of Israeli telecoms firm Bezeq in December under a new, tougher interpretation of its ethics standards.

The fund, which owns 1.5 percent of listed shares across 9,000 companies globally, operates under guidelines set by Norway's parliament and is seen as a leader in the environmental, social and governance (ESG).

With the onset of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, its watchdog, the Council on Ethics, launched the review to check for possible breaches by businesses aiding Israel's operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.

There is a risk that Gaza experiences another hunger crisis if Israel continues to block aid from entering, the head of the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) in Gaza said on Monday.

"I think the more we go ahead (with aid blockages), the more we will see the impact increasing on the population. And obviously, the risk ... is that we go back to situation we experienced months ago about deepening hunger in the Gaza Strip," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

In the same press briefing in Geneva, he described the agency's financial situation as "critical and precarious".

(Reuters)

The Palestinian student activist at New York's Columbia University detained as part of US President Donald Trump's crackdown on some anti-Israel protesters has been moved to a federal jail for migrants in Louisiana, according to a US detainee database.

The transfer to Louisiana came as lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a graduate student at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, began their legal challenge to his arrest at his Columbia apartment building in the US district court in Manhattan.

Even before Khalil's arrest, students say federal immigration agents have been spotted at dorms and student housing around Columbia's Manhattan campus since Thursday, a day before the Trump administration announced it was canceling $400 million in federal grants and contracts awarded to the Ivy League school.

(Reuters)

Israeli forces detained three Palestinians near Tulkarm refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.

Local and security sources told Wafa that the sources rounded up a father and his son at the northern entrance of the camp and also arrested a young man after commandeering his vehicle in the north of neighbourhood of the city.

The United Nations said Monday that Israel's decision to cut off electricity to Gaza was "very concerning", warning that civilians in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory would face dire consequences.

"With no electricity and with fuel being blocked, Gaza's remaining water desalination plants, healthcare facilities, and bakeries are at risk of eventually shutting down, with dire consequences for civilians," Seif Magango, spokesman for the UN human rights office, told AFP in an email.

Hamas condemned on Monday what it said was a non-commitment by Israel to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor under the ceasefire deal, according to a statement by the group.

The corridor runs the length of Gaza's southern border with Egypt. 

(Reuters)

A team of Israeli negotiators left for Doha on Monday for a fresh round of talks on the ceasefire in Gaza, an Israeli official told AFP.

The official familiar with the negotiations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide any additional details.

Israel is actively encouraging UN agencies and other aid groups to take over the work of the UN Palestinian relief agency (UNRWA) in Gaza, Israel's ambassador said on Monday, after banning the agency on Israeli territory in January.

"We, the State of Israel, are working to find substitute to the act, to the work of UNRWA inside Gaza," Daniel Meron, Israel's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, told reporters.

He declined to give specifics but said Israel was "encouraging the UN agencies and NGOs to take over each one in its own field that they specialise in."

(Reuters)

The British government on Monday called on Israel to restore the electricity supply to Gaza, warning the country could be in violation of international law.

"We're deeply concerned by these reports and urge Israel to lift these restrictions," Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official spokesman told reporters.

"We're clear that a halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, including basic needs such as electricity, risks breaching Israel's obligations under international humanitarian law."

Germany's foreign ministry on Monday called on Syria's transitional government to prevent further violence and investigate recent clashes after fighting between Assad loyalists and the new Islamist rulers left over 1,000 dead.

"We condemn the outbreak of violence in the Syrian regions of Tartus, Latakia and Homs...We urgently call upon all sides to put an end to the violence," a spokesperson for the ministry said on Monday.

Palestinian officials denounced the partial burning of a historic mosque in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus on Friday, which they said had been carried out during a raid by Israeli armed forces.

AFPTV footage from Friday showed Palestinians inspecting the blackened and partially charred interior of the al-Nasr mosque - a landmark in Nablus' Old City.

In a statement, the Palestinian Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs called the damage to the Nablus mosques "a serious attack in its size and timing", and condemned "a systematic plan... in the desecration of our holy sites, mosques and places of worship".

Nablus endowments director Sheikh Nasser Al-Salman denounced "the Israeli occupation's barbaric invasion of Nablus mosques".

The Palestinian Authority on Monday said Israel's decision to halt the electricity supply to Gaza was "an escalation in the genocide" in the war-ravaged territory.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement that it "strongly condemns the Israeli Ministry of Energy's decision to cut electricity to the Gaza Strip, considering it an escalation in the genocide, displacement and humanitarian disaster in Gaza", which is controlled by Hamas and not the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority.

The first Palestinian Bakery & Coffee House opened in Derry, Ireland.

The Jerusalem Bakery & Coffeehouse opened Sunday, serving Palestinian dishes and drinks.

🔴The first Palestinian Bakery & Coffee House has opened here in Derry.

Wishing Farrah and Mohammed the very best of luck.
🇵🇸 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/e5ilNz6Oz7

— 🇮🇪 𝐁𝗋ó𐓣ƶ𝗒 𝐏αᑯᑯ𝗒𝗌𝗍𝗂𐓣𝗂α𐓣 🇮🇪 (@BronzyGuevara) March 9, 2025

Hamas accused Israel on Monday of reneging on a ceasefire deal that halted the war on Gaza, as Israeli negotiators were due in Qatar to discuss a potential extension.

"The (Israeli) occupation continues to renege on the agreement and refuses to commence the second phase, exposing its intentions of evasion and stalling," Hamas said in a statement, after the initial phase of the truce had expired with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war.

Since 7 October, 15,640 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank - the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society revealed.

The Israeli army arrested 762 people in February alone, where most of the arrests took place in Jenin.

The German government said Monday that Israel's decision to halt aid deliveries and cut off the electricity supply to Gaza could prompt a fresh humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory.

Referring to the decision to stop aid, foreign ministry spokeswoman Kathrin Deschauer said Gaza was "again threatened with a food shortage" and that cutting off of electricity was "unacceptable and not compatible with (Israel's) obligations under international law".

A coalition of Welsh organisations are calling on the Wales Pension Partnership to divest from companies tied to Israel over "violations of international law and human rights abuses against Palestinians".

Research from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign revealed that £1.1 billion of Welsh local government pension funds are invested in companies associated with illegal settlements, apartheid infrastructure, financing and arms manufacturing.

PSC and activists will be lobbying the WPP meeting on Wednesday, calling for divestment.

Over 48,467 Palestinians have been killed since 7 October 2023, while over 111,913 others have been injured. The toll does not include the almost 14,000 believed to be under the rubble, that the Gaza Health Ministry deemed dead - making the toll to over 61,000.

Medical sources reported that nine bodies arrived at hospitals across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours, including five bodies that were recovered, four killed Palestinians and 16 civilians injured - Wafa reports.

Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian Territories, said Israel's cutting off Gaza's electricity supply is a warning of genocide.

"GENOCIDE ALERT! Israel cutting off electricity supplies to Gaza means, among others, no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water," Albanese wrote on X.

The rapporteur also highlighted the lack of sanctions and arms embargo against Israel which is "AIDING AND ASSISTING Israel in the commission of one of the most preventable genocides of our history".

❌GENOCIDE ALERT!❌Israel cutting off electricity supplies to Gaza means, among others, no functioning desalination stations, ergo: no clean water.
STILL NO SANCTION/NO ARMS EMBARGO against Israel means, among others, AIDING AND ASSISTING Israel in the commission of one of the… https://t.co/x2cX4MuP0K

— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) March 9, 2025

Hamas accused Israel of "cheap and unacceptable blackmail" over its decision on Sunday to halt the electricity supply to war-ravaged Gaza to pressure the Palestinian militants into releasing hostages.

"We strongly condemn the occupation's decision to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water," Izzat al-Rishq, a member of Hamas's political bureau said in a statement, adding it was "a desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance through cheap and unacceptable blackmail tactics."

Hamas said on Monday that it is showing flexibility in talks with mediators and is awaiting the outcome of efforts from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States in negotiations with Israel.

Israel is due to send a delegation to Doha on Monday for a fresh round of talks on extending a fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

The first phase of the truce ended on 1 March with no agreement on subsequent stages that could secure a permanent end to the war, but both sides have since refrained from resuming full-scale fighting.

There are still significant differences over the terms of a potential second phase of the truce.