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Qatar says Hamas is delivering medication to the 100 hostages in Gaza

Palestinian crowds struggle to buy bread from a bakery in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. International aid agencies say Gaza is suffering from shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair) Palestinian crowds struggle to buy bread from a bakery in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. International aid agencies say Gaza is suffering from shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
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DOHA, Qatar -

The Qatari Foreign Ministry said that Hamas has started delivering medication for the approximately 100 hostages held in Gaza, a month after the medications arrived in Gaza.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr. Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday evening that Hamas confirmed they had begun to deliver the medications to the hostages in exchange for medicines and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

France and Qatar mediated a deal in January for the shipment of medicine for dozens of hostages held by Hamas arrived in Gaza. The deal was the first agreement between Israel and the militant group since a weeklong cease-fire in November, but there was no evidence that the medications had arrived.

France said it took months to organize the shipment of the medicines. Qatar, which has long served as a mediator with Hamas, helped broker the deal that will provide three months鈥 worth of medication for chronic illnesses for 45 of the hostages, as well as other medicine and vitamins. Several older men are among the remaining hostages.

Here's the latest:

Palestinians line up for a free meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. International aid agencies say Gaza is suffering from shortages of food, medicine and other basic supplies as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

UN World Food Program suspends aid in northern Gaza

The United Nations鈥 World Food Program announced a pause in food and aid deliveries to northern Gaza on Tuesday after its drivers faced gunfire and violence from desperate residents swarming the trucks.

The convoys 鈥渇aced complete chaos and violence due to the collapse of civil order,鈥 according to a statement from the WFP. WFP had attempted to resume aid deliveries in northern Gaza after a three-week pause following a strike on an aid convoy from the Israeli military.

The WFP said 1 in 6 children under age 2 are acutely malnourished and people are dying of hunger-related cases, and the situation is even more dire in northern Gaza. 鈥淚n these past two days our teams witnessed unprecedented levels of desperation,鈥 the WFP said.

Hamas鈥檚 government media office described the WFP decision as a 鈥渄eath sentence鈥 for hundreds of thousands of people who are in the northern half of Gaza. The office called for the WFP to withdraw its decisions and for all UN agencies to return and avert 鈥渃atastrophic consequences of the famine鈥 there.

Houthi strikes on Red Sea shipping costing U.S. millions

Yemen鈥檚 Iran-backed Houthi rebels are still able to launch attacks in a crucial Red Sea corridor despite a month of U.S.-led airstrikes.

The rebels claimed more attacks Tuesday night after seriously damaging a ship and apparently downing an American drone worth tens of millions of dollars in recent days. The Houthi have said they aim to prevent Israeli ships from navigating the Red Sea until Israeli ends its war in the Gaza Strip, but few of the ships targeted have any direct links to Israel.

Their guerrilla-style attacks show the difficulty of suppressing asymmetrical warfare, and the U.S.-led campaign to protect the shipping route has boosted the rebels鈥 standing in the Arab world, despite the Houthi rebels鈥 own human rights abuses. And analysts warn of a greater risk to the global economy, the longer their attacks continue.

So far, no U.S. sailor or pilot has been wounded, but the U.S. continues to lose drones worth tens of millions of dollars and fire off million-dollar cruise missiles to counter the Houthis, who are using far-cheaper weapons that experts believe largely have been supplied by Iran.

Based off U.S. military鈥檚 statements, American and allied forces have destroyed at least 73 missiles of different types before they were launched, as well as 17 drones, 13 bomb-laden drone boats and one underwater explosive drone over their monthlong campaign, according to an AP tally. Those figures don鈥檛 include the initial Jan. 11 joint U.S.-U.K. strikes that began the campaign. The American military also has shot down dozens of missiles and drones already airborne as well since November.

Prince William laments 'sheer scale of human suffering'

LONDON 鈥 Prince William, the heir to the British throne, called Tuesday for an end to fighting in the Gaza Strip as soon as possible, lamenting the 鈥渢errible human cost鈥 since the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel and the 鈥渄esperate need for increased humanitarian support for Gaza.鈥

William stopped short of calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza as the House of Commons prepares for a vote on that issue on Wednesday. The message, written in white on a black background, was placed under William鈥檚 cypher on X, formerly known as Twitter.

鈥淪ometimes it is only when faced with the sheer scale of human suffering that the importance of permanent peace is brought home,鈥欌 William said.

William used careful language focused on universal humanity rather than taking sides. The prince plans to meet with aid workers active in the region and, separately, join a discussion at a synagogue with young people of different faiths who are fighting antisemitism.

鈥淓ven in the darkest hour, we must not succumb to the counsel of despair,鈥 William said. 鈥淚 continue to cling to the hope that a brighter future can be found and I refuse to give up on that.鈥

Linda Thomas-Greenfield, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, centre front, votes against a resolution concerning a ceasefire in Gaza during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

U.S. vetoes UN ceasefire resolution

The United States vetoed an Arab-backed U.N. resolution Tuesday demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the embattled Gaza Strip.

The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13-1 with the United Kingdom abstaining, reflecting the wide global support for ending the more than four-month war that started with Hamas鈥 surprise invasion of southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and saw 250 others taken hostage. Since then, more than 29,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel鈥檚 military offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn鈥檛 distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority are women and children.

It was the third U.S. veto of a Security Council resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Biden administration had said it would veto the resolution because of concerns it would interfere with efforts to arrange a deal between the warring parties aimed at bringing at least a six-week halt to hostilities and releasing all hostages.

In a surprise move ahead of the vote, the United States circulated a rival U.N. Security Council resolution that would support a temporary ceasefire in Gaza linked to the release of all hostages, and call for the lifting of all restrictions on the delivery of humanitarian aid. Both of these actions 鈥渨ould help to create the conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities,鈥 the draft resolution obtained by The Associated Press says.

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told several reporters Monday that the Arab-backed resolution is not 鈥渁n effective mechanism for trying to do the three things that we want to see happen 鈥 which is get hostages out, more aid in, and a lengthy pause to this conflict.鈥

UNRWA: Israel has shown no evidence its workers joined rampage

JERUSALEM 鈥 The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says the United Nations still has not received any evidence from Israel supporting its claims that 12 of the agency鈥檚 employees participated in the Oct. 7 rampage that sparked the war.

Israel released a document last month identifying the 12 workers along with the allegations against them, and accusing some of participating in kidnappings. But it has released little of the evidence collected against the workers.

The allegations prompted key donors, including the United States, to suspend funding to the main provider of aid in Gaza.

Philippe Lazzarini, the director of UNRWA, has dismissed the 10 surviving workers; the agency says the other two were killed in fighting. The U.N. has also opened two investigations into UNRWA鈥檚 operations.

In a podcast Tuesday, Lazzarini said Israel still has not presented formal evidence to the U.N.

鈥淭he UN has never, never, ever received any written dossier, despite our repeated call for cooperation from the Israeli authorities,鈥 he said. He added that agency investigators are looking into the allegations, and called on anyone with evidence to share it with the investigation team.

Israel has long accused UNRWA of tolerating Hamas activities in and around U.N. facilities and in some cases even cooperating with the militant group. Lazzarini has denied this and says his agency has safeguards to discipline any employee who violates the U.N. ideals of neutrality.

UNICEF: 1 in 6 children are acutely malnourished in north Gaza

One in six children are acutely malnourished in the isolated and largely devastated northern Gaza, according to a UNICEF study, while Israel has vowed to expand its five-moth offensive against Hamas to the enclave鈥檚 southernmost city of Rafah.

The report by the Global Nutrition Cluster says more than 90 per cent of children under 5 in Gaza eat two or fewer food groups a day, known as severe food poverty. A similar percentage are affected by infectious diseases, with 70 per cent experiencing diarrhea in the last two weeks. More than 80 per cent of homes lack clean and safe water, with the average household having one liter (quart) per person per day.

The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on a U.N. resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire on Tuesday, but the U.S. said it would veto it because it鈥檚 trying to arrange a deal on its own that would bring a truce and the release of hostages held by Hamas.

The number of Palestinians killed during the war in Gaza has risen to 29,195, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant casualties in its count. A quarter of Gaza鈥檚 residents are starving. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and around 250 abducted in Hamas鈥 attack on Israel on Oct. 7 that sparked the war.

WHO: 32 critical patients transferred from south Gaza

GENEVA 鈥 The World Health Organization says 32 patients in critical condition have been transferred from Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza to the European Gaza Hospital to the north and field hospitals over the last two days.

The U.N. health agency said Tuesday that four Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulances carried out the transfers after Nasser became 鈥渘on-functional鈥 following a weeklong siege and a military raid on the complex on Wednesday.

鈥淣asser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease,鈥 WHO said in a statement. Some 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain inside the hospital.

WHO reiterated its call that medical personnel, patients, health infrastructure and civilians should be protected, and that hospitals must not be militarized or attacked.

鈥淭he dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Medical Complex is a massive blow to Gaza鈥檚 health system,鈥 WHO said. 鈥淔acilities in the south are already operating well beyond maximum capacity and are barely able to receive more patients.

Lebanese warehouse hit in Israeli strike burns for second day

GHAZIEH, Lebanon 鈥 Firefighters in southern Lebanon were battling a diesel fuel fire in a warehouse that was struck by Israeli jets for a second day Tuesday.

The Israeli military鈥檚 Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the attack Monday targeted a weapons warehouse that belonged to the militant group Hezbollah.

The strike that wounded 14 people was one of the largest near a major Lebanese city since clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah along the Lebanese-Israeli border erupted after the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7.

Mohamad Khalifa, the owner of the warehouse, denied allegations that the facility belonged to Hezbollah.

鈥淭his is a company registered for 11 years that works with electricity generators, open from morning until night, receiving customers all day,鈥 he told The Associated Press. 鈥淭here is nothing hidden here. The claim that this has weapons is a lie.鈥

The airstrike reduced the warehouse to scraps, with fuel fires slowly burning. 

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