The Israeli military says it is continuing to conduct ‘precise operations’ at al-Shifa Hospital.

Here’s how things stand on Friday, March 22, 2024:

Fighting and humanitarian crisis

• The Israeli military says it is continuing to conduct “precise operations” at Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital on Friday. Its forces have killed 150 fighters and apprehended “hundreds of suspects” in or around the facility in the past day, it claims.
• Israel faced heavy criticism last November when troops first raided the hospital. Israeli forces said they had uncovered tunnels, which they claimed had been used as command-and-control centres by Hamas. Hamas and medical staff deny that the hospital has been used for military purposes or to shelter fighters.
• On Friday, in a northwestern area of Gaza City, a residential building with a family inside was targeted and destroyed. Ten people were reported to have been killed.
• At least eight people have been killed in attacks on Rafah city, particularly in northern and eastern areas, while many more have been injured, according to medics.
• The US military dropped “50,600 US meal equivalents” into northern Gaza on Thursday, as part of a humanitarian effort to relieve severe food shortages in the area.

Diplomacy and regional tensions

• Israel’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, will arrive for meetings in Washington, DC, next week with a wish list of weapons that Israel wants the US to supply in an expedited manner, according to reports.
• Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Tel Aviv where he is expected to discuss the continuing negotiations towards a prisoner exchange deal and a ceasefire in Gaza.
• The UK and Australia both declared the need for an “immediate cessation of fighting” in Gaza on Friday.
• A joint statement issued on Friday by foreign ministers from Arab countries also called for the “removal of all barriers imposed by Israel” which are preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza, in order to “address the dire needs of over two million Palestinians facing famine”.
• In the US on Thursday, Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of the US Congress, accused the Israeli government of committing some of the worst crimes against humanity “of this century” in its war in Gaza.

Violence in the occupied West Bank

• On Friday, three people were injured, one severely, in clashes involving a Palestinian gunman in the occupied West Bank, according to reports by The Times of Israel.
• The Israeli military earlier said it was using a fighter jet and drone to pursue the gunman, who had first fired at an Israeli vehicle near the settlement of Dolev.
• A Palestinian has also been killed and at least seven Israeli soldiers have been injured in fighting on Friday near the West Bank village of Deir Bzayeh, west of Ramallah.