Biden welcomes speech by Democratic Senate leader calling for elections in Israel: Day 161 of the Gaza war

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage of day 161 of the Gaza war. We will be back tomorrow with more news updates.

Latest updates from southern Lebanon

• Israeli warplanes targeted the area of Labbouneh (Sour district), according to a security source via our correspondent in the south.

• Israeli artillery shelling targeted the same area.

Recent developments at the Lebanese-Israeli border (past 30 minutes)

• According to a security source relayed by our correspondent in the south, missiles were fired from Lebanon towards Israeli sites in the Western Galilee.

• Rocket alarms sounded in northern Israel, according to Haaretz.

• Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of Naqoura (Sour district), residents told L'Orient Today.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) announced that it will hold hearings on April 8 and 9 in the case between Nicaragua and Germany. Nicaragua accuses Berlin of having "helped Israel commit genocide" in Gaza, reports Reuters.

Nicaragua asked the ICJ (the World Court) earlier this month to take urgent action demanding that Berlin end its military aid to Israel and reverse its decision to stop funding UNRWA.

According to Nicaragua, Germany is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the laws of war in the occupied Palestinian territories.

On Monday, the Iran-backed Houthi military group in threatened to escalate assaults on shipping in the Red Sea during Ramadan, with experts anticipating resulting price increases of imported goods, including two to 15 percent inflation on foodstuffs arriving in Lebanon.

For more than three months now, Houthi fighters have been attacking commercial and military ships in international waters, purportedly in response to Israel’s war on Gaza.

The attacks have sent shockwaves across the maritime industry, endangering maritime security and disrupting the flow of trade along one of the world's most critical shipping corridors.

That includes trade to Lebanon, too.

👉 Read Sally Abou AlJoud’s investigation into the effects of the Houthi attacks on the Lebanese economy.

Hezbollah said that it hit an Israeli force while it was entering the Zarit barracks, facing the Lebanese village of Marwahine, Sour district, at 5:45 p.m.

The party also said that it hit a deployment of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of Hadab Yarin, not far from the Lebanese village of Yarine, Sour district, with missile weapons, at 6:35 p.m.

The first ship to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip via a sea corridor between Cyprus and the besieged enclave has begun unloading its cargo of 200 tons of food, a spokesperson for the NGO in charge of the operation told AFP.

World Central Kitchen "is unloading the barge which is now connected to the temporary jetty" built south-west of Gaza City, after being towed from Cyprus by another NGO's vessel, said Linda Roth.

Earlier today, the Lebanese Army dismantled an unexploded Israeli missile that fell in the Mount Lebanon area of Keserwan three days ago, the National News Agency reported.

👉 Read about the day the missile fell.

The International Court of Justice says it will hold hearings on April 8 and 9 in Nicaragua's case against Germany, in which it has accused Berlin of having "contributed to the commission of genocide" by Israel in Gaza, Reuters reports.

Nicaragua asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, earlier this month to issue emergency measures requiring Berlin to stop military aid to Israel and reverse its decision to stop funding UNRWA.

According to Nicaragua, Germany is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the laws of war in the occupied Palestinian territories.

German government spokesperson Wolfgang Buechner said Germany would present its position in court but added that Berlin believes the case is unjustified.

The latest updates from southern Lebanon:

• Israeli warplanes fired missiles at the outskirts of Ramyah, in Bint Jbeil district, a security source told our correspondent in southern Lebanon.

• Israeli fighter jets fired two missiles at the village of Hula, in Marjayoun district, one of which failed to explode, a security source told L’Orient Today.

• Rocket sirens were triggered in the northern Israeli towns of Shtoula, Zar'it and other areas, according to Haaretz.

Photo of the march in support of Gaza organized in the al-Bass camp and broadcast by Hamas. (Credit: Muntasser Abdallah)

Residents of the Ain al-Heloueh camp, in the southern Lebanese district of Saida, organized a march in solidarity with Gaza after Friday prayers this afternoon.

According to our correspondent in the region, Muntasser Abdallah, participants set off from the various mosques built in the camp and marched through its busiest neighbourhoods to the sound of chants broadcast by loudspeakers mounted atop cars. Carrying banners and Palestinian flags, they chanted slogans in support of Hamas and denounced Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Dozens of residents of the al-Buss and Rashidieh camps in Sour, the next major coastal city south, also organized similar solidarity marches, and a third rally was held in the city of Saida itself.

(Credit: Jim Watson/AFP)

This year's St. Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House are shaping up to be particularly tense, considering Ireland's Taoiseach (prime minister) has made it clear he will use the opportunity tell his American counterpart how disappointed he is in the leader's handling of the war in Gaza, and also considering that part of the Irish delegation won't even be showing up to the event, in a public boycott of the US administration over it's role in the war.

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Northern Irish First Minister Michelle O'Neill are among the senior officials still scheduled to meet with US President Joe Biden today and at Sunday's St. Patrick's Day events, and both have vowed to use their time with the leader of Israel's key ally to add to the mounting pressure calling for the US to use its influence to protect the civilians of Gaza.

👉 Read more about Ireland's plans in Washington here.

The Israeli army has carried out several strikes on southern Lebanon over the last two hours:

• According to a security source, the Israeli air force struck Kfar Kila, in Marjayoun district. A three-story house was destroyed by the strike and ambulances were dispatched to the scene. Residents of the village told L’Orient Today’s correspondent that the strike has not caused any casualties. The house has been empty for some time and the owner is not in the country.

• Residents of Labounneh, in Sour district, also reported a Israeli bombardments on the town.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for three strikes earlier this afternoon:

• The first, with artillery shells, at 1:15 p.m., against the Israeli "al-Marj" position, located opposite the Lebanese village of Markaba, in Marjayoun district.

• The second, with missiles, at 2:05 p.m., against the Israeli Malikiyah position, located opposite Aitaroun, Bint Jbeil district.

• The third, also with artillery shells, against Israeli soldiers deployed at the "Rahab" position, located opposite Aita al-Shaab, in Bint Jbeil.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has announced that the country will send a delegation to Doha to continue negotiations on the hostages, Haaretz reports. The announcement comes after today’s news that Hamas has presented the latest of its own proposals to the mediators.

Netanyahu’s office did not specify when the delegation would be sent but said that they would leave once the security Cabinet had determined what Israel’s response will be to the proposal.

In the statement, Netanyahu called Hamas' demands "still unrealistic,” but ongoing participation in the negotiation process implies Israel is still interested in reaching some sort of agreement that would see the release of Israelis held in Gaza.

Netanyahu also approved the Israeli army's plan for an operation on Rafah, Haaretz reported, adding that the army claims it is preparing to evacuate civilians.

Hamas, which until now demanded a definitive ceasefire in Gaza before any exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, is now ready for a six-week truce, an official of the Palestinian Islamist movement told AFP.

Under this truce, 42 hostages – women, children, the elderly and the sick – could be freed in exchange for 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners, depending on the case, which is far less than Hamas has so far demanded. According to Israel, 130 hostages are still being held in Gaza, 32 of whom are reported dead.

Fact check:

Several videos have been circulating in Lebanon in recent weeks purporting to show Israeli armored vehicle movements "near the border with Lebanon." In the latest example, a video surfaced yesterday claiming to show Israeli armored vehicles heading towards the Lebanese border. In fact, these images date back to October 2023.

Update on the situation in southern Lebanon as of 12:30 p.m.:

- Israeli artillery fire twice targeted the outskirts of Tallet al-Hamames, south of Khiam (Marjayoun) and the Wazzani area, according to local residents.

- An Israeli jet bombed the "Abu Laban" neighborhood in Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), according to a security source.

- The outskirts of Alma el-Chaab and Naqoura (Sour) were also bombed several times, according to a security source. One of these airstrikes targeted a three-storey house which was completely destroyed, while a missile fell in the area without exploding. So far, no casualties have been reported.

- The area around Wadi Hassan, near Majdal Zoun (Tyre), Houla (Marjayoun) and Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil), was targeted by Israeli artillery fire, according to local residents.

- Several missiles were launched from southern Lebanon toward Margaliot and Kiryat Shmona, in northern Israel, according to a security source. No one has yet claimed responsibility. Warning sirens sounded in these areas, according to Haaretz.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will travel to Jordan and then Israel this weekend, his second visit to the region since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, his spokesman announced on Friday.

Scholz will meet Jordan's King Abdullah II on Saturday, before heading to Israel on Sunday for talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog, Steffen Hebestreit told a press conference in Berlin.

The Israeli army claimed that "armed Palestinians" had fired at a crowd waiting for a food aid distribution in Gaza City on Thursday evening, rejecting Hamas accusations.

During the night, the army had already denied firing on the crowd, but without detailing its version of events, while Gaza's Ministry of Health had claimed that "Israeli fire" on the crowd had left 20 people dead and over a hundred wounded.

Gaza's health ministry said that 31,490 people have been killed since the start of the war, 149 of them in the last 24 hours.

The ministry added that 73,439 people have been wounded since Oct. 7.

(Screenshot showing the distance between the Open Arms position and the Gaza coast)

According to information available on the MarineTraffic and Vessel Finder tracking platforms, the Open Arms, loaded with 200 tons of food for the people of Gaza, is just over a kilometer off the coast, south of Gaza City.

The Spanish ship Open Arms, carrying around 200 tons of humanitarian aid bound for the Gaza Strip, can be seen this morning off Gaza City, according to an AFP journalist on the scene. According to the specialized website Vessel Finder, the boat is less than 5 kilometers from the coast.

In southern Lebanon, the night was marked by several Israeli shots and strikes:

Between 9 and 10 p.m.

- Artillery fire targeted Tallet al-Oueida, near Kfar Kila, and an empty house in Kfar Kila (Marjayoun).

- Israeli aircraft bombed the outskirts of Naqoura (Sour).

Between 10 and 11 pm

- Artillery fire repeatedly targeted the outskirts of Houla (Marjayoun), including a position north of the town and Wadi Slouki.

- Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an attack at 10:15 p.m. on Israeli soldiers near the "Rahab" position, opposite the Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).

In Jerusalem, thousands of members of the security forces are being deployed today for the first major prayer at al-Aqsa Mosgue since the start of Ramadan, amid fears of unrest.

Benjamin Netanyahu's office called Hamas's demands "unrealistic," and said an update on the talks would be presented "tomorrow" to the war and security cabinets.

These developments come as the United States, Egypt and Qatar – the three mediating countries – attempt to secure a truce agreement lasting several weeks, with the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, and an increase in aid to Gaza ravaged by months of conflict.

In this connection, a statement issued by Hamas announced that the group had presented a "general vision" to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators that "focuses on the essential principles" of the negotiations, namely, in their view, "the cessation of aggression in Gaza, the arrival of aid, the return of displaced persons to their homes and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip." This vision also sets out Hamas's view on the issue of "prisoner exchange" with Israel. 

A humanitarian maritime corridor opened from Cyprus, on the initiative of the European Union and the United Arab Emirates, with the departure on Tuesday of a first boat from the Spanish NGO Open Arms, loaded with 200 tonnes of food supplied by the American NGO World Central Kitchen (WCK). Early on Friday, this boat was located off the Gaza Strip, according to the specialized website Marine Traffic. A WCK team present in Gaza has built a floating jetty where cargo destined for the population in the north of the territory will be unloaded.

"We hope to unload the aid as soon as it's possible to dock, but there are many factors at play in this complicated operation," WCK president Erin Gore said yesterday, referring to a load of around 300,000 prepared meals. "We all know that this is not enough ... which is why we have to open this corridor with a continuous flow of boats," added Gore, whose NGO said overnight that it was chartering a second ship with "hundreds of tons" of food destined for Gaza.

Testimony from northern Gaza:

"Since the war started and people moved south, we haven't received any aid. We've been wandering around since early morning in the hope that a plane will drop parachutes over us," Mokhles al-Masry, a displaced person with a sack of flour on his shoulders, told AFP from Beit Lahia. But "everyone is jostling violently to get a cardboard box for their children, to pick up a can of tuna or beans. All the people are starving and exhausted."

At a time when the UN fears widespread famine in the territory besieged by Israel, particularly in the hard-to-reach north where some 300,000 people currently live, efforts are being stepped up to get more humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory where the population is short of food.

Ground aid, which is woefully inadequate to meet the immense needs of the territory's 2.4 million inhabitants, mainly enters the Gaza Strip from Egypt via the Rafah border crossing, after being inspected by Israel. But this volume of aid does not meet the needs of the population, hence the calls to open up other routes to the north of the territory, and various initiatives such as parachuting bags of food.

At least 20 people were killed overnight in Gaza by gunfire at an aid distribution point in the north, the Gazan Ministry of Health announced early today. The Palestinian Islamist movement accused the Israeli army of firing from "tanks and helicopters" at people waiting for flour to be distributed at the "Kuwait" traffic circle near Gaza City. 

The Israeli army said it had not "attacked" Palestinians "at an aid distribution point," saying it was "seriously analyzing the incident", but did not at this stage detail its version of events.

"The death toll" of those shot at an aid distribution and who were "transported to al-Shifa hospital has been revised upwards to 20 dead and 155 wounded," the health ministry said, quoted by AFP.

"There was direct shooting by the occupying forces at people gathered at the Kuwait traffic circle to wait for trucks with food to arrive," Dr. Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at the hospital, told AFP. On the spot, an AFP correspondent saw numerous ambulances with dead and wounded. 

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Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the ongoing war in Gaza and its regional and global impacts.