Israeli strikes kill at least 29 Gazans awaiting aid, say Palestinian officials

At least 29 Palestinians were killed while awaiting aid in two separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Gaza's health ministry said.

In the first incident, Palestinian health officials in the Hamas-ruled strip said eight people were killed in an airstrike on an aid distribution centre in Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Later, at least 21 people were killed and more than 150 wounded by Israeli gunfire at a crowd awaiting aid trucks at a northern Gaza roundabout, Gaza's health ministry said.

In a statement, Israel's military denied attacking aid centres, describing the reports as "false."

"As the IDF assesses the incident with the thoroughness that it deserves, we urge the media to do the same and only rely on credible information," the statement said.

The Gaza conflict has displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million population. Chaotic scenes and deadly incidents have taken place during aid distributions as desperately hungry people scrambled for food.

On Feb. 29, Palestinian health authorities said Israeli forces shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery near Gaza City. Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over.

In Deir Al-Balah, also in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house on Thursday, killing nine people, Palestinian medics said. Residents said Israeli aerial and ground bombardments persisted overnight across the enclave, including in Rafah in the south, where over a million displaced people are sheltering.

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The war was triggered by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli towns on Oct. 7 that left 1,200 people killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, Israel's air, sea and ground assault on Gaza has killed more than 31,000 people and wounded over 71,500, according to Gaza health authorities.

Efforts to reach a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist militant Hamas have so far failed. While Israel said it sought a deal that would secure the release of hostages in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinians held by Israel, Hamas insists an agreement should end the war.

Late on Thursday, Hamas said it presented to mediators a comprehensive vision of a truce deal based on stopping what it calls Israeli aggression against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, providing relief and aid, the return of displaced Gazans to their homes, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new Hamas position was based on "unrealistic demands."

With the war now in its sixth month, the U.N. has warned that at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one quarter of the population – are on the brink of famine and global pressure has been growing on Israel to allow more access.

Israel denies obstructing aid deliveries into Gaza. It has blamed failures by aid agencies for delays and accuses Hamas of diverting aid. Hamas denies this and says Israel uses hunger as a weapon in its military offensive.

A ship carrying aid was approaching Gaza where the U.S. military plans to set up a dock to enable distribution of up to two million meals a day.

While welcoming aid ships, Palestinian and U.N. officials say maritime deliveries are not a substitute for sending aid through land crossings.

Hamas on Thursday called for an escalation of protests and attacks against Israel in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem on Friday, the first day of Friday prayers in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

In a restaurant at a southern Israel junction, a soldier was stabbed on Thursday, Israeli police said. It said the suspected attacker, a 22-year-old from the nearby Bedouin city of Rahat, was shot and "neutralised".

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine official: two Russian border regions are now active combat zones

A senior Ukrainian intelligence official said on Thursday that armed groups he described as Russians opposed to the Kremlin were pressing an incursion into Russian territory and had turned two border regions into "active combat zones".

But the governor of one of the Russian regions hit by the attacks said, after a visit to villages in an area, that hostile troops were no longer there.

Three Ukraine-based groups issued statements saying they were pursuing armed operations in Belgorod and Kursk regions and asking residents to evacuate localities for their own safety.

"Kursk and Belgorod regions are now an area of active combat actions. This is what we confirm," Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for the GUR intelligence directorate, told national television.

"And as stated by the volunteers and rebels, we are talking about Russian citizens who, having no other options, are defending their civil right with arms against the Putin regime."

Vyachslav Gladkov, governor of Russia's Belgorod region, said in an account posted on Telegram that there were no Ukrainian forces in one of the areas that had come under attack.

"I can state that there are no Ukrainian troops on the territory of the region," he wrote in the account posted after midnight local time. "The fighting is taking place outside it."

But Gladkov said the village of Kozinka "was badly hit. The damage is very serious." Residents had been evacuated to places where they were now safe.

Gladkov earlier said that two people were killed and at least 20 injured in attacks by Ukrainian armed forces.

Russian military bloggers had earlier reported that Russian paratroops had been dispatched to Kozinka. Russia's Defence Ministry said it had foiled an attack by the Ukrainian army.

Kursk regional governor, Roman Starovoit, gave few details, but noted on Telegram that "Ukrainian terrorists have not stopped their attempts to bring saboteurs into our territory".

One of the three armed groups, the Freedom of Russia Legion, said on Telegram that in view of the "limited military operation" being conducted in the two regions, it was asking residents of certain towns to leave the area.

A second, the Siberian Battalion, said it had observed "a mood of panic in the town of Grayvoron -- next to Kozinka - with cars queuing to leave.

Two of the groups had reported launching a cross-border incursion earlier this week.

In the past, Russian officials have cast the groups as puppets of the Ukrainian military and U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which Moscow says is trying to foment chaos in Russia.

The Freedom of Russia legion and the Russian Volunteer Corps have previously claimed responsibility for other cross-border raids into Russia from Ukraine.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukrainian attempt to break into Russia thwarted

Ukraine lost up to 195 troops and a large assortment of materiel during a failed attempt to enter Russia's Belgorod Region, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said in a daily briefing on Thursday.

The attackers had breached the Russian border and were moving towards the village of Spodaryushino, when they were struck by aviation and artillery. Kiev lost five tanks, four armored combat vehicles, three UR-77 mine-breaching vehicles and three military engineering vehicles, Moscow claimed.

Disturbing images circulating on Russian social media purport to show Ukrainian soldiers killed in action during the operation. According to the description in the post, Russia used a TOS rocket system against a group of Ukrainian troops. The multiple rocket launcher uses thermobaric munitions and is designed to attack military personnel in the field.

The Defense Ministry later released footage of attacks against Ukrainian forces, including a clip that appeared to show the same scene as one of the uncorroborated images. In it, some of the Ukrainian soldiers can be seen moving, but appear to be injured.

A separate exchange with Ukrainian forces was reported on Thursday by the governor of neighboring Kursk Region. No specific details about that engagement were immediately available, except that it happened near the border village of Tyotkino.

On Tuesday, three Kiev-backed militia formations armed with heavy weapons attempted to enter Kursk and Belgorod regions. In that assault, the Ukrainian side lost over 230 fighters, seven tanks, three Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and two armored personnel carriers, according to the Russian military.

Reuters/RT

The journey to Kuriga in southern Kaduna, North-west Nigeria, did not start with the kidnap of 287 students last week. In the early 1990s a neighbouring town, Zangon Kataf, was the boiling point. 

About a decade later, the beast of sectarian violence, which had reared its head in Kaduna, surfaced several hundreds of miles away in two major places that have become the epicentres of insurgency: Borno and Yobe States, both in the North-east.

Even though misery travelled southwards aided by Mohammed Yusuf, the itinerant extremist Muslim preacher in Yobe whose activities heightened the rise of extremism in the early 2000s, Yusuf did not entirely pave the way for the mass kidnap in Kuriga last week. 

The incompetence of the security services mixed with rampant poverty in parts of the North and the opportunism of the elite in the region helped in no small way to recruit the bands of misguided and rogue elements that have become a national plague.

That band, mixed with insurgents drifting southward from the Sahel, has been showing up as banditry in some areas, cattle rustling in other areas, and violent extremism elsewhere. In the process, hundreds have been killed, while Borno and Yobe have become Africa’s largest camps of internally displaced persons.

Kidnapping is the latest franchise. It shocked the world when over 200 girls were kidnapped from their school in Chibok and 58 boys killed inside their school dormitory in Buni Yadi, Yobe State. But since then, Amnesty International has documented 13 abductions in Nigerian schools. 

Within 10 days last week, over 500 persons, mostly children, were taken hostage in different states and in separate attacks on IDP camps and schools. 

Days after 200 persons were kidnapped from an IDP camp in Borno State, a school in Kaduna State was the next hunting ground. Two-hundred and eighty-seven students and pupils, with some staff, from the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) Primary School, Kuriga in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State were kidnapped during the school’s morning assembly. 

Politicians, who shed crocodile tears for a living, visit crime scenes like Kuriga twice in their lifetime. They visit unfailingly during election campaigns and then grudgingly – more for the camera – at a time of grief, like this. Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani, for example, was in Kuriga on Thursday, shortly after the students were kidnapped. 

It was not a normal visit, like you would visit folks in your neigbourhood who had just suffered a loss. Kuriga or Birnin Gwari, another dangerous neighbouring town, has not been a normal place for years. Four years ago, for example, an NGO, WANEP, reported that 140 persons were abducted and 84 killed by bandits in Birnin Gwari. 

Governor Sani’s visit

Eyewitnesses said on his visit to Kuriga, Governor Sani was prepared as if he was going to a warfront. Only one print journalist and a few others from broadcast stations, chosen by the Government House, were embedded in the governor’s convoy on that trip. Which means with telecommunications cut off, reports from there are second- third- or perhaps, fourth-hand accounts.

Residents of Chikun Local Government, with an estimated population of 550,000, have tried to get used to living under terror. Left largely on their own without government or security, they have accepted the authority of bandits and terrorists. These criminal gangs extort money from residents from N70,000 to N100,000 to have access to their farms. Those in Kidandan, GaladimawaKerawa, Sabon Layi, Sabon Birni and Ruma whose names may not show on your Google map, are also affected.

Yet, these folks might even consider themselves lucky, if luck means paying through your nose to reach your farm. According to news reports, those in other local governments such as Igabi and Giwa, have abandoned their farms to terrorists. Other communities in Kaduna currently under siege are Kaura, Kajuru, and Zango Kataf.

Toll gates of Kuriga

Apart from tolling the farms for cash, illegal miners, using small fry, have also deployed their billing machines. They squeeze farm owners to give up their lands for peanuts, which they then mine for minerals. It’s a criminal enterprise that has been on for years. Like most criminal gangs, the ones in Kuriga have developed their own codes, fees, levies and commissions. 

The decision of these syndicates to turn from extorting farmers and stripping their lands of mineral deposits to kidnapping students for ransom is an indication that kidnapping is paying more. That’s not a surprise. The Africa Report quoted SBM Intelligence that gunmen kidnapped at least 3,620 people across Nigeria between July 2022 and June 2023, with a ransom demand totalling over N5billion. 

What is the government doing about it? And I’m not talking about the state alone; I’m also talking about politicians in Kaduna and Abuja elected to represent these communities. Where, for example, is Jesse David, who represents this distressed community in the State House of Assembly? 

And where is Shehu Balarabe, who represents Birnin Gwari/Gwari Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives? How did they find their way to their constituency during the election campaign but have lost their way back when their people need them most?

Where is the Federal Government, which controls the army, the air force, the police and the state services? How are kidnappers or bandits or terrorists able to mobilise and seize 287 students and teachers from their school in daylight in Kuriga, about 20 minutes’ drive from Birnin Gwari that is supposed to have a military base? 

Imagine, for a moment, the logistics involved in moving 287 persons, most of them children. From infographics published by LEADERSHIP the day after, it would take 144 motorcycles or 57 cars or 21 buses or five 4.8 Embraer-145 planes, to move that number of people.

Yet, for the umpteenth time since 2014, children were kidnapped in their numbers by bandits who still managed to plan, coordinate and execute this evil in an area supposedly cut-off from communications. How, for Christ’s sake, did that happen?

A trillion-naira industry?

Just as shocking for me has been the near total absence of outrage outside Kuriga. It’s this kind of eye-rolling, not-our-business kind of attitude that has brought us where we are: where what shocked the world 10 years ago in Chibok even spawning demonstrations and hashtags, appears incapable of moving the dial today, in spite of its scale and audacity.

Apart the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan, where the savagery of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led to 100,000 deaths, and the abductions of 60,000 to 100,000 children and the displacement of millions, only few countries have witnessed the scale of criminality that Nigeria has witnessed in what is supposed to be peace time.    

It reminds me of Mexico in 2014. That year, also the year of the Chibok Girls, 43 students were kidnapped by a drug cartel and years of agonising search yielded no clues. Until last year, when long after the students had been murdered, investigations revealed that government officials were employees of the cartel. 

According to the New York Times, text messages 

exchanged between the cartel and government officials even found that first responders on the crime scene were on the cartel’s payroll! Which partly explains why it took so long to unravel the crime.

It's heart-wrenching to think that even though we’re told that Kuriga and other affected parts have been cut off from communications, we still hear of the criminals asking for ransom and issuing threats! 

It may be far-fetched to assume official complicity in Kuriga. It’s foolish, however, to think that kidnapping became a trillion-naira industry without support from outside the gangs. Until we thoroughly investigate the kidnappers’ support system and expose and punish the kingpins, we’re wasting time. 

Who knows where this is going to happen next?

** Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Setting goals is the way most of us get things done – in life and in business. We set the goal to get a new job or move to a new place. We set the goal to learn how to speak a new language or make money by investing in real estate.

And when it comes to delivering the very best products and services to our customers, we set goals to give our people direction and a target to shoot for.

The thing is, many leaders spend far too much time creating long lists of goals and too little time getting to the essence of what really needs to get done to move the organization forward. Truth be told, when it comes to setting goals, less is more.

So, if you're not sure if you're setting the right goals – or the right number of goals – for your people, here are some tips to get you the answers you seek.

While many people think that they can multitask their way to success, research shows that having fewer goals leads to higher-quality outcomes. When you overwhelm your employees with too many simultaneous goals, you can cause them to lose focus on what is most important.

By avoiding goal overload, you'll enable your team to direct their energy in the most effective way – ultimately achieving better results.

2. Keep an eye on your mission and vision

When you set goals with your people, make sure that they are aligned with your organization's mission and vision. While dazzling results are ... dazzling, they should always be consistent with your mission and vision.

3. Focus only on goals that are relevant to the organization

Time is precious, so make a point of prioritizing goals that have the greatest effect on the long-term success of your business. However you measure success – whether it might be increased market share, or making a positive impact on the community, or pushing technology forward – choose goals that will get you there.

4. Periodically update your goals

Nothing stays the same – especially in today's fast-changing business environment. Schedule quarterly or midyear reviews to evaluate the continued relevance and importance of your company goals, and then don't hesitate to revise them as necessary.

The key is to ensure that they remain aligned with the organization's present and future needs and drive your future success.

Avoid the goal overload trap, where employees have so many goals that they can't get any of them done. Instead of overwhelming yourself and your team, set just a few goals that promise to have the maximum impact, and focus on those.

As Tony Robbins once said, "Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible." And isn't that what it's all about?

Inc

BudgIT, a civic-tech non-profit organisation, says the national assembly inserted 7,447 constituency projects worth N2.24 trillion in the 2024 project.

The organisation said most of the projects inserted into the budget by the national assembly have “no national significance but narrowed to personal interests”.

BudgIT, on Wednesday, released a report on its findings of the allegation of budget padding by the national assembly made by Abdul Ningi, senator representing Bauchi central.

BACKGROUND

Last Saturday, Ningi stirred controversy when he alleged that the 2024 budget was padded by N3 trillion and that the country is operating two budgets concurrently.

The Bauchi senator said “huge damage” has been done to the north and the entire country in the budget.

On Tuesday, the allegations were debated during plenary at the red chamber, amid a rowdy session.

Subsequently, the senator was suspended for three months.

In December 2023, the two arms of the national assembly passed the 2024 appropriation bill, increasing its size from the N27.5 trillion proposed by President Bola Tinubu to N28.7 trillion.

BUDGIT’S FINDINGS

In the report, BudgIT said a breakdown of the 2024 budget shows that N25.4 trillion was earmarked for ministries, departments, and agencies.

The organisation said the N3.32 trillion allocation earmarked for government-owned enterprises (GOEs), the national assembly, the National Judicial Commission (NJC), the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND), was excluded from the budget passed and published.

“However, our findings show that a budget breakdown totaling N25.4tn was provided for the budgets of the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) and some other agencies receiving statutory allocation from the federal government,” the report reads.

“The comprehensive budget breakdown of government-owned enterprises, the National Assembly, the National Judicial Commission, the Public Complaints Commission, INEC, and TETFUND totaling N3.32tn was excluded from the budget that was passed and published.

“This does not mean the country operates two separate budgets and that there’s only one final budget known to us.”

‘INSERTED PROJECTS’ 

In the report, the organisation said the 10th national assembly continued the “ugly trend” of indiscriminate insertion of projects in the budget.

“A total of 7,447 projects culminating in N2.24tn were inserted in the 2024 budget by the National Assembly, an ugly trend that was accelerated in the 9th National Assembly.

“Fifty-five of the projects range with a value of N580.7bn are greater than N5bn in value. We also noticed that 281 projects worth N491bn, and 3,706 projects within the range of N100–500m, worth 759bn, were inserted into the budget.

“The national assembly has indiscriminately added projects to the budget, with most projects having no national significance but narrowed to personal interests.”

BudgIT said the members of the national assembly target some agencies and organisations for the insertion of projects.

The organisation said the federal ministry of agriculture and food security has the highest number of inserted projects, with 2,470 projects worth N632.31 billion.

The Cable

Senator representing Abia South, Enyinnaya Abaribe, has said contrary to the claim that some ranking senators received N500 million from the 2024 budget, he had only received N266 million.

A federal lawmaker representing Cross River North, Jarigbe Agom-Jarigbe, had during plenary, on Tuesday, said that some senior senators had received N500 million each from the 2024 budget.

The revelation came on the heel of an ongoing controversy over an allegation of budget padding made by Abdul Ningi in an interview with BBC Hausa.

Ningi had earlier accused the Senate of padding the 2024 budget, saying the National Assembly added an extra N3.7 trillion to the initial budget.

Reacting to the development, during a chat with ARISE TV, Abaribe said Ningi knew it was a mistake claiming what he could not prove, because he was not a new member in the Senate.

Abaribe added that despite him, himself, being a senior senator, he had not received the N500 million alleged by Jarigbe.

He said, “Ningi knew it was going to be a mistake. He knew. He’s a member of the Senate. He can’t say he didn’t know. He’s an old Senator. He has been in the Senate before. He knew that this wasn’t correct.

“I never got 500 million. I think Jarigbe tried to clarify his statement. He came back subsequently to say, ‘No, Ningi told me I was given’, because he didn’t get. He’s also a ranking Senator.

“So, I think that at the end of the day, what you see really is that…well, I’m an APGA Senator–the only APGA Senator in the Senate. Maybe being a minority of the minority, they didn’t consider me worthy of being given. Nobody told me about that money.

“I wanted to say that, without equivocation, that both Jarigbe and the Senate leader tried to clarify this issue. Number one: nobody was given 500 million. Even a few of my colleagues called me to say, ‘Ahh you get 500 million we dey beg you for money but you no wan give us one naira out of it.’

“Can you imagine? So, of course I got 266 million for what’s called Zonal Intervention Fund which Nigerians call “constituency project” funds. And this thing takes a budget circle which is twelve months. So if at the end of twelve months you don’t see what’s in the budget for your constituency, then you hold your representatives whether in the Reps or Senate culpable.”

Daily Trust

An international business research firm, the Economist Intelligence Unit, has declared that indigenous oil companies acquiring assets of divesting international oil companies will not be able to match their investing power.

The EIU, in its latest Country Report on Nigeria, observed that the indigenous companies would not have the same financial power to invest as the multinationals, who had been the major drivers of the Nigerian oil industry since its inception.

It feared that there might be a net withdrawal of foreign direct investment in 2024, as it happened in the previous year.

“The wider business environment will remain highly challenging, undermined by corruption, cronyism, rampant insecurity and a giant infrastructure gap.

“Multinationals are increasingly deciding to quit Nigeria or reduce their presence; we estimate there was a net withdrawal of foreign direct investment in 2023, to be repeated in 2024 as naira losses exert pressure on balance sheets carrying large foreign liabilities,” the EIU said.

 Recently, Shell Plc said it had “reached an agreement to sell its Nigerian onshore subsidiary, The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited” to Renaissance, a consortium of five companies comprising four exploration and production companies.

Also, ExxonMobil, Equinor, and TotalEnergies had all indicated interest in divesting their stakes in Nigeria’s onshore oilfields.

The Minister of State Petroleum (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, said the divestment by some international oil companies was a win-win situation, saying it would make room for indigenous companies to develop capacity within the onshore and shallow water spaces.

Also, the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, had accused the foreign oil firms of not being genuine investors, questioning their rationale for abandoning onshore for offshore.

Uzodinma reasoned, “It is a blessing in disguise because the more they leave, the more opportunities the indigenous companies would have to participate.”

The report added, “The exodus includes oil majors who are selling onshore assets, which are high-cost and vulnerable to insecurity, leading to indigenisation of the sector over time. “Although, in principle, this is positive for foreign-exchange accumulation, local companies will be unable to match the investing power of outgoing multinationals.”

The international research firm predicted that the country’s crude oil production would rise from 1.23 million barrels per day in 2023 to 1.48mbpd in 2028, saying that “this remains about 250,000bpd below the 2019 level”.

Punch

President Bola Tinubu has directed the opening of Nigeria’s land and air borders with the Republic of Niger. 

Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday said the directive was in compliance with the decision of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government at its extraordinary summit on February 24, 2024, in Abuja.

The statement also directed the lifting of other sanctions against the country with immediate effect.

At its extraordinary summit on February 24, 2024, in Abuja the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government had agreed to lift economic sanctions against the Republic of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

The statement also named some of the sanctions to be lifted as the “Closure of land and air borders between Nigeria and Niger Republic, as well as ECOWAS no-fly zone on all commercial flights to and from Niger Republic.

“Suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between Nigeria and Niger, as well as freeze of all service transactions, including utility services and electricity to Niger Republic.

“Freeze of assets of the Republic of Niger in ECOWAS Central Banks and freeze of assets of the Republic of Niger, state enterprises, and parastatals in commercial banks.

“Suspension of Niger from all financial assistance and transactions with all financial institutions, particularly EBID and BOAD and Travel bans on government officials and their family members.”

Tinubu has also approved the lifting of financial and economic sanctions against the Republic of Guinea.

Daily Trust

Israel says it will 'flood' Gaza with aid as pressure mounts to do more

Israel will try to "flood" the Gaza Strip with humanitarian aid from a variety of entry points, the main military spokesman said on Wednesday as international pressure mounted to address the growing problem of hunger in the besieged enclave.

After more than five months of war in Gaza, aid agencies have warned that the area's 2.3 million population face a growing risk of famine unless food supplies are stepped up sharply and they have accused Israel of not doing enough to ensure sufficient aid gets through.

Israel says it has placed no limits on the amount of aid that it will allow in to Gaza, and blames failures by the aid agencies for delays but it has faced mounting demands even from its closest allies to do more.

"We are trying to flood the area, to flood it with humanitarian aid," military spokesperson, Daniel Hagari told a group of foreign reporters.

Earlier on Wednesday, the military announced that six aid trucks with supplies from the World Food Organization had entered the northern part of the Gaza Strip, where the hunger crisis has been especially acute, through a crossing in the security fence known as the 96th gate.

More such convoys would follow as well as deliveries from other entry points, complemented by air drops and seaborne aid cargoes, Hagari said.

"We are learning and improving and doing different changes so as not to create a routine but to create a diversity of ways that we can enter," he said.

Hagari acknowledged, however, that getting supplies into the enclave was only one part of the problem and more needed to be done to solve the problem of how to distribute it fairly and efficiently to desperately needy people.

"The problem inside Gaza is the distribution problem," he said.

The challenges in delivering and distributing aid safely were given stark illustration earlier this month when a convoy of aid trucks was surrounded by thousands of people trying to get supplies and troops opened fire.

Scores of people were killed in the incident although there were sharply differing accounts from Palestinian health authorities, which said most of those killed were shot dead and Israel saying most were trampled to death or run over by trucks in the panic.

Most aid that comes into Gaza is cleared by Israel at Kerem Shalom, a customs station at the border point between Egypt, Israel and Gaza and then brought in through the southern city of Rafah, the main passenger crossing point between Egypt and Gaza.

But as aid agencies have struggled to distribute aid, that has become increasingly problematic and there have been growing demands from world powers including the United States and the European Union for more crossing points to be opened up.

The United States has already conducted emergency air drops of food into Gaza and is working on opening up a maritime corridor into the enclave.

A ship carrying aid is currently approaching Gaza in a pilot trial of maritime delivery, that is expected to be followed up by a U.S. military effort to set up a dock on Gaza's coast that will enable distribution of up to two million meals a day.

Reuters

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Four killed in Russian attacks on Ukraine's eastern regions, Kyiv says

Four people were killed in overnight Russian drone and bomb attacks in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy and eastern Donetsk regions, local officials said on Wednesday.

Russian forces dropped a bomb on Myrnohrad town in Donetsk region, killing two and injuring five people, local governor Vadym Filashkin said on the Telegram messaging app.

The Sumy regional military administration said a Russian drone hit an apartment block overnight.

Two bodies were pulled out from under rubble, emergency services said on Telegram. Eight people were injured, and rescuers sifted through debris throughout the day.

The administration said 30 apartments of a five-storey residential building were damaged, 15 of them largely destroyed.

Late on Tuesday, two apartment buildings caught fire as a result of a Russian missile attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. The death toll there rose to five people on Wednesday, local authorities said, with at least 50 more injured.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was born and raised in the city, praised rescue teams on Telegram and vowed Russia would be brought to account.

Russian officials in regions bordering Ukraine on Wednesday reported Kyiv had launched a sweeping drone attack for the second night in a row, again targeting energy facilities.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kiev loses 245 troops in Donetsk area over past day, Russia’s top brass reports

The Ukrainian military lost roughly 245 troops, a tank and an air defense system in battles with Russian forces in the Donetsk area over the past day, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Wednesday, giving the latest data on the special military operation in Ukraine.

"In the Donetsk direction, Southern Battlegroup units gained more advantageous sites and positions in active operations and inflicted damage on amassed manpower and military hardware of the Ukrainian army’s 56th motorized infantry, 28th, 42nd and 93rd mechanized, 5th and 92nd assault, 17th tank and 241st territorial defense brigades near the settlements of Krasnoye, Kleshcheyevka, Andreyevka and Kurdyumovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said in a statement.

The Ukrainian military lost roughly 245 personnel, a tank, 3 armored combat vehicles, 5 motor vehicles and a Strela-10 surface-to-air missile system. In counter-battery fire, Russian forces destroyed a UK-made AS-90 Braveheart self-propelled artillery system, a D-20 howitzer, 3 D-30 howitzers, a Gvozdika motorized artillery system and a fuel depot in the Donetsk direction over the past 24 hours, it specified.

Ukraine’s army loses 250 troops in Kupyansk area over past day

The Ukrainian army lost roughly 250 troops in battles with Russian forces in the Kupyansk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kupyansk direction, units of the Battlegroup West operating in interaction with aircraft and artillery inflicted damage on manpower and equipment of the Ukrainian army’s 57th motorized infantry brigade near the settlement of Sinkovka in the Kharkov Region and repelled an enemy counterattack near the settlement of Terny in the Donetsk People’s Republic. They thwarted a Ukrainian army attempt to break through into borderline Russian territory in the Belgorod and Kursk Regions. The enemy’s losses amounted to 250 personnel," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian military also lost 7 tanks, 7 US-made Bradley infantry fighting vehicles, 2 armored personnel carriers, 4 motor vehicles, a US-manufactured M777 howitzer, 2 D-20 howitzers, a D-30 howitzer, a Gvozdika motorized artillery system and a Nona self-propelled artillery gun, it specified.

Russian forces repulse 12 Ukrainian counterattacks in Avdeyevka area over past day

Russian forces repulsed 12 Ukrainian army counterattacks and improved their frontline positions in the Avdeyevka area near Donetsk over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Avdeyevka direction, units of the Battlegroup Center improved their forward edge positions in active operations and repulsed 12 counterattacks," the ministry said.

The Ukrainian army lost "as many as 460 personnel, a tank, 3 command and staff vehicles and 17 motor vehicles," it specified.

In counter-battery fire, Russian forces destroyed a UK-made AS-90 Braveheart self-propelled artillery system, a US-manufactured M777 artillery gun, an Msta-B howitzer and a US-made M119 howitzer in the Avdeyevka direction over the past 24 hours, it said.

Russian forces take advantageous sites in south Donetsk area over past day

Russian forces took advantageous sites and inflicted damage on Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in the south Donetsk area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the south Donetsk direction, units of the Battlegroup East took more advantageous positions and struck manpower and equipment of the 102nd and 128th territorial defense brigades near the settlements of Malinovka in the Zaporozhye Region, Staromayorskoye and Urozhainoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," the ministry said.

Russian forces also repelled a counterattack by formations of the Ukrainian army’s 58th motorized infantry brigade near the settlement of Novodonetskoye in the Donetsk People’s Republic," it said.

"The Ukrainian army’s losses amounted to 150 personnel, two armored personnel carriers and two pickup trucks," the ministry specified.

Russian forces strike four Ukrainian army brigades in Kherson area over past day

Russian forces inflicted damage on four Ukrainian army brigades in the Kherson area over the past day, the ministry reported.

"In the Kherson direction, units of the Dnepr Battlegroup inflicted damage by firepower on formations of the Ukrainian army’s 141st infantry, 23rd National Guard, 126th territorial defense and 35th marine infantry brigades near the settlements of Stepovoye in the Zaporozhye Region, Nikopol in the Dnepropetrovsk Region, Berislav and Tyaginka in the Kherson Region," the ministry said.

The enemy lost roughly 30 troops, two motor vehicles, a US-made M777 artillery system, an Akatsiya self-propelled artillery gun and a Gvozdika motorized artillery system in the Kherson direction over the past 24 hours, it specified.

Russian troops destroy 2 Ukrainian Mi-8 gunships, Patriot air defense system in past day

Russian forces destroyed two Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopters, an arms repair workshop and a US-made Patriot air defense system over the past day, the ministry reported.

"Operational-tactical aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile troops and artillery of the Russian groupings of forces destroyed two Ukrainian Air Force Mi-8 helicopters on a site near the settlement of Novopavlovka in the Donetsk People’s Republic and a workshop for the repair of armament and military hardware near the community of Balakleya in the Kharkov Region," the ministry said.

Russian forces also destroyed a US-made Patriot air defense system at a firing position in the Kharkov Region and struck Ukrainian manpower and military equipment in 129 areas over the past 24 hours, it specified.

Russian air defenses down four HIMARS rockets, 136 Ukrainian UAVs over past day

Russian air defense forces shot down four rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, three French-manufactured Hammer smart bombs and destroyed 136 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the past day, the ministry reported.

"During the last 24-hour period, air defense capabilities shot down 136 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles, four rockets of the US-made HIMARS multiple launch rocket system, six rockets of the Grad multiple rocket launcher and three French-manufactured Hammer guided air bombs," the ministry said.

In all, the Russian Armed Forces have destroyed 577 Ukrainian warplanes, 269 helicopters, 15,362 unmanned aerial vehicles, 485 surface-to-air missile systems, 15,464 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,238 multiple rocket launchers, 8,397 field artillery guns and mortars and 19,709 special military motor vehicles since the start of the special military operation, the ministry reported.

Reuters/Tass