Commodity trader Olam Group said that its investigation found no evidence to support allegations of a reported scandal at its Nigerian units, spurring a surge in its Singapore-listed shares.

The audit and risk committee, assisted by external counsel and independent accountants, had completed the review, without identifying any evidence, the company said in a statement.

No charges have been brought against the subsidiaries nor any of their officers, with local businesses operating normally, it said.

The company — which is about 51% held by Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s state-owned investment fund — has been under scrutiny following news reports in Nigeria that its domestic branches were involved in a multibillion dollar fraud and being probed by local authorities. The company denied the allegations in the articles in September, and ordered a review into the matter.

Olam Group shares collapsed to the lowest close since 2005 in late October following the fraud allegations, which added to setbacks facing the company including a profit slump and IPO delay. On Monday, the stock leapt as much as 15% to S$1.01.

“Olam regards Nigeria as an important part of its future strategic plan and it will continue to seek future opportunities to grow its business there,” it said.

The commodity trader is scheduled to announce full-year earnings later this month.

Bloomberg

Some bandits in the early hours of Sunday invaded Gindin Duste Makyali of the Kufana District, Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State, killing at least 12 people during the attack.

Sources said in the incident which happened around 5am, no fewer than 17 houses were razed while noting that the bandits in large numbers stormed the town shooting indiscriminately.

The attack, which our correspondent gathered lasted many hours without security operatives in sight, was in the wake of another attack in two local governments of Igabi and Kauru, all in the state on Friday night.

In those attacks, bandits raided two communities of Gwada and Kassam in Igabi as well as Kauru Local Government Areas where nine people were killed, and seven injured while scores, including a retired Central Bank of Nigeria director and his wife, were abducted.

While Igabi is in the northern part of the state, Kauru is in the Southern Kaduna axis.

The breakdown showed that six persons were killed, five abducted and two injured in Kauru LGA, while three persons were killed, seven injured, and  30 others kidnapped in Igabi LGA of the state.

There was no official confirmation yet from the police but the source confided in our correspondent that the attack occurred close to a security post.

According to the source, 12 of the residents were burnt to death in their houses while nine sustained injuries.

The state governor, Uba Sani, condemned the renewed attack.

The governor who spoke through the Overseeing Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, said he received the news of the latest attack with shock while directing the State Emergency Agency to urgently assist the affected communities in Kajuru and Igabi.

“Sani who has been leading meetings with security forces, condemned the attacks in strong terms and prayed for the repose of the souls of the deceased. He also directed the State Emergency Management Agency to, as a matter of urgency, assist the affected communities in Kajuru and Igabi LGAs following the razing of some of their houses and valuables.

“The governor further reiterated the government’s dedication and commitment in tackling the security challenges experienced across the state,” he added.

Punch

Armed bandits have attacked the divisional headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force in Zurmi town, the headquarters of the Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State

The bandits were said to have invaded the town Sunday evening, killing seven persons including a police officer.

An indigene of the town, Babangida Zurmi, told Channels Television that he was yet to speak with any of his relatives as of 9:45pm because most of their numbers were switched off.

“As we speak now, I can’t get in touch with anybody in the town, their numbers are switched off. That means the bandits are still around. We need help from relevant authorities,” he said.

Another source who spoke with our correspondent said the bandits attacked the town with a mission to revenge the killing of two persons by local vigilante in the area.

He said several shops were burnt and the divisional headquarters of the police in Zurmi was also razed.

Another bandit group operating in the Maradun Local Government Area had killed four persons and abducted several others.

According to sources, the four persons were killed when bandits opened fire on the people clearing bushes along the road.

Spokesperson for the police in Zamfara State, Yazid Abubakar, confirmed the attack.

He said he was still gathering more information on the Zurmi attack on the Divisional headquarters of the police in the town.

CTV

Israel vows to 'finish the job' in Gaza as War Cabinet member threatens a Ramadan deadline for Rafah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday brushed off growing calls to halt the military offensive in Gaza, vowing to “finish the job” as a member of his War Cabinet threatened to invade the southern city of Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages are not freed by the upcoming Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Israel’s government has not publicly discussed a timeline for a ground offensive on Rafah, where more than half the enclave’s 2.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge. Retired general Benny Gantz, part of Netanyahu’s three-member War Cabinet, represents an influential voice but not the final word on what might lie ahead.

“If by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue to the Rafah area,” Gantz told a conference of Jewish American leaders. Ramadan, expected to begin March 10, is historically a tense time in the region.

As cease-fire negotiations struggle after signs of progress in recent weeks, Netanyahu has called demands by Gaza’s ruling Hamas militant group “delusional.”

The United States, Israel’s top ally, says it still hopes to broker a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement, and envisions a wider resolution of the war sparked by Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.

The U.S. also says it will veto another draft U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire, with its U.N. ambassador warning against measures that could jeopardize “the opportunity for an enduring resolution of hostilities.”

But Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, which the U.S. calls a key element in a broader vision for normalization of relations between Israel and regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia. His Cabinet adopted a declaration Sunday saying Israel “categorically rejects international edicts on a permanent arrangement with the Palestinians” and opposes any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

The international community overwhelmingly supports an independent Palestinian state as part of a future peace agreement. Netanyahu’s government is filled with hard-liners who oppose Palestinian independence.

Netanyahu wants Israel to achieve “total victory” over Hamas. In response to international concern over a Rafah offensive, he has said Palestinian civilians will be evacuated. Where they will go in largely devastated Gaza is not clear.

The suggested timing for the offensive came as the World Health Organization chief said southern Gaza’s main medical center, Nasser Hospital, “is not functional anymore” after Israeli forces raided it in Khan Younis last week.

Israeli strikes across Gaza continued, killing at least 18 people overnight into Sunday, according to medics and witnesses. A strike in Rafah killed six people, including a woman and three children, and another killed five in Khan Younis, the main target of the southern Gaza offensive in recent weeks. Associated Press journalists saw the bodies.

“All those who were martyred were those whom the Jews asked to move to safe places,” said a bystander after the Rafah strike, Ahmad Abu Rezeq.

In Gaza City, which suffered widespread destruction early in the war, an airstrike flattened a home, killing seven people, including three women, according to relative Sayed al-Afifi.

Israel’s military rarely comments on individual strikes and blames civilian casualties on Hamas because the militants operate in dense residential areas.

UN SAYS RAIDED HOSPITAL NO LONGER FUNCTIONS

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a WHO team was not allowed to enter Nasser Hospital on Friday or Saturday. In a post on X, he said about 200 patients remain, including 20 who need urgent referrals elsewhere.

Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant said at least 200 militants surrendered at the hospital. He also claimed that Hamas in Khan Younis is defeated, and that Hamas is largely leaderless in Gaza. He gave no evidence to support the claims.

The Gaza Health Ministry said 70 medical personnel were among those arrested, along with patients, leaving 150 patients without medical care. It said Israel refused to allow patients, including newborns, to be evacuated to other hospitals.

The military says it is looking for the remains of hostages inside Nasser Hospital and does not target doctors or patients.

The Oct. 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostage. Militants still hold around 130 hostages, a fourth of them believed to be dead. Most of the others were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November.

The war has killed at least 28,985 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. On Sunday it said 127 bodies were brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours.

Around 80% of Gaza’s population have been displaced, and a quarter face starvation. Wael Abu Omar, a spokesman for the Palestinian Crossings Authority, said 123 aid trucks entered Gaza through Israel’s Kerem Shalom border crossing Sunday and four trucks of cooking gas entered through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. That’s well below the 500 trucks entering daily before the war.

In the occupied West Bank, a shootout erupted when Israeli forces went to arrest an armed suspect in the town of Tulkarem. The military said the suspect was killed, and a member of Israel’s paramilitary Border Police was severely wounded. It described the target of the raid as a senior militant. The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed.

The war in Gaza has threatened to ignite wider conflict in the region. The U.S. Central Command said it conducted five self-defense strikes Saturday against cruise missiles and drones in area of Yemen controlled by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group.

US OPPOSES A NEW CEASE-FIRE RESOLUTION

Algeria, the Arab representative on the U.N. Security Council, has circulated a draft resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, and rejecting the forced displacement of Palestinians.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the draft “will not be adopted” and runs counter to Washington’s efforts to end the fighting. The U.S. vetoed previous resolutions that had wide international support.

The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have spent weeks trying to broker a cease-fire and hostage release, but Qatar said Saturday the talks “have not been progressing as expected.”

Hamas has said it will not release all remaining hostages without Israel ending the war and withdrawing from Gaza. It also demands the release of hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including top militants.

AP

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

NATO troops, disguised as mercenaries, control MLRS, air defense in Ukraine — top brass

Military personnel from NATO countries, under the guise of mercenaries, operate air defense systems, multiple launch rocket systems, and tactical missile systems in Ukraine, Colonel General Sergey Rudskoy, chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the Russian General Staff and First Deputy Chief of the General Staff, said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezdanewspaper.

"NATO military personnel, under the guise of mercenaries, participate in hostilities. They control air defense systems, tactical missiles and multiple launch rocket systems, and are part of assault detachments," he said.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine accuses Russia of executing injured prisoners at Avdiivka, Vesele

Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they had opened an investigation into alleged shootings by Russian forces of six unarmed Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Avdiivka, and two at a village in the same region, after Russia claimed full control of the city.

"An investigation into the shootings of unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war in Avdiivka and Vesele has been launched," the prosecutor's office in Donetsk region said on its Telegram channel.

The prosecutors referred to information about "the execution of six prisoners" at a position in Avdiivka, adding that they were "seriously injured and awaiting evacuation." It said the information had been shared on Telegram but did not name the source.

Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne quoted Ukrainian military spokesperson Dmytro Lykhoviy as saying: "There is still no possibility to confirm or refute" the killings at Avdiivka, as an investigation was ongoing. However, he added it would not be the first time Russia had committed war crimes.

The Donetsk prosecutor's office said a video fragment taken by a drone showed a Russian soldier shooting two captured Ukrainian soldiers at close range at the village of Vesele.

"Not wanting to leave the prisoners alive, the occupier kills them with automatic weapons," the office added, without saying when the incident had occurred.

Earlier on Sunday, the official Telegram channel of Ukraine's land forces shared video apparently shot from a drone of people in uniform in a narrow trench.

An armed person the post identifies as Russian is seen approaching two uniformed people identified as Ukrainian and then discharging his weapon and apparently shooting them both.

The Ukrainians in the footage do not appear to be attempting to defend themselves and are in a narrow trench in single file as the other soldier approaches and appears to grab them both.

After initial confrontations, the two injured people are seen collapsing on to their sides in the trench, twitching. The other person is then seen standing back briefly, before appearing to shoot them both again.

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Russia's defence ministry did not respond to a Reuters email sent outside regular business hours seeking comment on the allegations, the latest in a series of accusations leveled by Ukrainian prosecutors that it has killed prisoners of war. Russia has denied such claims.

Reuters could not immediately verify the video or other details of the account by the Ukrainian prosecutors and military.

Tass/Reuters

The Quickest Way to Kill A Nation

           1

Pepeye, nigba too m’owe

Ki lo be l’udo se?

     And a dark, unruly tragedy is born

As the Nation thrashes about

     Like a snake without a head

Do you really wonder

     Why so much power

Should be thrust upon

     Those with so little sense

Do you wonder why

     Those with no eyes

Have forced their way

     To the fore front of our chase?

They who have no heads

     Have stolen our caps

Those with no legs

     Have taken over the daintiest of our trousers

Toasting the talisman of tribe and tongue

     Invoking the charisma of creed and class

They sneak their serpents

     Into the quietest corner of our garden

Jumble up the geography

     Of our bearings

And exploit the sorrowful saga

     Of our grand un-remembrances

Always, the wrong foot forward

     Then our tales of incessant woes

How can a land so lavishly endowed

     Be so medievally misruled?

The mindless clique who rule our pack

     Have killed our soul and frittered our faith

Those incapable of thinking

     Have now turned our “Leaders of Thought”

               2

Lukurumusu wrested our Golden Crown

     And headed straight for the putrid mud

His mouth stuffed with the corpses

  Of assassinated oaths

Fierce and frequent was

     His quest for that Crown

He crawled, caviled cajoled, cried in countless bids

     Till a mongrel coalition rewarded his frenzy

Now up in the saddle

     And finding, so fast, the Crown

Too big for his middling head

     As an unraveling Nation rues its fatal choice

The Nation bleeds from all pores

     Old separatist animosities re-draw the map

As Luku retreats into a conclave of clan and cronies

     Merit and Good Judgement his prime disposable virtues

Clan over competence, tribe above truth

     Square pegs in round holes

And the Nation grabs the reverse gear

     And speeds, break-neck, into medieval darkness

             3

Now Bandits stoke our fears

     An oil-drenched Nation lacks

The brain to power its progress

     A mindless paint-over of a battered currency

Has thrown the nation’s debt-drained economy into a tailspin

     The ‘cashless’ country dreamed up by

Emefailure, Chief Witchdoctor of the National Vault,

     Has turned Nigeria into the saddest joke of the Universe

From the rocky seat of power

     It has been silence, empty, disdainful silence

But why did Luku fight so hard for this Crown

     When he knew it was too heavy for his head?   

Unspeakable hardships harass our being

     Untimely deaths deplete our ranks

There is not a single corner in this land

     Untouched by this plague from our mindless Pharaoh

Unhappy the land where rulers cannot THINK

     And/or are too haughty to know

The world asks with impatient consternation:

     Why is Lukuland such a Netherworld of Fools?

Ignorance kills a Nation

     Our own is already close to a disgraceful grave

What do you do with/to a Nation

     Which so conscientiously disables the able?

Oh Duck, why your frantic craving for the river

When you knew you lacked the power to swim?

** Niyi Osundare, one of Africa’s Foremost Poets and Academics, is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of English, University of New Orleans.

Are you pushing a rock uphill? When you're working on bringing a product or service to market, sometimes it can feel very burdensome – like you're pushing a heavy load skyward. A lot of effort is required and you're becoming exhausted in the process.

But this is to be expected, right? You're always hearing that every new idea takes time, effort, patience, determination and plain hard work to become successful.

It's true that what we perceive as an overnight success is usually at least 10 years in the making. There's more to it than that, though. Some ideas really are just easier to launch.

These ideas are like rocks rolling down a hill. They gather momentum easily and require less effort. These are the ideas you need to be able to identify quickly and test.

Why? Because the challenges that every inventor must conquer to bring any new idea to life are numerous. The more you can do to limit these challenges, the greater your likelihood of success.

Below, I've listed five questions to help you identify ideas that are going to take off. (Hint: There are fewer barriers to overcome.)

1. Is it a simple solution to a widespread problem?

A problem many people experience for which there is no elegant solution – yet – is what I call a "sleeping dinosaur." We're all aware of the need for improvement.

2. Is it easily understood?

Instructions aren't needed, because the purpose of the item and how to use it are obvious. (Education is costly and uncertain, making it a big barrier to overcome.)

3. Is it easily demonstrated?

You don't need a prototype. A simple sketch, 3-D computer-generated visual, or even a drawing will do. Our vision helps us process new information quickly. Being able to visually convey the benefit of the idea is a powerful selling tool.

4. Is it easily manufactured?

There's no need for new machinery. Your idea is not reinventing the wheel. No research and development means very little capital expenditure. Ideas that don't require reconfiguring a supply chain are much easier to scale and ship.

5. Does it cost the same or less than competitors?

After you receive interest, one of the first questions you will hear is, "What does it cost?" Cost is a huge hurdle to overcome for product developers. Ideas that gather momentum easily are the same or cheaper than similar products.

What comes next? Putting the right team together, which begins to take away perceived risk. Then, when you start showing the idea, it moves forward. It rolls.

Now, your job is to guide it to market by filing the right intellectual propertypatents, finding the right commercialization partners and ensuring everyone involved profits along the way.

This isn't easy; it's practically an art form. If you are doing this for the first time, find a mentor. Specifically, someone who has repeatedly achieved what you are trying to do. Identifying ideas with the potential to roll is much easier in hindsight.

Learning the difference between ideas that require a heavy lift versus those that roll is a skill every entrepreneur needs to develop. I highly recommend focusing on simple ideas first, because there is a great deal of inertia to overcome when implementing anything new.

Later, after you've developed a better understanding of what's required to turn an idea into a product, you'll be able to spot obstacles and overcome them more easily.

Looking back, one of the most difficult ideas I commercialized was a rotating label. New machinery had to be built in every manufacturing facility, which wasn't scalable.

Consumers didn't know how to use the product instinctively, so we had to place a demo at every point of purchase in Walmart showing how it spun. (We even filmed a commercial with Alex Trebek, the late host of the game show Jeopardy, with the same goal in mind.)

And because the rotating label was actually two labels, it doubled costs. While it offered a clear benefit, the product ultimately failed for these reasons.

One of the easiest ideas I licensed was the Michael Jordan Wall-Ball to the toy company Ohio Art. They were already selling an indoor Nerf basketball hoop that featured a small image of the iconic basketball player.

Why not transform the entire backboard into the shape of Michael Jordan? Three days after I pitched this simple idea, I received a licensing agreement in the mail – and earned royalties for the next 10 years.

The idea made good business sense. Cost was reduced by going from plastic to paper. By changing the packaging from a box to a clamshell, the product stood out better. Enlarging the image of Michael Jordan made it more attractive to fans.

Inc

Nigeria’s economy faces fresh concerns as data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed a significant decline in the country’s capital importation in 2023.

Amid gruelling foreign exchange woes, the NBS said Nigeria only attracted a meagre $3.91 billion in foreign capital inflow last year — the lowest since 2007.

According to TheCable Index analysis, in the five years between 2007 and 2011, inflow ranged from $5.7 billion to $9.57 billion.

A significant jump occurred in 2012, with inflows reaching $16.62 billion. This was followed by two consecutive increases exceeding $20 billion between 2013 and 2014.

Inflows dipped again from 2015 onwards, with a brief recovery in 2017. This culminated in a decline of $3.91 billion in 2023 — marking a 17-year low.

Notably, at $24 billion, 2019 saw the highest foreign investment in the past 17 years. However, this peak was not sustained, hinting at the uncertain nature of foreign investors.

The NBS said portfolio investment (FPI) in 023 was 29.5 percent ($1.15 billion) of the $3.91 billion total capital importation. The highest FPI in the last 17 years was in 2019 at $16.4 billion, followed by $14.9 billion in 2014, and $11.8 billion in 2018.

On the other hand, foreign direct investment (FDI) stood at $377.4 million, and other investment was $2.38 billion last year.

According to the NBS report, 18 states that failed to attract foreign investment in three years (2021 – 2023) include:

• Bauchi
• Bayelsa
• Benue
• Borno
• Cross River
• Ebonyi
• Edo
• Enugu
• Gombe
• Imo
• Jigawa
• Kaduna
• Kebbi
• Nasarawa
• Sokoto
• Taraba
• Yobe
• Zamfara

Eight out of the 18 states, recorded zero foreign investment in five years (2019-2023). They are:

• Bayelsa
• Ebonyi
• Gombe
• Jigawa
• Kebbi
• Taraba
• Yobe
• Zamfara

LAGOS CONTINUES TO ATTRACT CAPITAL AS OTHERS LAG

In 2023, Lagos took the lead, outshining others — including the federal capital territory (FCT) — to top the list of states that attracted the most foreign investments.

Further analysis of the data shows that the country’s major commercial city raked in $2.50 billion, representing 64 percent of the total capital inflow into Nigeria.

The NBS report said the FCT emerged as the second top investment destination with $1.17 billion — 30 percent of the country’s total capital inflow.

Other states that attracted foreign investments in 2023 are Abia ($150.09 million), Akwa Ibom ($39.13 million), Ogun ($27.09 million), and Rivers ($6 million).

Adamawa attracted $4.5 million, Anambra ($4 million), Niger ($1.50 million), Ondo ($200,000) and Ekiti $51,000.

The Cable

Governors elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have advised President Bola Tinubu to throw in the towel if he cannot provide a sustainable solution to the problems plaguing the nation.

The PDP Governors who gave the advice in a statement at the weekend reminded the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government of the need to be guided by the fact that it is (APC) that sought power to solve the problems of Nigeria, not to compound them or shift blame and use propaganda to confuse issues.

The Governors noted that the hardship and suffering being faced by Nigerians have no tribal, religious or party colouration, stressing that “a hungry man is an angry man”.

Accordingly, the governors said while all tiers of government have a role to play, the APC led Federal Government has a disproportionate role to mobilise Nigerians and all organs and tiers of government for sustainable solutions, adding that “If it cannot do so or is unable to do so, it should graciously throw in the towel.”

The PDP Governors pointed out that the buck ultimately stops at the President’s table as the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria, the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federation, the Chief Salesman and leader of Nigeria.

However, they promised to continue to work collaboratively with the President in finding lasting solutions to “a very difficult situation created or exacerbated by the APC since 2015”.

The Governors also frowned at the Minister of Information, APC Governors’ Forum and other officials of the APC-led Federal Government who criticised the PDP-GF for their suggestions, advice and “patriotic intervention on the way forward for the country in a communique issued at the end of their recent meeting in Abuja.”

“Attempts by the Minister of Information, APC Governors’ Forum and other officials of the Federal Government who criticised the PDP Governors’ Forum for their patriotic intervention should be guided by the fact that the APC sought power to solve the problems of Nigeria not to compound them or shift blame, or grandstand or use propaganda to obfuscate or confuse issues.”

“PDP governed States are comparatively the best in Nigeria in terms of developmental policies, programmes, and projects that benefit their States positively, regular payment of salaries, pensions, gratuities, and minimum wage to their workforce.

“State governments that are delinquent on these issues are not of PDP extraction. It is false to say so.

“Even the food crises are exacerbated by insecurity and high exchange rate issues, among others, which are largely federal subjects.

“The PDP Governors as stakeholders in governance would continue to work collaboratively with Mr. President to find lasting solutions to a very difficult situation created or exacerbated by the APC since 2015. We believe in co-operative Federalism.

“We are not in doubt that he is trying his best. We only hope and pray that his best is good enough to take Nigeria out of the woods in the shortest possible time”, they said in the statement signed by CID Maduabum, Director-General of PDP Governors’ Forum.

Daily Trust

Israel stages airstrikes across Gaza, makes arrests at hospital

Israeli forces carried out arrests in Gaza's largest functioning hospital, health officials and the military said on Saturday, as airstrikes hit across the enclave and rain battered Palestinians taking shelter in Rafah.

Israeli forces raided the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Thursday as they pressed their war on Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that rules the enclave.

"Occupation forces detained a large number of medical staff members inside Nasser Medical Complex, which they (Israel) turned into a military base," said Gaza Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday pledged to push on with the military campaign and said troops would move into the southern border city of Rafah.

The Israeli military said it was hunting for militants in Nasser and had so far arrested 100 suspects on the premises, killed gunmen near the hospital and found weapons inside it.

Hamas has denied allegations that its fighters use medical facilities for cover. At least two released Israeli hostages have said they were held in Nasser and Israel has released pictures and videos supporting its claim that Hamas operates within medical compounds.

The Israeli incursion into the hospital has raised alarm about patients, medical workers and displaced Palestinians sheltering there.

About 10,000 people were seeking shelter at the hospital earlier this week, but many left either in anticipation of the Israeli raid or because of Israeli orders to evacuate, the Gaza Health Ministry said.

Further south in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million population are sheltering, the winter cold added to already dire conditions when wind blew away some tents of the displaced and rain flooded others.

INTERNATIONAL CONCERN FOR RAFAH

Israeli plans to storm Rafah have prompted international concern that such action would sharply worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Netanyahu said Israel was intent on taking out Hamas battalions in Rafah - regardless of whether a deal was reached to free the remaining Israeli hostages - and that there will be room to evacuate the civilian population, including in areas north of the city.

"But we need to be sure to do this in an orderly fashion. That's the directive I gave to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). The IDF is doing it and preparing it."

"Yes, there is a lot of opposition in the world, but this is exactly the moment we have to stand and say 'we will not do half the work or three-quarters of the work'."

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh blamed Israel for a lack of progress in achieving a ceasefire deal in Gaza, the group said in a statement on Saturday.

Haniyeh added that Hamas would not accept anything less than a complete cessation of hostilities, Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and "lifting of the unjust siege," as well as a release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli jails.

Israel's air and ground offensive has devastated much of Gaza and forced nearly all of its inhabitants from their homes. Palestinian health authorities say 28,858 people, mostly civilians, have been killed.

The war began when Hamas sent fighters into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and seizing 253 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

At least 83 people were killed in airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since Friday, health officials said, including one person on Saturday in Rafah, an area that borders Egypt and which Israel says is Hamas' last bastion.

Residents and medics said more died as night fell on Saturday when Israeli warplanes carried several airstrikes on at least seven houses, killing and wounding dozens of people. Hamas media outlets put the number of those killed at 38. The Israeli army spokesperson said they were checking into the reported strikes.

The Israeli military said its jets had killed numerous militants in Gaza fighting since Friday.

Across the border, air raid sirens warning of incoming rockets sounded in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Saturday.

Reuters