Richard Branson doesn’t want to be defined by his money.

Specifically, he finds it “quite insulting” when he is introduced as “the billionaire Richard Branson,” rather than as the co-founder of Virgin Group, he tells CNBC Make It. The reason: Nobody should view their net worth as an ultimate measure of success, and it’s “very sad” when making money is the sole focus of a person’s life, he says.

“Maybe in America, ‘billionaire’ is a sign of success, but that rankles me,” says Branson. “I think that your reputation is what you create.”

In Branson’s case, his reputation is often defined by Virgin Group, a venture capital and holding company that owns businesses in a wide variety of industries, from airlines and telecommunications to spaceflight.

The company is largely responsible for his estimated net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes — but he chafes at the idea he created it to make money.

“Your reputation is [whether] your team of people who work with you are proud of what they’ve created,” Branson says. “Paying the bills at the end of the year is important, but what entrepreneurs are doing all over the world today — and the only reason they’re succeeding — is that they’re making a difference in other people’s lives. And that’s all that really matters.”

Whenever Branson launches a new venture — citing Virgin Atlantic in 1984 and Virgin Mobile in 1999 — he asks himself two questions, he says:

• If I create this, can it be better than what everybody else is doing?
• Can it make a real difference in the world?

Financial success has often followed, but Branson is adamant that money has never been his chief motivating force.

His first successful business venture, a youth culture magazine called “Student,” was primarily meant to challenge “stale” traditional publications, Branson has noted. It tackled cultural issues like popular music and campaigning against the Vietnam War.

“I wanted it to survive. And yes, I wanted to have enough advertising to pay the printers and the paper manufacturers,” he says. “But money was certainly not the motivation for running a magazine.”

Branson’s top advice for becoming successful

Branson’s advice: Seek out opportunities you find interesting and exciting. It’s a recipe for greater happiness, and you’re more likely to end up successful than if you’re only thinking about the bottom line, he says.

“We only have one life,” says Branson. “We spend a lot of time at work and it’d be sad if we’re only doing it for our paychecks.”

Of course, success is never guaranteed. If you do follow your passions, you’ll still need factors like talent and perseverance on your side to avoid falling flat, experts say.

But Branson isn’t the only billionaire who advises that personal fulfillment doesn’t always have to come from amassing great wealth.

“Success isn’t necessarily how much money you have,” serial entrepreneur and investor Mark Cuban told LinkedIn’s “The Path” podcast last year. “Success is just setting a goal and being able to wake up every morning feeling really good about what you’ve accomplished.”

Cuban, who grew up in a blue-collar family near Pittsburgh, has long held that his career path was dictated more by a desire to control his own time than any financial aspirations.

“Time is the one asset you can never get back. You can never truly own [it],” he said at SXSW in March. “I wanted to be ... in a position where I get to call my own shots [and] spend time the way I wanted to spend time. That was always my motivating factor.”

CNBC

Atiku Abubakar, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate for 2023, has voiced strong criticism against the handling of the Lagos-Calabar Highway project, alleging personal interests overshadowing national priorities.

In a statement released by his media adviser, Paul Ibe, Atiku condemned the lack of proper notification regarding the demolition of properties in the Oniru corridor, including parts of Lagos State's landmarks, for the construction of the Coastal Highway.

Atiku pointed fingers at President Bola Tinubu and Gilbert Chagoury, owner of Hitech, the project contractor, suggesting their close ties as the driving force behind the project's hastened progress. He raised concerns over procurement violations and conflicts of interest, notably Tinubu's son's involvement on boards of companies linked to Chagoury.

The former Vice President noted that “Tinubu’s son, Seyi, is a director on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, a subsidiary of the Chagoury Group, which manufactures ceramic tiles and sanitary wares.”

Says Atiku: “To add insult to injury, this project that is being done more than $13bn was awarded without competitive bidding. From all indications, the so-called Badagry-Sokoto highway would be awarded similarly at an enormous cost to taxpayers purely because Tinubu has put his interest ahead of the Nigerian people.”

Atiku emphasized that the rushed execution of the project, without competitive bidding and amidst Nigeria's economic crisis, raises red flags. He lamented the disregard for local businesses and proper planning, attributing it to Tinubu's prioritization of personal interests over national welfare. Atiku highlighted discrepancies in project coordination, environmental impact assessment, and funding, accusing the Tinubu administration of bypassing legislative approval. He warned of adverse effects on investor confidence and the nation's economic standing if such practices persist unchecked.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed a substantial reduction in banks' loans to the private sector, amounting to N71.21 trillion in March. This marks a notable decline of 11.93 percent or N9.65 trillion from February's figure of N80.86 trillion, as reported in the CBN's money and credit data.

However, on a year-on-year basis, there was a significant increase of 65.57 percent compared to March 2023's N43.01 trillion.

Concurrently, credit to the government also witnessed a decline to N19.59 trillion in March from February's N33.93 trillion, representing a month-on-month decrease of 42 percent. Yet, on a yearly basis, credit to the government rose by 28.8 percent.

These shifts follow CBN's continued monetary tightening efforts, including consecutive interest rate hikes since May 2022 and a recent downward revision of the loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) from 65 percent to 50 percent in April. The LDR adjustment aims to regulate banks' liquidity, impacting their ability to extend loans to both businesses and individuals.

Exactly seven days after President Bola Tinubu attended the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Special Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he has yet to return to Nigeria. The forum, aimed at addressing global challenges, concluded on April 29th, 2024.

With no official statement from the Presidency regarding Tinubu's prolonged stay, speculation arises about his whereabouts. While some speculate he may be in Paris for medical reasons, credible sources indicate he traveled to London from Riyadh.

As par Daily Trust, o highly placed official at the Presidency confirmed Tinubu's presence in London but remained tight-lipped about the purpose of the visit, labeling it as private. Another official from the Presidential Villa assured that there's no cause for alarm, stating Tinubu would return to Nigeria "this weekend." Previously, Tinubu had visited the Kingdom of the Netherlands on an official invitation, engaging in high-level discussions and attending the Nigerian-Dutch Business and Investment Forum. His attendance at the WEF meeting in Riyadh aimed to address global economic policies, energy transitions, and geopolitical challenges.

Truce Talks Shift to Qatar as Hamas Hits Israel Border Crossing

Israel closed the Kerem Shalom humanitarian crossing into Gaza on Sunday after a rocket barrage was fired by Hamas, as weekend talks on a potential truce broke up inconclusively.

The status of the talks was unclear after the latest round in Cairo: Hamas officials said their negotiators had returned to Qatar to consult with the group’s political leadership. CIA Director William Burns was also leaving Cairo for consultations in Qatar, Reuters reported.

Israel and Hamas have been negotiating for weeks through mediators toward a potential truce that would include the release of hostages held in Gaza and of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. At the same time, Israel has threatened to launch an operation in Rafah, where it says Hamas battalions remain intact, and where hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians are sheltering.

President Joe Biden is scheduled to have lunch at the White House on Monday with King Abdullah II of Jordan, underscoring the broader desire to contain the nearly seven-month conflict.

On the ground, the Israeli army said about 10 projectiles were fired at Kerem Shalom, a corridor for humanitarian aid transfers that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited last week. Israel has been criticized for not allowing enough aid into the Gaza Strip, where US officials say a famine is deepening.

Hamas’ military wing claimed responsibility for the attack. Three Israeli soldiers were killed in the barrage and three others were seriously injured, the military reported. Israel says it isn’t restricting aid into Gaza.

The attack came hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is prepared to temporarily halt the war in Gaza to gain the release of the hostages held there, but won’t agree to the Hamas demand to end the war completely. Israel’s defense minister warned that its forces continue to prepare for a potential assault on Rafah in southern Gaza.

Netanyahu’s cabinet on Sunday also approved a decision to shut down Al Jazeera’s broadcasts out of Israel under a recently-passed law, drawing condemnation from the Qatar-based network and the Foreign Press Association.

Netanyahu doubled down on his position on Sunday.

“We are not ready to accept a situation in which the Hamas battalions come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure, and return to threatening the citizens of Israel in the surrounding settlements, in the cities of the south, in all parts of the country,” Netanyahu said in a statement on Sunday. Hamas, not Israel, is preventing a deal, he added.

Giving in to Hamas’ demands would be a “terrible defeat” for Israel, a huge victory for Hamas and Iran, and would project a “terrible weakness” to Israel’s friends and enemies alike, Netanyahu said.

This weakness would distance any further peace agreement, Netanyahu said, in an apparent reference to potential normalization of ties with Saudi Arabia.

Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement that the group, which is considered a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, brought “seriousness and positivity” to the current talks.

Netanyahu, he said, wanted to “invent constant justifications for the continuation of aggression, expanding the circle of conflict, and sabotaging efforts made through various mediators and parties.”

Hamas is still keen to reach a comprehensive agreement that guarantees the withdrawal of Israel forces and achieves a serious exchange deal of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, Haniyeh added.

In response, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he sees indications that Hamas doesn’t want a deal, which would open the door to “intense” military activity in Rafah.

“IDF forces are ready for a powerful operation all over Gaza and especially in the Rafah area,” he said in a post on X.

Earlier on Sunday, an air strike blamed by Lebanon on Israel killed four civilians and wounded two others in a village in south Lebanon, prompting Hezbollah to fire rockets back across the border.

Israeli warplanes targeted Mays al-Jabal, causing “massive destruction,” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported. Theres was no comment from Israel.

Tens of thousands of Israelis and Lebanese have fled their homes near the borders due to cross-border fighting. That erupted around the time Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and triggering the war in Gaza that’s destroyed much of the enclave and killed more than 34,000 Palestinians. More than 100 Israelis captured by Hamas are still being held in Gaza, although it’s unclear how many are still alive.

Bloomberg

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russian attacks on Ukraine energy system caused $1 bln in damages - minister

Recent Russian massive drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian energy system have caused more than $1 billion worth of damage to the sector, Ukraine's energy minister German Galushchenko said on Sunday.

Since March 22, the Russian forces have been attacking Ukrainian thermal and hydropower stations as well as main networks on an almost daily basis, leading to blackouts in many regions.

"Today, we are talking about the amounts of losses for more than a billion dollars. But the attacks continue, and it is obvious that the losses will grow," Galushchenko said in a statement.

Galushchenko said the main damage was to thermal and hydro generation facilities, as well as power transmission systems.

"The system is stable for today, but the situation is quite complicated," he said, adding that thanks to favourable weather conditions, the energy system is currently being supported by wind and solar power generation.

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Zelensky can’t ‘mobilize God’ – Russian church

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has no way to enlist God in his fight against Russia, the Russian Orthodox Church has said, rebuking a statement Zelensky made during his Easter Sunday speech.

In a video address, Zelensky described God as “an ally” of Ukraine who “has a chevron with the Ukrainian flag on his shoulder.”

“The Lord is not a resident of the Kiev region for Zelensky to mobilize him and put him in the Ukrainian army. His statements don’t merit any attention,” Vakhtang Kipshidze, the head of the Russian church’s public relations department, told news outlet news.ru.

Kipshidze further blasted the Ukrainian leader as “a non-believer” who “claims that he can decide for God whose ally he is.”

Kiev has stepped up the crackdown on its largest Christian church, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), accusing its clergy of being “agents of Moscow.” The UOC renounced its historical ties with Moscow after Russia launched its military operation in the neighboring state in February 2022. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian authorities have since launched criminal cases against more than 60 priests and seized a number of monasteries and other assets in favor of the state-backed Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU).

Last year, the Ukrainian government introduced a bill that would pave a way for an eventual ban of the UOC. The legislation, however, has since been stalled.

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, has repeatedly condemned the campaign against the UOC, denouncing it as a violation of religious rights.

Reuters/RT

“One of the shrewdest ways for human predators to conquer their stronger victims is to convince them steadily with propaganda that they are still free.” N. A. Scott, American author.

Every human being currently living on earth came to this world and saw the United States of America posing as the cradle of democracy, a bastion of freedom and a citadel of human rights.

For those of us in Africa, especially West Africa, and particularly those along the coastline, that America ruptured family cohesion, ties and lineage by forcefully taking our able-bodied forefathers and enslaving them, was either forgotten, forgiven, or both.

That after it was forced to abolish slavery by a changing world, it found a way to continue enslaving our able-bodied and intelligent youths in the name of providing greener pastures for them, which was either overlooked, not realised, or both.

As time went on, that it labelled those who wanted the best for their people as communists and demonised them, creating a bipolar world was either accepted as gospel truth by those who did not know the truth or parroted by those who were recruited to do that, or both.

That the then Eastern bloc (or communist/socialist countries), under the guidance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and its star boy, Fidel Castro of Cuba, all lined up to fight apartheid for African freedom was either lost on us or remained unappreciated, or both.

That Fidel Castro’s Cuba fought enslavers out of Angola for Angolans to taste freedom, training African youths in its universities and supplying Africa with medical doctors and free drugs while we still preferred to rush to America where we paid for everything through the nose reflected our slave mentality or lack of capacity to embrace truth, or both.

Truth is, we all grew up looking up to Uncle Sam as someone who cared for us in the third world, even when it was propping up the apartheid regime in South Africa or being a pillar of support to Ian Smith in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe (Southern Rhodesia) and Zambia (Northern Rhodesia). Many of us did not see anything wrong in its support for Joshua Nkomo against the pan-Africanist Robert Mugabe.

For a long time, America has been working on the psyche of youths, especially in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the communist/socialist countries to make them see their society as primitive and America as modern. The youths see their cultures and traditions as backward and archaic, their religion as stories of old, and Western depravity as the new religion.

It found a way in 1989 to infiltrate and brainwash Chinese students to rise against their country, demanding "political and economic reforms and greater respect for human rights". The protesters gathered in Tiananmen Square in central Beijing, where they were forcefully evicted by military units, who killed a lot of them.

Tiananmen Square, or Tian’anmen Square, is a city square, measuring 765 x 282 metres, in the city centre of Beijing, meaning “Gate of Heavenly Peace''. The square contains the Monument to the People’s Heroes, the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of China, and the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, who proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China in the square on October 1, 1949. It has great cultural significance in Chinese history.

America and its Western allies and propaganda machines did not allow what happened in China to be swept under the carpet or forgotten easily. It kept hammering on China’s “evil of repression”, that it emasculated and silenced the voice of the voiceless because that’s what students are. It told the world that China was an enemy of freedom, free speech, free association and democracy which it proclaimed as the only acceptable world order, despite its dalliance with repressive, autocratic and monarchic regimes, around the world.

Now fast-forward to 2024 and the pinching shoe is in America’s feet. Its students in no fewer than 15 universities and counting, with Columbia University in the lead, are protesting with the battle cry “Free, Free Palestine” for the freedom of Palestine that has been under Israel's subjugation for decades.

America, the self-acclaimed doyen of freedom of association and speech, the guardian angel of democracy, is cracking down on the students for freely associating and using free speech to seek the freedom of another country. So far, scores of them have been arrested, some suspended, and some dismissed outright, while lecturers have been threatened with sack if they showed any sort of support to the students’ cause.

But that will hardly deter academics used to free speech as a first nature. One professor in the university bravely declared: “This is about a genocide being carried on with American money and with American weapons, against a people enduring generations of occupation.”

In a cheeky, and poignant, role reversal, Iran, which had suffered American instigation of its youths over time and had to deal with as it deemed fit, called on the US not to jeopardise democracy, freedom of association and free speech.

Shiraz University, a globally ranked university in Iran, just announced that it will grant scholarships to the students of American and European universities who have been expelled for supporting Palestine. It is also going to hire professors who have been fired or threatened with sacking for their stance towards Palestine.

Before the breeze blew and we saw the anus of the fowl, this was what America was doing to others all over the world - instigating youths against their fatherland, and when the country attempted to rein in its citizens, they would cry foul. They will then dole out scholarships, grants or work and Green Cards to those who fought against their country and its system.

In the words of Samuel P. Huntington, an American political scientist and academic, "The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion...but rather by its superiority in applying organised violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do."

Now America is receiving a dose of its medicine and it has failed to behave better than those countries it accused of truncating democracy, free association, free speech and human rights abuses.

Truth, it is said, is the only one that lasts. Falsehood and hypocrisy are just as temporary as the time it will take to blindfold the people.

What America is showing the world today is exactly the echo of the time immemorial words of Abraham Lincoln, its 16th president, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation that declared slaves forever free: “You can fool some of the people for all of the time, and all of the people for some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people for all of the time.”

** Hassan Gimba is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime.

You're worried about all the wrong things.

That was how James Hong (angel investor, badass, founder of HotOrNot) responded to an article I had written two years ago about the loneliness of being a founder. The piece was a response to the hype engine of Silicon Valley and its larger-than-life founder stories -- and an attempt to break through the founder norm of business always being "great."

Founders aren't superhuman, but the world wants them to be. The role requires the ability to lay off dozens of employees, fire close friends and appease unhappy customers -- while seeming impervious to doubt, fear or uncertainty.

To survive, I developed a series of coping strategies: unabashed transparency, sharing challenges with those I trust the most, and asking for help. I shared these strategies with other founders and learned in return how they faced their fear and isolation.

But more recently, I've been wrestling with a new question. Not about how to survive, but how to thrive as a founder. As an investor (in fact, a board member of a competitor) recently asked: "How did RichRelevance get its mojo back?"

The answer ties back to James' comment. The right things to worry about as a founder are the things that truly grow your company and character:

1. Family

We decided early on that family was a core principle of RichRelevance. One of the biggest mistakes I made while cutting expenses to achieve profitability was to stop inviting significant others to our holiday party. This decision, while small in overall impact, was something I'll never forget.

Family and our personal health frame our lives in meaning, without which none of the sacrifices of a startup matter. This framing is also a critical reminder that while our work is ridiculously important, it is just that: work. Life transcends startups, failures, successes, financial or political gains.

2. Product

Product is, and should always be, at the heart of a company. It is the reason your employees get up in the morning. It's the reason your customers love you, and ultimately why we founders have a job.

At RichRelevance we deviated. For a time, we were 100 percent focused on creating an amazing sales organization and we lost a lot of our passion because of it. But we learned from it, and I owe a debt of gratitude to a group of passionate developers who got together one day to say we must re-envisage our product.

We had to restructure our company from a general management structure to a product-oriented structure. We had to re-hire our product-management staff, and we had to change our relationship with customers. This transition has become the heart of our company -- our passion and our collective belief in the future of our product.

3. Team

Per the above, great people at RichRelevance (not me) saved our company. That's the coolest thing any CEO/founder/startup junkie can say. Amazing people that bring passion and capability are an incalculably powerful force.

We did one thing right during our challenging periods at RichRelevance: We always directly engaged our top-performing and most committed employees for their feedback and partnered with them through our challenges. We have an amazing core of about 20 people who've been with us for more than four years. Combining their strengths and shared history with the 200 or so other RichRelevance employees enables us to power through failures and to truly appreciate the amazing successes of our team as a family.

How do I thrive? My family and life-framing help me remember what really matters, so I am able to avoid the downward spiral of despair. I look to the power of the product to show the path to the future. And I am surrounded by the right people who stick to their guns when the going got tough.

James, these are the things that matter. And these are the things every founder needs to survive the dark nights of the startup soul and thrive in the next day's light.

In the timeless words of Metallica: "Nothing else matters."

** David Selinger founded RichRelevance in 2006 to help retailers transform customer data into extraordinary customer experiences, and has led the company to its current position as number one (as ranked by Internet Retailer) for personalization in both the U.S. and E.U. He previously led the R&D arm of Amazon’s data-mining and personalization team and also co-founded Redfin, where he helped build the world’s first real-time mapping and real-estate data-analytics engine.

Entrepreneur

Uka Uka Osim, a leader of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, along with his wife and son, were taken captive alongside three fellow clergymen in Abia State.

The abduction occurred as they journeyed to Awka for their evangelical mission. Among the kidnapped were Azuka Ochu, Moses Okafor, and Anderson Akwazie. Despite the passage of four days, no communication has been established with the captors.

Denis Onuoha, the spiritual organization's administrator in Abia State, expressed deep concern but remained steadfast in faith, believing in their eventual safe return. While urging law enforcement to intervene, the community continues to fervently pray for the safe release of the Archbishop and his companions. Both Anambra and Abia State police have yet to issue a statement regarding the incident.

There's progress reported in Gaza truce talks, but Israel downplays chances of ending war with Hamas

A Hamas delegation was in Cairo on Saturday as Egyptian state media reported “noticeable progress” in cease-fire talksfor Gaza. But Israel hasn’t sent a delegation and a senior Israeli official downplayed prospects for a full end to the war while emphasizing the commitment to invading Rafah.

Pressure has mounted to reach a deal halting the nearly 7-month-long war. A top U.N. official says there is now a “ full-blown famine” in northern Gaza, while the United States has repeatedly warned close ally Israel about its planned offensive into Rafah, the southernmost city on the border with Egypt, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Egyptian and U.S. mediators have reported signs of compromise in recent days, but chances for a cease-fire deal remain entangled with the key question of whether Israel will accept an end to the war without reaching its stated goal of destroying the militant group Hamas.

Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News TV channel said that a consensus had been reached over many disputed points but did not elaborate. Hamas has called for a complete end to the war and withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Gaza.

A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing negotiations, played down the prospects for a full end to the war. The official said Israel was committed to the Rafah invasion and that it will not agree in any circumstance to end the war as part of a deal to release hostages.

Israeli media said that statement had been dictated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government could be threatened if he agrees to a deal because hard-line Cabinet members demand an attack on Rafah.

The proposal that Egyptian mediators had put to Hamas sets out a three-stage process that would bring an immediate, six-week cease-fire and partial release of Israeli hostages, and would include some sort of Israeli pullout. The initial stage would last for 40 days. Hamas would start by releasing female civilian hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Some families of hostages accused Netanyahu of prolonging the war for his political interests. Daniel Elgert, whose brother Itzhak is held by Hamas, addressed Netanyahu at the latest rally in Tel Aviv: “Bibi, we call on you from here to announce the end of the war in exchange for the return of all the hostages. The war is effectively over, we know it’s over, you can’t fool us.”

The war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s local health officials, caused widespread destruction and plunged the territory into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

The conflict erupted on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, abducting about 250 people and killing around 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

Israeli strikes Saturday on Gaza killed at least six people. Three bodies were recovered from the rubble of a building in Rafah and taken to Yousef Al Najjar hospital. A strike in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed three people, according to hospital officials.

In the last 24 hours, the bodies of 32 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals, Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday. The ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies but says that women and children make up around two-thirds of those killed.

The Israeli military says it has killed 13,000 militants, without providing evidence to back up the claim.

It has also conducted mass arrests during its raids inside Gaza. The territory’s Health Ministry urged the International Criminal Court to investigate the death in Israeli custody of a Gaza surgeon. Adnan al-Borsh, 50, was working at al-Awda Hospital when Israeli troops stormed it in December, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club.

The United Nations has warned that hundreds of thousands would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel’s military moves forward into densely packed Rafah, which is also a critical entry point for humanitarian aid. Israel has briefed U.S. officialson its plan to evacuate civilians.

The director of the U.N. World Food Program, Cindy McCain, said Friday that trapped civilians in the north, the most cut-off part of Gaza, have plunged into famine. McCain said a cease-fire and a greatly increased flow of aid through land and sea routes was essential.

A Israeli humanitarian official on Saturday called McCain’s assertion incorrect and said Israel has been facilitating the delivery of more aid. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Israel recently opened new crossings for aid into northern Gaza, but on Wednesday, Israeli settlers blocked the first convoy before it crossed into the besieged enclave. Once inside Gaza, the convoy was commandeered by Hamas militants, before U.N. officials reclaimed it.

Some displaced residents of northern Gaza said they had been skipping meals and hadn’t seen vegetables for weeks.

“You know now everything is scarce in Gaza. There are no vegetables and there is no aid or food packages. It is about once a month that we get food parcels,” Marwan Al-Zaid said.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where tensions have been high since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, the Israeli military said it and Shin Bet had killed five fighters in Tulkarem, asserting the fighters had opened fire. Palestinian authorities said five people were killed by Israeli fire in the town of Deir al-Ghusun, roughly 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) northeast of Tulkarem.

AP