Israeli Drone Strikes Kill Six Palestinians in Gaza As Aid Groups Face Expulsion

The attacks, carried out overnight into Friday, hit sites described as police positions in both areas.

Hamas condemned the strikes, saying they demonstrate Israel’s “blatant disregard for the efforts of mediators, and its complete disregard for the Peace Council and its role”.

The Palestinian resistance movement said the assaults undermine attempts to maintain a “ceasefire” phase that it says the Israeli regime has violated almost daily since October 10.

Meanwhile, the Israeli regime has ordered 37 aid organizations to halt operations in the occupied Palestinian territories unless they provide personal data on Palestinian staff by Sunday, March 1.

The organizations say complying with the directive could endanger employees, compromise humanitarian neutrality, and breach European data protection regulations.

Seventeen international non-governmental organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council and CARE International, have petitioned Supreme Court of Israel to challenge the order, warning they may be forced to suspend their work.

Separately, Oxfam International said on Tuesday that the closure of aid operations in Gaza and the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory could begin as early as Saturday.

“The effect would be immediate, extending well beyond individual organizations to the wider humanitarian system,” Oxfam warned.

“In Gaza, families remain dependent on external assistance amid continuing restrictions on aid entry and renewed strikes in densely populated areas,” it said in a statement.

“In the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (Al-Quds), military incursions, demolitions, displacement, settlement expansion and settler violence are driving rising humanitarian needs,” it added.

Pressure from the Israeli regime on international humanitarian organizations has been intensifying for years and escalated sharply after October, 2023.