Watch Russian Su-34 Combat Aircraft Bomb Ukrainian Positions

Reeling from their recent defeat in Avdeyevka, Ukrainian forces continue to be pummeled by Russian artillery and airstrikes.

Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber aircraft have delivered yet another surprise in the form of high-explosive bombs to the Kiev regime forces in the Donetsk People’s Republic. According to a statement disseminated by the Russian Ministry of Defense, this airstrike destroyed several Ukrainian strongholds and a Ukrainian troop formation.

This video, also released by the ministry, shows how the airstrikes are carried out.

Watch Russia’s Su-25s Wipe Out Ukrainian Stronghold in Special Op Zone

The Russian Aerospace Forces Su-25 is a versatile attack aircraft designed to provide air support to ground forces by engaging targets such as tanks and other armored vehicles, as well as fortifications.

As part of the ongoing special military operation, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has released a video showing the crews of Su-25 fighter jets destroying a Ukrainian troop position in the Avdeyevka area.

The Su-25s fired unguided S-8 missiles at the position, using a pitching maneuver accompanied by a sharp climb to set a certain angle for the S-8 launch, the MoD said in a statement.

The pilots then released the heat traps before returning to the home airfield to prepare for the next flight, according to the MoD.

Watch Russian Sharpshooter Snuff Out Ukrainian Servicemen

Snipers are essential assets in the special op, tasked with eliminating high-profile targets such as enemy officers and highly skilled specialists. In certain situations, these elite troops may also be called upon to track and eliminate ordinary enemy soldiers.

The Russian Ministry of Defense recently released footage of a sniper engaging in combat in the area of Avdeyevka. Ukrainian soldiers were attempting to change positions under cover of night when they were spotted by the skilled Russian sharpshooter, who swiftly neutralized them. Snipers adhere to a unique set of rules governing their combat behavior, operating discreetly in the shadows and striking unexpectedly.

Russia Liberates Three Villages Near Avdeyevka

Troops also repelled 48 attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in which Kiev's losses amounted to more than 2,600 soldiers and 23 tanks, including US-made Abrams, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported.

“In the Avdeyevka region, units of the Tsentr Battlegroup liberated the settlements of Lastochkino, Severnoye, Petrovskoye of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and continued to advance in a western direction,” the ministry reported.

©Sputnik/Stanislav Krasilnikov/Go to the mediabank

Russian forces, supported by aviation and artillery, defeated concentrations of troops and equipment of the 23rd, 24th, 53rd, 61st, 110th Mechanized, 59th Motorized Infantry and 3rd Assault Brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as the 103rd and 107th Defense Brigades in the areas of the settlements of Netaylovo, Ocheretino, Mayorsk and Rozovka of the DPR.

“Also, 48 counterattacks of assault units were repelled in the areas of the settlements of Novgorodskoye, Leninskoye, Tonenkoye, Orlovka and Pervomaiskoye of the Donetsk People’s Republic. Over the course of a week in this region, the enemy lost over 2,600 troops, 23 tanks, including US-made Abrams, 45 armored combat vehicles, 83 vehicles, as well as 26 field artillery pieces,” the Ministry of Defense said.

The Russian Armed Forces also repelled 18 Ukrainian counterattacks in the past week near Donetsk, where Ukraine lost over 2,800 soldiers.

"The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the specified period amounted to more than 2,835 military personnel, seven tanks, 16 armored combat vehicles, 49 vehicles and 24 field artillery guns," the ministry said in a statement, adding that Ukraine lost up to 890 soldiers in the South Donetsk region. The Russian troops also repelled 30 counterattacks near Kupyansk, where Ukraine lost over 755 soldiers. In the Kherson region, Russian forces repelled seven attacks in the Rabotino area, while Ukraine lost over 290 soldiers.

Mahfud MD puji MK hapus ambang batas parlemen 4 persen

Mahfud Md di Universitas Indonesia Salemba, Jakarta. ANTARA/Narda Margaretha Sinambela/aa.

Mantan Menteri Koordinator Bidang Politik, Hukum dan HAM Mahfud Md memuji putusan Mahkamah Konstitusi melalui putusan Nomor 116/PUU-XXI/2023 yang menghapus ketentuan ambang batas parlemen atau parliamentary threshold sebesar empat persen suara sah nasional.

Adapun penghapusan ambang batas tersebut itu baru dapat berlaku pada pemilu 2029, tidak pada Pemilu 2024 yang baru saja berlangsung.

"Bagus, memang harus begitu, berlakunya itu harus di dalam tradisi hukum di seluruh dunia. Kalau ada perubahan aturan yang memberatkan atau menguntungkan seseorang harus pada periode berikutnya," ujar Mahfud di Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta, Jumat.

Menurut Mahfud, hal itu sudah sesuai dengan tradisi hukum di dunia di mana perubahan aturan yang menguntungkan atau merugikan seseorang harus diberlakukan pada periode berikutnya.

Mantan Ketua Mahkamah Konstitusi itu menambahkan putusan soal penghapusan ambang batas parlemen tidak bisa diterapkan di Pemilu 2024. Sebab, ambang batas parlemen itu masih harus diputuskan oleh pembentuk undang-undang, yaitu pemerintah dan DPR.

"Kan disebut juga berlaku sebelum 2029, tapi yang 2024 berlaku (ketentuan) lama. Jangan bermimpi lah, yang dapat satu persen, dua persen lalu bisa masuk sekarang," katanya.

Dia menjelaskan pembentuk UU harus memiliki syarat dan alasan yang jelas mengapa syarat tersebut harus dihapuskan menjadi nol atau diturunkan menjadi sekian persen. Dengan demikian, sudah pasti putusan itu tidak bisa berlaku sekarang.

"Tidak sembarang partai baru, lalu bisa masuk ke parlemen atau yang sudah masuk ke parlemen. Kalau belum sekian tahun, lalu tidak boleh ikut mencalonkan calon presiden. Nanti, harus diatur, tidak bisa berlaku sekarang, sudah pasti tidak bisa berlaku sekarang," ucap Mahfud.

Mahfud juga berharap nantinya ambang batas parlemen itu tetap harus ada minimal dua persen. Hal itu sudah diatur sebagai kerangka dasar yang dibangun sejak awal reformasi.

Sebelumnya, pada hari Kamis, 29/03/2024, Mahkamah Konstitusi mengabulkan sebagian gugatan uji materi Perludem mengenai ketentuan ambang batas parlemen (parliamentary threshold) sebesar 4 persen suara sah nasional yang diatur dalam Undang-undang Nomor 7 Tahun 2017 tentang Pemilu.

"Mengabulkan permohonan Pemohon untuk sebagian," kata Ketua MK Suhartoyo membacakan amar putusan dalam Sidang Pleno MK yang dipantau secara daring di Jakarta, Kamis.

MK memutuskan norma Pasal 414 ayat (1) UU Pemilu adalah konstitusional sepanjang tetap berlaku untuk Pemilu DPR 2024 dan konstitusional bersyarat untuk diberlakukan pada Pemilu DPR 2029 dan Pemilu berikutnya, sepanjang telah dilakukan perubahan ambang batas parlemen dengan berpedoman pada persyaratan yang telah ditentukan.

Dalam perkara ini, Perludem menggugat frasa "partai politik peserta Pemilu harus memenuhi ambang batas perolehan suara paling sedikit empat persen dari jumlah suara sah secara nasional untuk diikutkan dalam penentuan perolehan kursi anggota DPR".

Perludem ingin norma pada pasal tersebut diganti menjadi "partai politik peserta pemilu harus memenuhi ambang batas perolehan suara efektif secara nasional untuk diikutkan dalam penentuan perolehan kursi anggota DPR dengan ketentuan: a. Bilangan 75 persen dibagi dengan rata-rata besaran daerah pemilihan, ditambah satu, dan dikali dengan akar jumlah daerah pemilihan; b. Dalam hal hasil bagi besaran ambang parlemen sebagaimana dimaksud huruf a menghasilkan bilangan desimal, dilakukan pembulatan".

Dalam pertimbangan hukum yang dibacakan oleh Wakil Ketua MK Saldi Isra, MK tidak menemukan dasar rasionalitas dalam penetapan besaran angka atau persentase paling sedikit empat persen dimaksud dalam pasal tersebut.

Saldi juga menyebut angka ambang batas parlemen tersebut juga berdampak terhadap konversi suara sah menjadi jumlah kursi DPR yang berkaitan dengan proporsionalitas hasil Pemilu.

Japan imposes sanctions against Russia’s 12 individuals, 36 enterprises

©Valery Sharifulin/TASS

The Japanese government extended a list of sanctions against Russia over the developments in Ukraine having blacklisted 12 individuals and 36 organizations, the Japanese Cabinet of Ministers said in a statement on Friday.

The newly-published list of sanctions against the individuals includes Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Kaluga Region Irina Ageyeva, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Rostov Region Irina Cherkasova, Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic of Chechnya Mansur Soltayev, Chairman of the Government of the Chechen Republic Muslim Khuchiyev, Commander of the Second Special Purpose Police Regiment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation in the Chechen Republic Zamid Chalayev.

Sibugol LCC owner Artyom Uss, Director-General of JSC GTLK Yevgeny Ditrikh, Director of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution Artek International Children’s Center Konstantin Fedorenko and Chief of Staff of the Regional Branch of the All-Russian Young Army Military Patriotic Social Movement (Yunarmiya) in the city of Sevastopol Vladimir Kovalenko are also on the list of Japan’s sanctions.

Among the blacklisted Russian enterprises are Kalashnikov, Almaz-Antey, Uralvagonzavod, GTLK, Atomflot and others.

Russia's Rapid Growth Shows Immunity to West's Cold War Tricks That Sapped USSR

President Vladimir Putin outlined his vision for Russia's future development and emphasized its growth potential together with BRICS during his State of the Nation speech on Thursday. He stressed that a lasting world order is impossible without a strong Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized the strategic objectives and matters that are instrumental in ensuring steady long-term development for Russia on Thursday as he delivered his address to the Federal Assembly in Gostiny Dvor, Moscow.

"It was a very powerful speech," Adriel Kasonta, a London-based foreign affairs analyst and former chairman of the International Affairs Committee at the Bow Group think tank, told Sputnik.

"It is related to the foreign policy that Russia is pivoting away from the West, that it's putting a strong emphasis on having closer ties with its BRICs partners and allies and also puts a strong emphasis on national rejuvenation," the analyst continued.

During his speech, Putin pointed out that Russia is on track to becoming one of the world's four largest economies in the near future. He drew attention to the fact that last year, the Russian economy grew faster than the global average and outpaced any growth seen in the G7 states.

The Russian president pointed out that by 2028, BRICS' share of the global economy at purchasing power parity will increase to 36.6%, whereas that of the G7 will drop to 27.8%.

"It is very significant to remember that these emerging economies, developing economies, present a profound potential of growth," Kasonta said. "The countries which are seen as the G7, they are declining. Their population growth is declining. Their economies are very weak because of the fact that they engaged themselves in the proxy war with Russia and also that they are subsidizing the war effort in Ukraine. So in my opinion, the West is done.

West Tried and Failed to Undermine Russia

After the beginning of Moscow's special operation in Ukraine, the US and its allies imposed a plethora of sanctions against Russia, targeting all sectors of the nation's economy. Russia was severed from the SWIFT system and its sovereign funds were frozen in the West.

Nonetheless, Russia has demonstrated remarkable economic growth and bolstered ties with Asian and African countries, the Arab world and Latin America, since.

"I think that Western sanctions only helped Russia to make a clear line of distinction between what is represented by the declining West and what is the future," Kasonta noted. "I think that the West doesn't understand that the sanctions are just a laughing stock for the rest of the world. As we know, the rest of the world is keen to do business and have diplomatic interactions with Russia."

Having admitted that the effect of sanctions has fallen short of the West's expectation, the US and its allies are now focused on funding their respective military-industrial complexes. During his address, President Putin lambasted the West for attempting to drag Russia into an arms race, stressing that similar tricks were used against the USSR in the 1980s to facilitate its collapse and demise.

According to Kasonta, it's clear that Russia won't fall into this trap again: the country has adopted a balanced approach to developing its defense sector as well as other sectors of the economy. The West's old Cold War tricks no longer work, echoed Paolo Raffone, a strategic analyst and director of the CIPI Foundation in Brussels.

"The old Cold War plan to unpack Russia and force it to become a 'space' of nation-states has failed since Russian elites chose Putin at the end of 1990s," Raffone told Sputnik. "Western misunderstanding of what is the renewed strength of Russia under Putin’s leadership is astonishing. Today, Russia has nothing to do with the old USSR. Western attempts to launch a second phase of the Cold War (with Russia and China) are shortsighted and destined to fail. The global shift from the West to the rest is already happening, as Putin underlined."

The crux of the matter is that the West cannot uphold its monopoly in terms of global logistics, trade, or technology, according to the expert.

"The weakness of the West is represented by the failure of the effectiveness of sanctions against Russia (but also against Iran, China and other entities). The global transport infrastructure, trade and financial system is developing in spite of the West, pointing at an alternative to Western dominance in those areas," Raffone pointed out.

West Destroying Itself

"As we can see, the American empire is destroying itself by simply putting more money in the military, to sustain its multiple military bases around the world and to invent new weapons of mass destruction instead of concentrating on the well-being of their own population. Let us look at what is happening on the Texan border. I mean, there's an invasion over there and the level of living standard in the United States is decreasing," Kasonta underscored.

While the US and G7 are seeking ways to seize Russia's assets to fund their proxy war in Ukraine, the people in the West have grown weary of the ongoing conflict. Various surveys in the US and the EU have demonstrated that Westerners no longer believe that the Kiev regime could win; furthermore, they say that the Western leadership should seek a "compromise settlement" to stop the conflict.

Regardless of this obvious shift in popular opinion, the Western leadership is continuing to push ahead with Ukraine's militarization. According to Raffone, it's unlikely that this bellicose rhetoric will change before the US elections. For their part, leaders of major EU powers will follow in the footsteps of Washington.

"The United States will outmaneuver itself (..) how long you can sustain this - a never-ending arms race - there is a certain limit to that. And the limit will be that the people in these countries will no longer be able to survive. And they will go to the streets and we will possibly have a civil war," warned Kasonta.

UK ‘directly involved’ in Ukraine conflict – Kremlin

FILE PHOTO. A UK instructor observes a Ukrainian soldier during military exercises on a shooting range in Zhitomir, Ukraine.
©SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP

Britain’s direct military involvement in Ukraine was never a secret, but one of the country’s establishment media outlets has now admitted it outright, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, said on Thursday.

The outlet RTVI asked Peskov to comment a report from The Times which claimed that Admiral Tony Radakin, the head of the UK armed forces, has helped make “battle plans” for Ukraine.

“In general, it’s no secret that the British really provide different forms of support [to Ukraine]. People on the ground and intelligence and so on and so forth,” Peskov said. “That is, they are actually directly involved in this conflict.”

According to the British outlet, citing a Ukrainian military source, Radakin “is understood to have helped the Ukrainians with the strategy to destroy Russian ships and open up the Black Sea,” and seen as “invaluable in coordinating support from other senior chiefs in NATO.”

The admiral also reportedly visited Kiev and met with President Vladimir Zelensky, to discuss Ukraine’s strategy and the ways in which the West could help. 

The Kremlin doesn’t have specific information related to Radakin, but “probably our military knows about this,” Peskov said.

Radakin, 58, was due to retire in November after three years as chief of the defense staff, but will stay on the job for another year at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s request, the Times reported. One source told the outlet that the British government considered it important to retain “continuity” ahead of the upcoming general election.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this week inadvertently confirmed the presence of UK troops on the ground in Ukraine, noting that British fire control operators were directing Storm Shadow cruise missiles. A British lawmaker subsequently denounced Scholz’s comments as “a flagrant abuse of intelligence” that put UK personnel in danger and gave Russia a pretext to escalate.

Watch Russian Drones Hammer Ukrainian Tanks and Artillery

Drones are the supreme tool of modern warfare that have proved their effectiveness in the special op. However, to become even more deadly, they should work in pairs – reconnaissance drones locate a target while kamikaze drones obliterate it.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense has published footage that shows drones hitting Ukrainian Army equipment.

The reconnaissance UAV Zala detected an enemy tank and self-propelled artillery gun on the West bank of the Dnepr river. Zala operators used the data provided to help direct Lancet kamikaze drones that turned them into scrap.

The Zala reconnaissance drone has a range of up to 200 km and this distance can be doubled in case of one-way flight. Theoretically, Zala can be used to direct tactical missiles like “Iskander” as well as Lancet drones and artillery.

Kata Yusril Ihza Mahendra Tentang Hak Angket

Yusril Ihza Mahendra pada acara ILC/Repro

Wacana penggunaan hak angket DPR RI untuk mengusut dugaan kecurangan Pemilu 2024 diyakini akan sulit terwujud. Pasalnya, selain dari sisi aturan, dari sisi waktu juga tidak memungkinkan untuk terwujud.

Demikian disampaikan Ketua Umum Partai Bulan Bintang (PBB) Yusril Ihza Mahendra dalam acara Indonesia Lawyers Club (ILC) bertajuk “Hak Angket DPR Seampuh Apa: Bisakah Hak Angket Membatalkan Pemilu?”dikutip hari Kamis, 29/02/2024.

“Saya sendiri enggak yakin panitia angket itu akan mampu melakukan itu,” kata Yusril.

Yusril menjelaskan, dalam pasal 20A UUD 1945 dinyatakan bahwa angket itu adalah hak yang diberikan kepada DPR dalam konteks melakukan pengawasan terhadap pemerintah. Sehingga, KPU RI bukan objek yang bisa digugat.

“Nah terus mau diangket KPU? KPU bilang kami kan bukan pemerintah? pasal 22 E mengatakan bahwa KPU itu adalah lembaga mandiri. Jadi bisa jadi tanda tanya juga,” tegas Pakar Hukum Tata Negara ini.

Belum lagi, kata Yusril, hak angket ini tidak ada tenggat waktu sehingga bisa memakan waktu karena prosesnya yang cukup lama.

“Ini (DPR) masih reses membutuh panitia angketnya segala macam, mengusulkan ini itu paripurna setuju atau tidak pembentukan panitia angketnya,” katanya.

Atas dasar itu, Yusril mempersilahkan kepada pihak-pihak yang ingin menggulirkan hak angket dengan alasan telah terjadi kecurangan yang didalilkan itu TMS (Terstruktur Masif dan Sistematis) untuk menempuh jalur konstitusional yang tersedia. Itu semua sudah diatur dalam UU Nomor 7/2017 tentang Pemilu, meskipun sistem pembuktiannya tidak mudah di Mahkamah Konstitusi (MK).

“Ya silahkan saja TMS itu dibawa ke MK untuk dibuktikan. Karena kan hanya satu minggu sesudah diumumkan tanggal 20 Maret nanti sudah harus mengajukan permohonan ke MK oleh pihak yang menolak hasil akhirnya yang diumumkan KPU itu sebagai objek sengketanya, dan kemudian ya MK juga ada batas waktunya untuk memutuskan perkara itu,” tuturnya.

“Nah, apakah panitia angket itu bisa diandalkan untuk menyelidiki di mana kesalahan di mana kekurangan di mana ketidakbaikannya dan untuk direkomendasikan untuk masa yang akan datang. Karena semua punya kepentingan. Partai-partai punya kepentingan di situ, mau menyelidiki kelemahan kekurangannya dan juga mau melindungi kesalahan-kesalahan kepentingannya sendiri? Apa enggak lebih baik diserahkan aja (ke MK),” demikian Yusril.

Hal lain juga dikataan oleh Yusril, bahwa wacana menggulirkan hak angket DPR untuk mengusut dugaan kecurangan Pemilu 2024 menyisakan tanda tanya besar. Pasalnya, hak angket diajukan oleh fraksi-fraksi di DPR RI yang mana mereka menjadi bagian dari pihak yang akan diangket.

Demikian disampaikan Ketua Umum Partai Bulan Bintang (PBB) Yusril Ihza Mahendra dalam acara Indonesia Lawyers Club (ILC) bertajuk “Hak Angket DPR Seampuh Apa: Bisakah Hak Angket Membatalkan Pemilu?”dikutip Kamis (29/2).

“Lalu apa orang mengatakan ini cuma dagelan saja ini angket ini? Itu pertanyaan,” kata Yusril.

Yusril menuturkan, Pemilu 2024 digelar secara serentak, mulai dari Pilpres, Pileg DPR RI, DPRD Provinsi, Kabupaten/Kota. Sehinga, jika angket digulirkan untuk mengusut dugaan kecurangan Pemilu 2024 maka secara menyeluruh mesti diangket.

“Tadi Pak Deddy Sitorus mengatakan semua ini uang, untuk jadi anggota DPR pusat aja Rp20-30 miliar, kabupaten/kota Rp4-5 miliar. Panitia Angket DPR terdiri atas partai-partai. Malam ini ada 3 orang tokoh, ada Pak Pipin dari PKS, ada Pak Deddy dari PDIP, dan Pak Maman dari Golkar, mereka juga akan menyelidiki dirinya. PDIP dapat 19% itu nyogok apa enggak? PKS dapat 7% itu nyogok apa enggak? Golkar dapat 15% menurut quick count itu nyogok apa enggak?” tanya Pakar Hukum Tata Negara ini.

“Kalau tadi dibilang untuk 1 anggota DPR perlu Rp20-30 miliar itu apa 19 persen PDIP dapat kursi? Itu kalau diangkatkan 110 kursi, 110x30 miliar atau tidak? Bapak yang menyelidiki bapak sendiri mungkin,” imbuhnya menegaskan.

Lebih lanjut, Yusril menegaskan bahwa partainya justru yang terbukti tidak melakukan sogok menyogok karena tidak lolos ambang batas parlemen 4 persen.

“Saya sebagai ketua partai PBB yang enggak kebagian kursi ya saya senang aja nonton ya, oh rupanya bapak-bapak ini dapat 19%, 15%, nih keluar Rp30 miliar satu orang, yang PBB enggak dapat kursi yang enggak satu perak pun keluar uang, berarti ya kami partai yang paling jujur dari republik ini. Dibandingkan tiga yang hadir malam ini Golkar PDIP PKS,” pungkasnya.

112 killed, 760 injured in Israeli strike on starved Palestinians lining around aid trucks in north Gaza

‘Life draining out of Gaza’: UN on aid shooting as death toll hits 30,000

Israeli troops fired on a large crowd of Palestinians racing to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday, witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed, bringing the death toll since the start of the Israel-Hamas war to more than 30,000, according to health officials.

The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned the attack on Gazans who were waiting for food aid and called it a cold-blooded “massacre.” 

After the initial reports of 50 people being killed during the attack, the Palestinian foreign ministry confirming the incident said at least 70 Palestinians were killed and 250 others had been wounded. 

The death toll was later revised to 112, with about 760 injured, by the Hamas-run health ministry after it said that eight more people had been confirmed dead as their bodies arrived at al-Shifa Hospital. 

A witness told AFP the violence unfolded at the Nabulsi roundabout in the western part of Gaza City as thousands of Palestinians rushed towards the trucks carrying food aid. 

“Trucks full of aid came too close to some army tanks that were in the area and the crowd, thousands of people, just stormed the trucks,” said the witness, who declined to be named for safety reasons.

Reporting from the scene, Al Jazeera’s Ismail al-Ghoul said that after opening fire, Israeli tanks advanced and ran over many of the dead and injured bodies. “It is a massacre, on top of the starvation threatening citizens in Gaza,” he said. The dead and wounded had been taken to four medical centres: al-Shifa, Kamal Adwan, Al Ahli and the Jordanian hospitals. Ambulances could not reach the area as the roads had been “totally destroyed”, said al-Ghoul.

“The numbers will rise. Hospitals are no longer able to accommodate the huge number of patients because they lack fuel, let alone medicine. Hospitals have also run out of blood.” One Palestinian man told the Quds News Network the military attack was a “crime”.

“I have been waiting since yesterday. At about 4.30 this morning, trucks started to come through. Once we approached the aid trucks, the Israeli tanks and warplanes started firing at us, as if it was a trap. “To the Arab states I say, if you want to have us killed, why are you sending relief aid? If this continues, we do not want any aid delivered at all. Every convoy coming means another massacre.”

Jadallah Al-Shafei, the head of the nurses department at al-Shifa Hospital, said that “the situation is beyond any words”, adding that “the hospital was flooded with dozens of dead bodies and hundreds of injured”.

“The majority of the victims suffered gunshots and shrapnel in the head and upper parts of their bodies. They were hit by direct artillery shelling, drone missiles and gun firing,” he told Al Jazeera.

The mass shooting was the latest instance of systematic attacks on hungry people waiting for scraps of food. Over the past few days, Palestinians gathered in large groups waiting for aid trucks on Salah al-Din Street near Gaza City have been shot at by Israeli forces, said Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah in the enclave’s south.

Recently, a truck that was supposed to deliver aid to people in Gaza tragically turned into the truck carrying those injured and killed, he added. With aid agencies unable to deliver supplies to northern Gaza since January 23, many are taking a long trek towards the south by foot.

On Wednesday, Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP), told the United Nations Security Council more than 500,000, or one in four people, were at risk of famine, with one child in every six below the age of two considered acutely malnourished. “The risk of famine is being fuelled by the inability to bring critical food supplies into Gaza in sufficient quantities, and the almost impossible operating conditions faced by our staff on the ground,” he said.

He described dangerous conditions for WFP trucks trying to get food to the north earlier this month. “There were delays at checkpoints; they faced gunfire and other violence; food was looted along the way; and at their destination, they were overwhelmed by desperately hungry people,” said Skau. Aid agencies claim that Israel has been delaying deliveries.

Israel denies that charge. It submitted a report to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the measures taken to avert suffering in the besieged enclave. Rights groups say Israel acted in breach of the ICJ order issued in January.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Sunday on social media that calls to allow food distribution in Gaza amid the ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas have been denied or “have fallen on deaf ears”. Warning against “looming famine”, the UN official said the situation is becoming a “man-made disaster”.

Israel launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas-led attack on October 7. More than 30,000 people are reported to have been killed to date, mostly women and children.

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