For today, links to reports from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, and Reuters, and to commentary via ScheerPost from MintPress News; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (UKRAINE entry for this date is HERE.) — MCM   

–   –   –  

Netanyahu approves plan to invade Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering. Reported by Scott Simon and Fatma Tanis | NPR  Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approves a plan to invade the heavily populated city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Plus, the first food aid to arrive by sea. Click HERE to listen and read.

–   –   –

Cease-fire talks with Israel and Hamas are expected to resume Sunday in Qatar, by Samy Magdy | AP  CAIRO — Stalled talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume in earnest in Qatar as soon as Sunday, according to Egyptian officials. In recent days, both sides . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

UN agency says one in three children under 2 in northern Gaza is acutely malnourished. From Reuters. One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the UN Relief and Works Agency operating in the Palestinian enclave said today. “Children’s malnutrition . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  Proposed U.S. resolution would back global efforts for an immediate and sustained cease-fire in Gaza, by Edith M. Lederer | AP  UNITED NATIONS — The United States circulated the final draft of a United Nations Security Council resolution late Thursday that would support international efforts to establish “an immediate and sustained cease-fire” in the Israel-Hamas war as part of a deal to release hostages taken captive during Hamas’ surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. The U.S. . . . READ MORE . . .

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  A very different Ramadan in Gaza. Reported by Aya Batrawy | NPR  The religious traditions and cultural hallmarks of Ramadan are impossible to observe in Gaza this year, where people are starving, displaced from their homes, mourning their dead and under threat of continued airstrikes. Click HERE to listen and read.

–   –   –

FROM MARCH 15  How the UN is recruiting locals in Gaza to secure food aid to a starving population. Reported by Daniel Estrin | NPR  The UN is recruiting the heads of major clans in Gaza to secure food aid to a starving population. The role these families could play now could also lay the ground for who runs Gaza after the war. Click HERE to listen and read.

–   –   –

FROM SEPT. 29, 2022  WikiLeaks docs show top Hollywood producers working with Israel to defend its war crimes, by Alan MacLeod | MintPress News / ScheerPost  As Israel was launching a deadly [2014] assault on Gaza, killing thousands of civilians and displacing more than 100,000 people, many of America’s top TV, music and film producers were organizing to protect the apartheid state’s reputation from widespread international condemnation. READ MORE . . .