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

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UN chief says it’s time to ‘truly flood’ Gaza with aid and calls starvation there an outrage, by Samy Magda, Amr Nabil and Sam Metz | AP  RAFAH CROSSING, Egypt — UN Secretary-General António Guterres stood near a long line of waiting trucks today and declared it was time to “truly flood Gaza with life-saving aid,” calling the starvation inside the enclave a “moral outrage.” He called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 22  Top U.S. diplomat warns Israel of global isolation if it attacks Rafah, by Humeyra Pamuk and Nidal Al-Mughrabi | Reuters  TEL AVIV — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday that Israel risked further global isolation if it attacks the Palestinian city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Blinken met one-on-one with Netanyahu . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 22  Netanyahu wants ‘total victory’ over Hamas. What would that look like? Reported by Sacha Pfeiffer,Courtney Dorning and Megan Lim | NPR  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he seeks “total victory” over Hamas. Sacha Pfeiffer speaks with Middle East expert Daniel Byman about what that means for Gaza. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 22  As famine looms in Gaza, we look at why modern famines are a ‘man-made’ disaster. Reported by Ailsa Chang, Linah Mohammad and Patrick Jarenwattananon | NPR  The United Nations says a famine is imminent in Gaza. Ailsa Chang checks in with Alex de Waal, leading scholar on famines, about the situation in the strip. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.

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FROM MARCH 20  How Western media built the case for genocide, by Jonathan Cook | Declassified UK / Consortium News  To understand how Western publics are being manipulated, just look to the coverage — especially from those outlets most closely aligned not with the right but with supposedly liberal values. How have the media dealt with . . . READ MORE . . .