At least 227 people are dead and hundreds others injured or missing after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti on Saturday, raising fears of destruction similar to the devastating 2010 quake that shattered the country, the Associated Press reports. Haiti's civil protection service predicts the death toll could reach the thousands. The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti more than a decade ago, left between 220,000 and 300,000 people dead and injured hundreds of thousands more. Reuters and Bloomberg also took note of the story.

Also worth knowing this morning:

• Morocco is planning to open an embassy in Israel in the next two months, becoming the fourth Arab country to normalize relations with Israel after the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan, according to Reuters.
• Israel will reopen today both the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings to Gaza for the first time in over a year, after they were closed in March 2020 due to the pandemic, Bloomberg reports. Only those vaccinated against, or recovered from covid-19, will be permitted entry.
• Lebanon is running on empty, with its worsening fuel crisis after the central bank moved to end subsidies to protect the country’s dwindling reserves forcing the closure of businesses and hospitals, and creating conditions that many residents have said are more dire than during the Lebanese civil war, Reuters reports.