Palestine-Israel war
Live Reporting
Iran’s attack on Israel may have emboldened Netanyahu
Hassan Barari, a professor at Qatar University, says that US pressure on Israel eased after Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy compound in Syria on April 1.
“Prior to the Iranian attack on Israel, the Americans seem to me having more, probably, leverage to influence Netanyahu,” he told Al Jazeera. “And now, Netanyahu feels that his country was the victim and now he has the right to continue whatever he wants to do.”
Barari added that there are signs that the Israeli prime minister is successfully convincing the US that Hamas cannot be defeated unless its army moves into Rafah.
“The Americans have been moving slowly but surely toward the decision to move into Rafah,” he said. “The problem here is that what are you going to do with the humanitarian dimension of the conflict? How many people are you going to kill? How are civilians going to be displaced?”
Growing signs of an impending Israeli assault on Rafah
More signs are on the horizon of a potential Israeli military incursion into Rafah.
The military has deployed more troops in all areas that are adjacent to Rafah district. And since the early hours of this morning, they have been pounding the majority of the agricultural land in the eastern areas of Rafah.
The military plan that Israel has proposed to the US administration stresses the Israelis’ wish to evacuate the vast majority of Rafah’s population to other areas in Gaza. These areas are still unknown, and the evacuation process will be very difficult.
But the real question is where the locations could be in light of the ongoing destruction of the majority of Gaza’s civil infrastructure. Life in other areas of the Strip will be critically difficult.
Israeli air raid hits Jabalia refugee camp
Israeli fighter jets have carried out two raids in northern Gaza, striking as-Sikka area and hitting a home in Jabalia camp, according to Wafa news agency.
The strikes have injured at least one person, who has been taken to the Kamal Adwan Hospital, the report said.
Israeli leaders fear international arrest warrants over Gaza war: Report
Senior Israeli officials have discussed the possibility that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague will issue arrest warrants for senior politicians and military chiefs over the conduct of Israel’s war on Gaza, according to media reports.
The Times of Israel said the office of Foreign Minister Israel Katz confirmed that a meeting was held this week during which discussions took place “about the possibility that warrants could be issued” for Israeli military officials.
Israel’s Channel 12 reported on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also raised the possibility of arrest warrants for breaches of international law in Gaza during meetings with the UK’s Foreign Secretary David Cameron and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
According to The Times of Israel report, Netanyahu “sought their help” with possible ICC warrants.
US embassy issues travel restriction for employees in Israel
The US embassy in Israel says it is restricting travel of US government personnel within Israeli territory, following reports that Israeli missiles targeted Iranian territory.
The restrictions bar US government employees and their families from moving outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva areas “until further notice”, according to the embassy notice.
The embassy said it was introducing the measures out of “an abundance of caution”.
Saudi Arabia expresses regret over UNSC failure
Saudi Arabia has expressed regret over the failure of the UN Security Council (UNSC) to adopt a draft resolution accepting full membership of the State of Palestine in the United Nations.
The US on Thursday vetoed the draft resolution, a decision Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas’s office has called “a blatant aggression … which pushes the region ever further to the edge of the abyss”.
Israeli Air Force pounds Palestinian fighters as rockets fired at Israel
The armed wing of Palestinian Islamic Jihad conducted two rocket attacks on southern Israel on Thursday as the Israeli military called in air strikes against dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip, war monitors said.
In their latest battlefield assessment, US-based think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) report that Israeli forces concluded a week-long operation in Nuseirat in central Gaza to expand the Netzarim corridor, which cuts the Palestinian territory in two.
The corridor – a 6.5km (4-mile) road built by the Israelis – runs from east to west and was designed to give Israel’s military rapid access to Gaza and to cut off Palestinian movement between north and south in the territory.
The ISW and CTP said previously that Hamas and other armed groups had likely used an area in the central Gaza Strip as a rear base to target Israeli forces in northern Gaza and to also slip into previously cleared areas of southern Gaza City.
UN chief warns that Middle East region is on a knife edge
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the Middle East is “on a precipice” and has called on the international community to come together to stop “any actions that could push the entire region over the edge”.
“It is high time to end the bloody cycle of retaliation,” Guterres said in a post on social media.
The UN chief’s warning comes amid growing tension between Israel and Iran and the mounting death toll in Gaza, where Israel’s months of bombardments from air, land and sea have killed almost 34,000 Palestinians.
Hamas blasts US blocking of Palestine’s full UN membership
Hamas has slammed the US for using its veto power at the UN Security Council to block a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, the French news agency AFP reports.
“Hamas condemns the American veto at the Security Council of the draft resolution granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations,” Hamas said in a statement.
The veto by Israel’s main ally and military backer had been expected ahead of the vote, which took place more than six months into Israel’s offensive in Gaza, in response to the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas fighters.
Twelve countries had voted in favour of the draft resolution supporting Palestine, which was introduced by Algeria, and had recommended “to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations”.
The UK and Switzerland abstained from the vote.
US, UK unveil sweeping sanctions on Iran's drone program
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States and Britain announced widespread sanctions against Iran's military drone program on Thursday, in response to its weekend attack against Israel.
"Today, we are holding Iran accountable -- imposing new sanctions and export controls," US President Joe Biden said in a statement.
US veto of Palestine’s full UN membership highlights Washington’s ‘isolation’ on issue
It’s easy to focus on the United States because they are the ones that raised their hand in the veto.
But it is very important, I think, to also point out there were 12 council members who voted in favour of Palestine being a full member.
And we heard from many of those, from Guyana to China, from France to Russia as well.
All of them laying out a case of why they were trying to vote for, or did vote for Palestine being a full UN member like 193 other nations.
It was to right a wrong and correct an injustice that has been for so many years now. So it is important to point that out.
Also, you see countries like Japan, the Republic of Korea, Ecuador, which are strong US allies that often will abstain or vote with the United States. We saw those countries break from the US and vote for Palestine’s full membership here.
That is significant.
If this vote showed one thing, it really showed how isolated the US is on this very issue.
Mass arrests as New York police break up pro-Palestinian protest camp at Columbia University
The Associated Press (AP) has reported that New York police have removed a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at Columbia University and arrested more than 100 demonstrators, including Isra Hirsi, the daughter of prominent US congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Police said 108 people, including Hirsi, were charged with trespassing at the university. Two people were charged with obstructing government administration, the AP reports.
Students involved in the protest said they also were suspended from Columbia and Barnard College.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the city was asked in writing by university officials to remove the encampment.
Omar, a Democratic Party representative for Minnesota, had questioned Columbia’s president Nemat Shafik at a hearing on Wednesday in the US Congress about the school’s targeting of pro-Palestinian protesters.
Israel’s war on Gaza in numbers
The number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s six-month war on the Gaza Strip has reached 33,970, the territory’s Health Ministry said in its latest daily update. An additional 76,770 people have been wounded in the war.
The death toll is likely far higher with thousands of bodies buried in the rubble of buildings collapsed by Israeli strikes.
Gazans search for remains after deadly Rafah strike
RAFAH (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – Birds sang and planes rumbled overhead as Abdeljabbar al-Arja dug the remains of his dead neighbours from the rubble in Gaza.
An overnight Israeli strike hit the home where a displaced Palestinian family was sheltering in the southern city Rafah, relatives and neighbours told AFP as they scraped at the soil with their hands.
Israeli missiles hit site in Iran, ABC News reports
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli missiles have hit a site in Iran, ABC News reported late on Thursday, citing a U.S. official, while Iranian state media reported an explosion in the center of the country, days after Iran launched a retaliatory drone strike on Israel.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports.
US veto sinks Palestinian UN membership bid in Security Council
UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) – The United States on Thursday spoiled a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership, vetoing a Security Council measure despite growing international distress over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The move by Israel's key ally had been expected ahead of the vote, taking place more than six months into Israel's military offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory, in retaliation for the deadly October 7 attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel.
