Crisis in Gaza
Live Reporting
EU humanitarian chief urges countries to restore UNRWA funding
“I call on the donors to support UNRWA – the Palestinian refugees’ lifeline,” Janez Lenarcic, the European commissioner for crisis management, has said on X.
The plea comes after an independent review said yesterday Israel had provided “no evidence” of any wrongdoing by staff of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
The EU official said he welcomed the agency’s “significant number of compliance systems in place as well as recommendations for their further upgrade”.
Israel in January made the allegation that some UNRWA staff participated in the October 7 attacks, which led to numerous donor states suspending or pausing some $450m in funding.
Many have since resumed funding while others – including the US, the largest donor – have not.
The review led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna found that “Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence” for its claims.
US: Israel attack on Rafah will ‘lead to inordinate civilian harm’
The US State Department says there’s no way to safely evacuate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Rafah as the Israeli military prepares a ground invasion.
“We don’t want to see Palestinians evacuated from Rafah unless it is to return to their homes. And we have made that quite clear to the government of Israel,” said spokesman Matthew Miller.
“We don’t think there’s any effective way to evacuate 1.4 million Palestinians. There’s no way to conduct an operation in Rafah that would not lead to inordinate civilian harm and would severely hamper the delivery of humanitarian assistance. And that’s the point that we continue to make to them.”
Finland reiterates support for UNWRA following independent probe
Finland says it supports UNRWA activities in war-ravaged Gaza.
The statement comes after an independent review found Israel provided “no evidence” of any wrongdoing by staff of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.
“10% of our UNRWA support is now earmarked for risk management to prevent abuses,” the country’s foreign ministry posted on X.
Ville Tavio, Finland’s minister for development cooperation and foreign trade, met with Heli Uusikylä of UNRWA’s Gaza office, who visited the Finnish capital Helsinki, it said.
Satellite imagery shows tent city being built near Khan Younis
Satellite photos analysed by The Associated Press news agency appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Gaza’s city of Khan Younis.
The AP report comes as the Israeli military continues to threaten a ground invasion of nearby Rafah city, where about 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
Images from Planet Labs PBC show the tents first being set up on April 16. On comparing them with the images taken on Sunday, the compound appears to have grown.
The Israeli military said it wasn’t involved in constructing the tent city. Israel earlier said it planned to evacuate the hundreds of thousands of civilians from Rafah before its invasion. The US, however, says it has yet to receive a viable plan of how it will do so.
Khan Younis has been the repeated target of Israeli attacks since December.
US student protesters see Washington’s ‘dishonesty’ over Gaza
Hassan Barari, a professor of international relations at Qatar University, says pro-Palestine protests that are snowballing across elite US universities are “not surprising” given the “scope of the genocide taking place in Gaza”.
“It’s obvious to many students that the American administration has been providing lip service when talking about humanitarian aid and the need to stop the war” – even as it keeps funding Israel with billions of dollars, said Barari, who taught at Yale University.
Dozens of pro-Palestine protesters have been arrested at Yale University, Columbia University and New York University as they held Gaza solidarity demonstrations.
Antiwar protests have also spread to Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Michigan.
Israeli fighter jets pound southern Lebanon’s Yaroun village
The Israeli military said its warplanes had carried out overnight attacks on southern Lebanon, hitting five sites it claimed were Hezbollah “terrorist infrastructure” in the vicinity of Yaroun village close to the border with north Israel.
Israeli ground forces also “attacked to remove a threat” in the Yaroun area more recently, the military said in a post on social media alongside grainy video apparently showing buildings being pulverised in air attacks on Lebanon.
Iran calls EU sanctions ‘regrettable’ after attack on Israel
“It is regrettable to see the [European Union] deciding quickly to apply more unlawful restrictions against Iran just because Iran exercised its right to self-defence in the face of Israel’s reckless aggression,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on X.
“It is also regrettable that while the Israeli regime continues its genocide against the Palestinians through different war crimes, missile attacks & famine, the EU’s reaction to such crimes is almost nothing more than hollow words.”
He suggested sanctions on Israel instead.
Netanyahu promises to fight sanctions on Israeli military unit ‘with all my power’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said those who believe “they can impose sanctions on a unit” in the Israeli military should think again.
In an address shared on social media to mark the Jewish Passover Seder festival, Netanyahu said he will fight any attempt to sanction Israeli forces for human rights violations “with all my power”.
“As our soldiers are united in defending us on the battlefield, we are united in defending them in the diplomatic arena,” he said.
Netanyahu made his comments as reports emerged that the US is considering sanctions against a unit of the Israeli military over human rights violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that “processes” were under way to look into allegations of rights abuses by the Israeli military.
Reports indicate that the Netzah Yehuda, or “Judea Forever”, unit for ultra-Orthodox Jewish soldiers, which is stationed in the occupied West Bank, could be the target of sanctions.
Palestinian snipers, rockets, mortars target Israeli forces in Beit Hanoon battles
Israeli forces operating in northern Gaza’s Beit Hanoon city on Monday came under sniper fire as well as mortar and rocket-propelled grenade attacks by Palestinian armed groups, war monitors report.
Fighters with Hamas and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the self-claimed military wing of Fatah, reported several attacks carried out against Israeli units in Beit Hanoon and east of the city, which is located in the northeastern corner of the Gaza Strip.
According to the US-based military think tanks Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP), Israeli forces have carried out “multiple raids targeting Palestinian militias in Beit Hanoun in recent weeks”.
Yet, the Palestinian resistance continues in Beit Hanoon.
“These attacks and the [Israeli military’s] raids indicate that Palestinian militia cells remain in Beit Hanoun,” the ISW and CTP said in their latest Gaza situation report, noting the situation in the city remains as “previously assessed”.
What is UNRWA and why is it important for Palestinians?
UNRWA was created by the UN General Assembly on December 8, 1949, to provide basic support including food, healthcare and education to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees.
More than 700,000 Palestinians were forcefully displaced leading up to Israel’s creation in 1948, which Palestinians remember as the Nakba, or “the catastrophe”.
Today, UNRWA supports some 6 million Palestinian refugees who live in and outside of Palestine. It is like a quasi-state providing direct services, such as schools, primary health centres and other social services. It also provides loans to Palestinians.
UNRWA operations are spread across the occupied West Bank – including occupied East Jerusalem – as well as the Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
5 shot as Israeli forces open fire on cars, storm West Bank refugee camps
Israeli forces have shot two people during early morning raids on the Aqbat Jabr and Ein el-Sultan refugee camps located to the north and south of Jericho city, Wafa reports.
One of the injured was shot in the chest and another was hit in the abdomen, Wafa reports, adding that the victims were receiving treatment at the Jericho government hospital.
Earlier in the night, three people were injured – two women aged 63 and 30 and a 19-year-old man – when Israeli forces opened fire on cars travelling on the Halhul bridge north of Hebron. They were said to be in “moderate” condition at a hospital in Hebron.
Wafa also reported military raids and arrests elsewhere:
In Tammun town, south of Tubas city, a 24-year-old was arrested at an Israeli checkpoint.
Israeli soldiers stormed a house in Jalbun village, east of Jenin, and set up a military command post on the second floor of the residence, while troops established a checkpoint and fired bullets at locals attempting to resist the incursion.
Armed Israeli settlers also opened fire on Palestinian homes in Sebastia village, northwest of Nablus. No casualties were reported from the attacks, which damaged several houses.
Mass grave reports ‘extremely troubling’: UN spokesperson
Stephane Dujarric has said that reports of mass graves discovered in Gaza were “extremely troubling” and renewed calls for a “credible and independent” investigation of the sites.
Responding to a question from a journalist on mass graves found at Gaza’s al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals, Dujarric said the reports were “yet another reason why we need a ceasefire” as well as “greater protection of hospitals”.
UNGA president promises ‘full support’ for UNRWA’s future
Dennis Francis, the UN General Assembly president, has said UNRWA is a “lifeline to millions of Palestine refugees” and the agency’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, could count on his “full support”.
“I have been clear that the General Assembly, as the custodian of the mandate of UNRWA, bears responsibility in securing UNRWA’s future, both politically and financially,” Francis said in a post on social media.
The review of UNRWA found the agency had “established a significant number of mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the humanitarian principles, with emphasis on the principle of neutrality, and that it possesses a more developed approach to neutrality than other similar UN or NGO entities”.
‘Irreplaceable and indispensable’: Belgian foreign minister on UNRWA
Hadja Lahbib has said that Belgium was “correct in continuing our support for UNRWA” after a new UN report “positively assesse[d] the organisation’s neutrality.”
“The report states clearly: UNRWA is ‘irreplaceable and indispensable’ for the Palestinians,” the Belgian foreign minister said in a post on X.
Lahbib also called on other countries that have “suspended their contributions to resume them”.
Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the US have yet to restore funding to UNRWA, while Germany has not restored funding for UNRWA’s work in Gaza specifically.
Dozens arrested on US campuses as tensions flare over Gaza war
COLUMBIA (AFP) - Classes at Columbia University were shifted online Monday as protests over the Israel-Hamas war heightened tensions on US campuses and led to dozens of arrests at Yale University.
A large group of demonstrators has established a "Gaza Solidarity Encampment" on lawns at Columbia, with some Jewish students at the prestigious New York institution reporting intimidation and anti-Semitism amid the days-long protest.
'Neutrality' issues found at UN agency for Palestinians, but no terrorism proof
UNITED NATIONS (United States) (AFP) – An independent review group on the UN agency for Palestinians found some "neutrality-related issues," its much-anticipated report said Monday, but it noted Israel had yet to provide evidence for incendiary allegations that staff were members of terrorist organizations.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) remains "irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians' human and economic development" added the 54-page report, which was led by French diplomat Catherine Colonna.
200 bodies at Nasser hospital in Gaza, say local authorities
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (Reuters) - Gaza's Civil Defence agency said Monday (Apr 22) that health workers had uncovered around 200 bodies over the past three days of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at a hospital in Khan Yunis.
When asked for comment, the Israeli military said: "We will come back to you on the matter."
Gaza health system 'completely obliterated': UN expert
GENEVA (AFP) – Israel's war in Gaza has from the start been a "war on the right to health" and has "obliterated" the Palestinian territory's health system, a UN expert said on Monday.
Tlaleng Mofokeng, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to health, accused Israel of treating human rights as an "a la carte menu".
