Blinken says US cannot support Rafah assault without humanitarian plan

Iran slaps sanctions on US, UK over Israel support

Iran has announced sanctions on several American and British individuals and entities for supporting Israel in its war on Gaza.

The Islamic Republic, the regional arch foe of Israel, unveiled the punitive measures in a statement from its Foreign Ministry.

It said the sanctions targeted seven Americans, including General Bryan P Fenton, commander of the US special operations command, and Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, a former commander of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

British officials and entities targeted include Secretary of State for Defence Grant Shapps, commander of the British army strategic command James Hockenhull and the UK Royal Navy in the Red Sea.

Penalties were also announced against US firms Lockheed Martin and Chevron, and British counterparts Elbit Systems, Parker Meggitt and Rafael UK.

The impact of these measures on the individuals or entities, as well as their assets or dealings with Iran, remains unclear.

At least 10 Palestinians injured north of Nuseirat

Israeli artillery units have targeted agricultural land in the north of Nuseirat refugee camp; at least 10 Palestinians have been reported injured. Those who have been wounded are receiving treatment in al-Awda and al-Aqsa hospitals.

In Rafah, we continue to hear the ongoing Israeli surveillance drones that continue to gather more intelligence information about targets that are possibly going to be targeted in the coming hours.

Two killed in Gaza City bombing: Report

Israeli air forces have bombed a residential building housing a family in the Zeitoun neighbourhood near Gaza City, killing at least two civilians and wounding others, reports Wafa.

“A number of missing people are still under the rubble,” Wafa said in its report.

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes have targeted homes in several other neighbourhoods near Gaza City, including Shujayea, Sheikh Ijlin and Tal al-Hawa, according to the report.

Israeli opposition leader meets with UAE’s FM

The Israeli public broadcaster Kann News reports that Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has met with the UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

According to the media outlet, Lapid said that countries in the region could affect a deal to secure the release of the Israeli captives. He also stated that Israel has an interest in political and economic cooperation together with the UAE and other Arab countries.

In 2020, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco signed the Abraham Accords, a US-mediated agreement promising to normalise ties with Israel.

Israeli forces make more arrests near Ramallah, Bethlehem: Report

At least eight Palestinians, including a woman, have been arrested in violent raids in Jalazone camp, near Ramallah, and the village of Husan, near Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Israeli forces stormed Jalazone camp with military vehicles and clashed with local youth, firing live bullets, rubber bullets, tear gas and stun grenades, said Wafa. The shots injured one young Palestinian in the foot.

In addition, the Israeli forces damaged numerous vehicles and climbed onto residents’ rooftops during the operation, in which five people were arrested, according to Wafa.

During the raid in Husan village, 9km (5.6 miles) from Bethlehem, three people were arrested, said Wafa.

‘Almost daily’ attacks on Israeli forces along Netzarim corridor: Monitors

Palestinian armed groups are continuing their attacks on Israeli units operating along the “Netzarim corridor” – the military-built highway that Israel has constructed to dissect Gaza’s north from south.

At least six mortar and rocket attacks were reported on Wednesday against Israeli units operating along the corridor – which was envisaged to give Israel’s military quick access along an east to west axis in the middle of the Palestinian territory.

Since April 18, Palestinian armed groups have reported carrying out “almost daily indirect fire attacks targeting Israeli forces near the Netzarim corridor”, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) say in their latest Gaza update.

The ISW/CTP report also notes that Israeli Army Radio has reported on plans to establish a “safer” zone for Palestinian civilians, located just south of the corridor in central Gaza. The new zone will be used to relocate people from Rafah, which Israel has promised to invade with ground forces, regardless of any ceasefire deal with Hamas.

The new “safer” zone would be declared “combat-free”, however, the ISW/CTP report points out that the proposed location “sits atop uncleared areas of the Gaza Strip and near intact Hamas battalions in the central camps area”.

Attacks on southern Israel continued from inside Gaza on Wednesday with Hamas fighters launching four rockets towards an Israeli town. The missiles landed in open areas and caused no damage, according to the US-based think tanks. 

Fighter jets strike tunnel shaft, mortar launch post in Gaza: Israeli military

The Israeli military says “a number of launches” targeted their troops in the Gaza Strip yesterday. In response, they struck an operational tunnel shaft and a mortar launch post from where the launches were detected.

In an operational update, the Israeli military also stated that it had identified a Palestinian fighter in the Strip using a UAV that the air force subsequently targeted and killed.

In an update late on Wednesday, the Israeli military said the air force struck several Hezbollah military compounds in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military stationed in northern Israel and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon have traded fire since October 8. In recent months, the cross-border attacks have increased in frequency and severity, leading to a fear of a greater regional conflagration.

US lawmakers accused of equating criticism of Israel with antisemitism

The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) has blasted US lawmakers who voted overwhelmingly to approve a bill that broadens the definition of anti-Semitism in the US.

The proposal, which aims to codify a new definition of anti-Semitism, was passed 320-91 and will now have to be also approved by the Senate. Critics fear the new definition – which is taken from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance – will be used to label any criticism of Israel in the US as anti-Semitic.

“Tonight we condemned members of the US House of Representatives who voted to approve a one-sided and dishonest proposal about campus antisemitism that ignored anti-Palestinian racism and conflates criticism of Israel with antisemitism,” CAIR said in a post on social media.

“The push to adopt this act was motivated by an anti-Palestinian bias aimed at stifling young student voices advocating for Palestinian human rights, especially following Israel’s genocidal invasion of Gaza,” CAIR’s Robert S. McCaw said in a statement.

Activists say UCLA Palestine encampment assault followed days of harassment

Classes at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) were cancelled on Wednesday following attacks on a Gaza solidarity encampment by pro-Israeli supporters the previous night.

UCLA’s administration released a statement condemning the “horrific acts of violence” against the encampment, which was erected in protest at Israel’s war on the Palestinian territory where at least 34,568 people have been killed and 77,765 wounded in Israeli attacks since October 7.

Anna, a spokesperson for the UCLA encampment, told Al Jazeera that dozens of pro-Palestine protesters were injured or pepper-sprayed in the attack, which lasted from late Tuesday night into the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Anna added that the attack was carried out partly under the gaze of police, who only stepped in several hours after the violence began.

Trump says he will build US version of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence if elected

Former US President Donald Trump has said that he will build a “state-of-the-art missile defence shield” that is “even better” than Israel’s if he is elected again.

“We have a lot of hostile people out there. We have a lot of bad actors out there. We’re going to build the greatest dome of them all. We’re going to have it all made right here in America,” the Republican candidate told supporters at a rally in Michigan on Wednesday.

Trump also told the crowd that President Joe Biden’s incompetence had brought the world “to the brink of nuclear war” and only he would be able to “prevent World War III”.

Israeli forces arrest three Palestinians near Hebron

The Israeli military has arrested three Palestinians during raids in the town of Idhna, west of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports.

A Palestinian man has also reported that Israeli soldiers stole 1,600 shekels (about $426) from his car at a checkpoint on Halhul Bridge, north of Hebron, Wafa reports.

Israeli raids have been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank. They include:

Hebron city.
Beit Ummar town, north of Hebron.
Qalqilya city.
Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah
Shu’fat refugee camp, north of occupied East Jerusalem
 

Students say Columbia University campus a ‘war zone’ due to police operation

We’re here outside the [City University of New York] and you can see there’s about three, four or 500 people. Most of them are students that have come here to denounce what happened on Tuesday evening at the Columbia University campus and here, when around 300 students were detained by the police, Al Jazeera reported.

This is what many universities in New York City and across the United States look like with the presence of the police.

Universities have requested that the police stay after many of the students that were carrying out encampments inside of the universities were evicted because they’re afraid of people trying to go in again.

We’ve been listening to students saying that Columbia University on Tuesday evening became a war zone.

They said that some students were injured. They’re saying they’re not being allowed to protest to shed light on what’s happening in Gaza.

Students protesters at UCLA don’t feel protected by police: Report

The Associated Press (AP) news agency reports that Muslim organisations in the US and students at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have blasted university officials and police for failing to intervene and protect them from pro-Israeli attackers.

Rebecca Husaini, chief of staff for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the US, said protesting students at UCLA do not feel protected by the police following the attacks on Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning.

“The community needs to feel the police are protecting them, not enabling others to harm them,” Husaini said after a night of violence on Wednesday during which students at a peaceful pro-Palestinian encampment on the Los Angeles campus were verbally harassed, pepper sprayed and beaten by pro-Israeli attackers.

Several students who spoke to AP said they had to rely on each other, not the police, for protection as they were attacked, and that many in the pro-Palestinian encampment remained peaceful and did not engage with the attackers.

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill broadening the definition of anti-Semitism to include the “targeting of the State of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity”. 

Blinken says US cannot support Rafah assault without humanitarian plan

ASHDOD, Israel (Reuters) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday (May 1) he has still not seen a plan for Israel's planned offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that would protect civilians, repeating that Washington could not support such an assault.

Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem for two-and-a-half hours, after which Israel repeated that the Rafah operation would go ahead despite the US position and a UN warning that it would lead to "tragedy".

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