Tuesday, April 16, 2024
17:04 GMT — The United Nations will launch a $2.8B appeal for donations this year to help the war-ravaged population of Gaza as well as occupied West Bank Palestinians, a senior agency official said.
"Of course, 90 percent of it is for Gaza," Andrea De Domenico, head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Palestinian territories, said, noting that the original plan had been $4 billion for 2024 but budgeting was slashed given the "limited ability" of humanitarian aid distribution access.
19:15 GMT — Qatar rejects US congressman's criticism of its mediation efforts in Gaza
The Qatari embassy in the US expressed surprise at comments made by a US Democratic congressman regarding the Gaza hostage crisis and his threat to "reevaluate" the US relationship with Qatar.
Congressman Steny Hoyer said earlier that Qatar, which along with Egypt is mediating negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza, should tell Hamas there will be "repercussions" if the Palestinian group "continues to block progress towards releasing the hostages and establishing a temporary ceasefire".
"Consequences ought to include cutting off funding to Hamas or refusing to grant Hamas' leaders refuge in Doha. If Qatar fails to apply this pressure, the United States must reevaluate its relationship with Qatar," Hoyer said in a statement.
In response, Qatar said Hoyer's comments were not "constructive".
"Qatar is only a mediator - we do not control Israel or Hamas. Israel and Hamas are entirely responsible for reaching an agreement," the embassy statement said.
18:55 GMT — Israeli air strike kills Hezbollah member in South Lebanon
Hezbollah has said in a statement that one of its members, Ismail Yusuf Baz, had been killed, without mentioning his rank or role, the group added by saying three of its members were killed and it launched rockets in retaliation.
A source close to the group told AFP that "the field commander in charge of the Naqura region" had been killed "in an Israeli strike"
The Israeli military said its "aircraft struck and eliminated Ismail Yusef Baz, the commander of Hezbollah's coastal sector", adding he was killed in south Lebanon's Ain Baal area.
Lebanon's official National News Agency (NNA) reported one dead in an Israeli strike on a car in Ain Baal, about 15 kilometres from the border.
18:15 GMT — Driver plows into Pro-Palestinian Jewish activists during Paris protest
A driver in Paris plowed into a group of pro-Palestinian Jewish activists during a protest against military support for Israel's attacks in Gaza.
There were no reported casualties.
Footage shared by Farida Amrani, an MP from the French opposition Unsubmissive France Party (LFI) on X, captured the moment of attack outside the headquarters of French weapons manufacturer, Thales Group.
Protesters brandished banners that read: "Israel the Killer”, “Thales the Accomplice” and “Stop Arming Israel," alongside Palestinian flags. Demonstrators denounced Thales Group's alleged military support for Israel's actions in Gaza
17:55 GMT — Israeli strike kills Palestinian policemen in Gaza City
Seven Palestinian policemen were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in Gaza City, the Interior Ministry in the enclave has said.
A ministry statement said several civilians were also killed in the attack in al-Tuffah neighbourhood east of Gaza City, without giving an exact figure.
The ministry said Israeli air strikes targeting police forces and facilities "aim to spread chaos among civilians."
"This new crime is a continuation of the Israeli disregard for all international laws that criminalise the targeting of the police force as it is a civil protection agency."
17:39 GMT — 'No regional stability' as long as Gaza war continues': EU
There will be "no regional stability" as long as the Gaza war, "dramatic" humanitarian conditions in the region continue, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell has said.
17:15 GMT — US and Britain launch new strikes on Houthi sites in Yemen
US and British warplanes have launched fresh airstrikes against Houthi sites inside Yemen, the Yemeni group said.
Two airstrikes targeted Bajil district northeast of al Hudaydah in western Yemen, the Houthi-run Al-Masirah television reported.
No reports were yet available about casualties or damage. There was no immediate comment from the US on the report.
16:16 GMT — Regional tensions to stay until genocide in Gaza ends — Erdogan
President Erdogan has said that new tensions are expected in the region until oppression, genocide in Gaza ends.
Erdogan also blamed Israel's Netanyahu for Iran's attack on Israel, saying: "The main one responsible for the tension that gripped our hearts on the evening of April 13 is Netanyahu and his bloody administration".
He further said that Türkiye has strengthened its leading role in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza with its 9th 'goodwill ship,' carrying 3,774 tons of relief materials.
"Fueling fire, continuously spoiling Netanyahu administration benefits no one," the Turkish president added. Türkiye did not allow the sale to Israel of any materials that could be used for military purposes long before the massacres in Gaza, he reiterated.
16:16 GMT — Israeli army forcibly evacuates Palestinians from northern Gaza
Officials in Gaza have accused the Israeli army of forcibly evacuating Palestinians from Beit Hanoun and Jabalia towns in northern Gaza amid a deadly offensive on the blockaded enclave.
''The Israeli army carried out a military operation in Beit Hanoun and the eastern part of Jabalia in a new crime aimed to empty the two areas,'' Salama Maruf, the head of the media office, said in a statement.
He said the Israeli army laid a siege around al-Mahdiya al-Shawwa school in Beit Hanoun, where hundreds of displaced people are accommodated.
"The occupation army established an investigation centre behind the school and ordered everyone to leave at gunpoint," he said. "Women were forced to remove their hijabs, and men were stripped of their outer clothes," Maruf said, adding that several young men were detained by Israeli forces.
15:47 GMT — Israeli air strike kills at least 10 in Gaza refugee camp
At least 10 Palestinians were killed when Israeli warplanes struck a group of children at a refugee camp in central Gaza, according to local medical sources.
Fighter jets targeted an area where children had gathered in the Maghazi refugee camp, eyewitnesses said.
"Most of the victims were children who were playing with toys,” an eyewitness told Anadolu.
13:37 GMT — Israel’s Ben-Gvir forms special police unit to persecute activists in occupied West Bank
Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has announced the formation of a special police unit to persecute Israeli activists who show solidarity with Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
In a statement on his X account, Ben-Gvir described his announcement as "an important step" to remove what he called "anarchists who interfere with the security forces and public order."
The move followed sanctions imposed by the US, France, and the UK on illegal Israeli settlers who carry out violent attacks against Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank.
12:44 GMT — 'No significant change' in aid entering Gaza — UN agency
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said there had been "no significant change" in the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
UNRWA said in a statement that "181 aid trucks have crossed into Gaza per day" through land crossings from Israel and Egypt so far in April.
It said this "remains well below the operational capacity of both border crossings and the target of 500 trucks per day."
12:28 GMT — Israel obstructing access to October 7 attack victims: UN probe
Israel is preventing UN investigators from speaking to witnesses and victims of the October 7 attack, former UN rights chief Navi Pillay, who is chairing a three-person probe, has said.
The unprecedented Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
"I deplore the fact that people inside Israel who wish to speak to us are being denied that opportunity because we cannot get access into Israel," Pillay said.
12:23 GMT — Saudi, Pakistan FM'S call for de-escalation, ceasefire in Gaza
The Saudi foreign minister has said that international efforts towards a Gaza ceasefire were wholly insufficient and called for de-escalation efforts, in a press conference with his Pakistani counterpart during a visit to Islamabad.
Pakistan's foreign minister also reiterated the call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
12:13 GMT — Israel must stop settler attacks on Palestinians: UN human rights office
The UN human rights office has called on Israeli forces to immediately end their active participation in and support for attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
The statement follows a wave of settler attacks on Palestinian towns and villages in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Health Ministry says seven Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces or settlers since the attacks began Friday, and another 75 have been wounded.
11:00 GMT — Israeli army raids several areas across occupied West Bank
The Israeli army carried out several raids across the occupied West Bank to arrest Palestinians, according to eyewitnesses.
The Israeli forces raided the city of Qalqilya, northern the West Bank, and stormed into several homes in the city, the eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
They added that the Israeli army vehicles intentionally hit Palestinian cars to damage them, while the snipers were deployed on the houses in the city.
10:16 GMT — Several Palestinians killed in Israeli air strike on mosque in Jabalia in northern Gaza
Several Palestinians were killed and others injured early Tuesday by Israeli air strikes that targeted a mosque in Jabalia in northern Gaza, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
Medical sources said that “several martyrs and nine wounded were transported to Kamal Adwan Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip as a result of the Israeli occupation’s aircraft targeting the Al Fakhoura Martyrs Mosque located west of the Jabalia refugee camp.”
Israeli army vehicles also infiltrated the town of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, besieging a school sheltering displaced people and opening fire on them, said WAFA.
05:00 GMT — Palestine collects more bodies as Israel bombards Gaza
Israel has killed at least four Palestinian civilians in Rafah's Tal al Sultan area, while striking Nuseirat camp city in central Gaza and north of Gaza, witnesses told TRT World.
04:20 GMT — Pro-Palestine protests hit US cities
Pro-Palestine demonstrators have blocked roadways in Illinois, California, New York and Oregon, temporarily shutting down travel into Chicago O'Hare International Airport, onto the Golden Gate and Brooklyn bridges and on a busy West Coast highway amid Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza.
In Chicago, protesters linked arms and blocked lanes of Interstate 190 leading into one of the nation's busiest airports around 7 am, a demonstration they said was part of a global "economic blockade to free Palestine," according to Rifqa Falaneh, one of the organisers.
Traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area was snarled for hours as demonstrators shut down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge and chained themselves to 55-gallon drums filled with cement across Interstate 880 in Oakland.
03:31 GMT — Qatar, Iran leaders call for ceasefire
Qatar and Iran have stressed the need for a ceasefire in besieged Gaza and all other Palestinian territories in a phone call between the two countries' leaders.
According to the Qatar News Agency (QNA), Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani phoned Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, with whom he discussed "bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to support and strengthen them."
They also stressed the need for a ceasefire in Gaza and all Palestinian territories as "a permanent and final solution to the Palestinian cause that achieves a lasting and comprehensive peace in the region."
03:00 GMT — Large protests against Israeli participation in Eurovision expected
Over 20,000 people from various European countries are expected to travel to the city of Malmo in Sweden to protest Israel's participation in the Eurovision song contest, set to be held in the Scandinavian country on May 7, local media reported.
The Palestine Network launched an initiative to organise demonstrations and other cultural activities in the city during Eurovision week, according to national broadcaster SVT Nyheter.
One of the many organisations collaborating to hold two demonstrations in the city is the Palestine Group in Malmo.
02:30 GMT — Israel 'unhappy' with China's failure to condemn Iran's retaliation
Israel is "unhappy" with China's failure to condemn Iranian retaliatory attacks on Israel over the weekend, according to an Israeli diplomat in Beijing.
Speaking at a press briefing, Yuval Waks, a senior official at the Israeli embassy in Beijing, said Israel's expectation from China strongly condemned the attacks and acknowledged Israel's right to self-defence.
"We did not see that, unfortunately. Therefore, we were unhappy with the statement," Waks said.
For our live updates from Monday, April 15, click here.
