Israel’s Gaza invasion - Day 561

Updated 21 Apr, 2025 11:25am

‘Gaza needs food now’: World Food Programme

The World Food Programme (WFP) has again reiterated its call for an end to Israel’s blockade on aid into Gaza, saying Palestinians there “do not know where their next meal is coming from”, according to Al Jazeera.

“Gaza needs food now”, the WFP said in a post on X, and urged “all parties to prioritise the needs of civilians, protect humanitarian workers and allow aid to enter Gaza immediately”.

The Israeli blockade, which began on March 2, is the longest continuous restriction on aid into Gaza since Israel launched its war on the territory in October 2023.

Published 21 Apr, 2025 12:25pm

Wife and husband killed in Israeli attack on al-Mawasi

An Israeli air attack that hit an area in the so-called safe zone of al-Mawasi near Khan Younis has killed two people — a wife and a husband, when the attack hit a tent housing displaced Palestinians behind the British Hospital, Al Jazeera reports.

The victims were identified as Ibrahim Asbitan Shaqliya and his wife, Bayan Muhammad Al-Dasouqi Shaqliya.

Published 21 Apr, 2025 11:57am

56pc of Israelis back deal to release captives, end Gaza offensive, poll shows

Some 56 per cent of the Israeli public supports an agreement allowing the release of all captives held by Hamas in exchange for the end to the offensive in Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners, according to the latest survey published by Israel’s state broadcaster Kan, reports Al Jazeera.

According to the survey, 22pc of the Israeli public is opposed to such a deal.

The survey, conducted by Kantar Institute, shows Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party gaining seats in parliament, while the support for Yair Lapid’s opposition Yesh Atid has weakened.

Published 21 Apr, 2025 10:45am

‘Rupture in diplomatic ties’: French lawmakers slam Israel’s cancellation of visas

Israel has cancelled visas for 27 French left-wing lawmakers and other local officials two days before their trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, reports Al Jazeera.

The delegation included National Assembly deputies Francois Ruffin, Alexis Corbiere and Julie Ozenne from the Ecologist party; Communist deputy Soumya Bourouaha; Communist senator Marianne Margate, and several town mayors and local lawmakers.

Some 17 members of the group issued a statement condemning the Israeli move and calling on French President Emmanuel Macron to intervene.

They said they had been victims of “collective punishment” and described the visa ban as a “major rupture in diplomatic ties”.

“Deliberately preventing elected officials and parliamentarians from travelling cannot be without consequences,” the group said, demanding action by the government to ensure that Israel lets them into the country.

Published 21 Apr, 2025 10:10am

UN official calls for accountability over Israeli killings of Gaza paramedics

Jonathan Whittall, who heads the UN’s humanitarian agency (OCHA) in Gaza, has responded to Israeli claims that there was “no evidence to support claims of execution” in the killings of Palestinian paramedics last month, Al Jazeera reports.

“Without accountability, we risk continuing to watch atrocities unfolding, and the norms designed to protect us all, eroding,” Whittall said in a statement.

“Too many civilians, including aid workers, have been killed in Gaza. Their stories have not all made the headlines.”

Published 21 Apr, 2025 09:26am

Israeli forces raid refugee camps in occupied West Bank

Israeli forces have arrested a young man during a raid on the Balata refugee camp near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reports, citing Palestinian sources.

The arrest came as Israeli forces also raided the Fawwar refugee camp and the Wadi Abu Katila area in Hebron.

Published 21 Apr, 2025 08:30am

Several killed, wounded in Israeli attack on Gaza’s Khan Younis: report

Israeli forces have bombed a Palestinian home in Al Zana area of the southern Gaza City, killing and wounding several people, Al Jazeera reports, citing Palestinian media.

The targeted building belonged to the Baraka family, according to the Quds News Network.

Footage published by the network showed medics transferring the dead and wounded to a hospital.

 General view of destroyed buildings in North Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border on April 20, 2025. — Reuters/Amir Cohen
General view of destroyed buildings in North Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border on April 20, 2025. — Reuters/Amir Cohen

Published 21 Apr, 2025 08:16am

Trump threatens to cut another $1bn in Harvard funding: report

US President Donald Trump is threatening to cut another $1 billion in funding for Harvard University, this time targeting health research, Reuters quotes a Wall Street Journal report as saying, as the administration’s row with elite schools escalated.

The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, reported the plans to pull an additional $1bn in research funds arose after administration officials thought a long list of demands they sent Harvard on April 11 was a confidential starting point for negotiations, and officials were surprised when Harvard released the letter to the public.

Trump officials had been planning to treat Harvard more leniently than Columbia but now want to increase the pressure on Harvard, The Journal reported.

The White House and Harvard did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment yesterday.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 11:15pm

Human rights lawyer says Israeli probe raises more questions

Human rights lawyer Geoffrey Nice says the findings of an Israeli investigation into the slaying of 15 Palestinian paramedics and aid workers in Gaza raise questions about the Israeli military’s conduct in the Strip and the thoroughness of the investigative process.

“It’s a pretty surprising document. It’s also a document that invites many questions that it will be difficult, I suspect, for the [Israeli military] to answer,” Nice told Al Jazeera in a television interview.

“For example, [there is] the proposition that six of these people were Hamas, presumably members of Hamas on active [military] service, not people who might have been associated with Hamas in some way. No documentary evidence at all is identified [for that],” he added.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 10:43pm

Israel military says killing of Gaza medics was ‘mistake’

The head of an Israeli military probe into the killing of 15 Palestinian emergency workers in Gaza acknowledged a “mistake” on the part of troops involved in the incident, AFP reports.

“We’re saying it was a mistake, we don’t think it’s a daily mistake,” Major General Yoav Har-Even told journalists when asked if he thought the incident represented a pervasive issue within the Israeli military.

The military also confirmed detaining one medic since the incident on March 23.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 09:44pm

Israeli rights organisation calls medic shooting probe ‘another cover up’

The Israeli anti-occupation group Breaking the Silence says that Israel’s probe into the killing of Palestinian medics is “riddled with contradictions, vague phrasing, and selective details”, Al Jazeera reports.

“We all remember when the IDF [Israeli military] claimed that the ambulances’ emergency lights weren’t on — and then we saw the footage proving otherwise. Not every lie has a video to expose it, but this report doesn’t even attempt to engage with the truth,” the group said in a social media post.

“Another day, another cover-up. More innocent lives taken, with no accountability.”

Published 20 Apr, 2025 07:43pm

Israeli military says review into killing of Gaza aid workers found ‘professional failures’

The Israeli military said on Sunday that a review into the killing of 15 emergency responders in Gaza last month found professional failures and violations of orders but no attempt to conceal the incident.

A commanding officer is to be reprimanded and a deputy commander dismissed, the military said.

“The examination identified several professional failures, breaches of orders, and a failure to fully report the incident,” the military said in a statement.

“The examination determined that the fire in the first two incidents resulted from an operational misunderstanding by the troops, who believed they faced a tangible threat from enemy forces. The third incident involved a breach of orders during a combat setting,” it added.

The military said the deputy commander had ordered troops to open fire on individuals emerging from vehicles that were later determined to be a fire truck and several ambulances.

Read more here.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 07:00pm

Settlers continue to storm Palestinian land in occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem

Israeli settlers have stormed Palestinian land in Khirbet ar-Rakeez in the Hebron governorate in the occupied West Bank, local sources tell Al Jazeera.

Wafa also reports that settlers attacked a bus with stones in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in occupied East Jerusalem, causing its windows to shatter.

The Palestinian news agency, quoting local sources, added that settlers stole two water tanks used for livestock in the northern Jordan Valley in the West Bank last night.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 06:40pm

Israeli attacks against Christians, clergy on the rise in West Bank: pastor

Israeli restrictions on Christians this year have been perhaps the toughest, says Palestinian pastor and theologian Dr Mitri Raheb, who is also the founder and president of Dar al-Kalima University in Bethlehem.

“I myself, as a pastor, don’t have a permit to go for the holy week, which is the most important week for Christians throughout the year because Jesus was crucified and risen in Jerusalem,” he told Al Jazeera.

“The Palestinian-Christian community that has been there for 2,000 years cannot go there to celebrate and mark this where it all happened.”

On the other hand, Raheb said, incitement against Palestinian Christians, especially clergy members, has been on the rise, with Israeli settlers attacking Christians and spitting at clergy even inside Jerusalem. This year alone, 43 such incidents took place, the pastor said.

“One of the first things you read about in church about Jesus is that he was like a lamb led to the slaughter. But when you hear this today as Palestinian Christians, you think it’s our whole people being led to slaughter, considering what is happening in Gaza.”

Published 20 Apr, 2025 06:00pm

Lebanon president says disarming Hezbollah ‘delicate’ as two killed in Israeli strikes

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said that disarming the Hezbollah group was a “delicate” matter whose implementation required the right circumstances, warning that forcing the issue could lead the country to ruin.

His remarks came as Lebanon’s health ministry said two people were killed in Israeli strikes in the country’s south, the latest such raids despite a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese group.

Restricting the bearing of arms to the state is “a sensitive, delicate issue that is fundamental to preserving civil peace” and requires due “consideration and responsibility”, Aoun told reporters.

“We will implement” a state monopoly on bearing arms “but we have to wait for the circumstances” to allow this, he said, adding that “nobody is speaking to me about timing or pressure”.

 A view shows Beirut’s skyline as seen from Mansourieh, Lebanon on April 16, 2025. — Reuters/Mohamed Azakir
A view shows Beirut’s skyline as seen from Mansourieh, Lebanon on April 16, 2025. — Reuters/Mohamed Azakir

Published 20 Apr, 2025 05:07pm

Palestinian ministry calls on world to break its silence on Israeli attack on Christians

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on the international community to break its silence and undertake efforts to protect Jerusalem and its holy sites after Israel put restrictions on Christian worshippers and even attacked some of them, Al Jazeera reports.

“The occupation’s attacks and collective punishments during the holy Easter are manifestations of genocide, displacement, and annexation,” the ministry posted on X.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 05:07pm

Israeli air strikes kill 25 Palestinians since dawn: Gaza rescuers

Israeli air strikes since dawn have killed at least 25 people across the Gaza Strip, including women and children, AFP quotes the enclave’s civil defence agency as saying.

“Since dawn today, the occupation’s air strikes have killed 20 people and injured dozens more, including children and women across the Gaza Strip,” Mahmud Bassal, spokesman for the civil defence agency told AFP.

In a separate statement later, the agency reported that five people were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a group of civilians in eastern Rafah.

 A view shows an explosion during an Israeli strike at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on April 19, 2025. — Reuters/Hatem Khaled
A view shows an explosion during an Israeli strike at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip on April 19, 2025. — Reuters/Hatem Khaled

Published 20 Apr, 2025 03:59pm

Pope Francis makes brief Easter appearance, calls for Gaza ceasefire

Pope Francis has reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza in an Easter Sunday message read aloud by an aide as the pontiff, still recovering from pneumonia, looked on during a brief appearance on the main balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Reuters reports.

The 88-year-old pope, limiting his workload on doctors’ orders, did not preside over the Vatican’s Mass for Easter but appeared at the end of the event for a twice-yearly blessing and message known as the ‘Urbi et Orbi’ (to the city and the world).

In the Easter message, the pontiff said the situation in Gaza was “dramatic and deplorable”. The pope also called on Hamas to release its remaining hostages and condemned what he said was a “worrisome” trend of antisemitism in the world.

“I express my closeness to the sufferings … of all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people,” said the message. “I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace,” it said.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 02:48pm

At least 44 killed by Israel in past 24 hours in Gaza: health ministry

In its latest death toll update, the Gaza Ministry of Health says that in addition to the 44 deaths, there have been 145 injuries in the past 24 hours, Al Jazeera reports.

“There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the streets, and ambulance and civil defence crews cannot reach them”, it said.

“The death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 51,201 martyrs and 116,869 wounded since October 7, 2023”, it said, adding that since Israel resumed new offensive on March 18, 1,827 people have been killed and 4,828 injured.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 01:59pm

Israeli attacks kill 6 in Gaza City, Khan Younis

The Wafa news agency reports that Israeli forces launched a drone attack on farmers in the southern town of Abasan, near Khan Younis, killing at least two people and wounding several more.

Israeli forces also carried out air raids on Gaza City, targeting a group of civilians in Zeitoun neighbourhood and killing at least two people.

A separate Israeli attack on Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood killed at least two more people.

Wafa also provided more details on the person killed in al-Mawasi. It identified the victim as 23-year-old Waseem Abu Mousa.

The renewed attacks come as Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to intensify the war on Gaza.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 01:58pm

Death toll from Israeli attacks on Gaza rises to 19

Medical sources say Israeli attacks since the early hours of this morning have killed at least 19 people, Al Jazeera reports.

These include at least five people killed in Gaza City’s Tuffah neighbourhood and two others killed in Khan Younis’s al-Manara neighbourhood.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 01:28pm

Qatar’s chief negotiator says ‘frustrated’ by pace of Gaza talks

Qatar’s chief negotiator has voiced frustration over talks for a truce in Gaza in an interview with AFP, a month after Israel resumed its strikes on the Palestinian territory and another round of negotiations ended without a deal.

“We’re definitely frustrated by the slowness, sometimes, of the process in the negotiation. This is an urgent matter. There are lives at stake here if this military operation continues day by day,” Mohammed Al-Khulaifi said on Friday.

“We’ve been working continuously in the last days to try to bring the parties together and revive the agreement that has been endorsed by the two sides,” the Qatari minister of state said.

“And we will remain committed to this, in spite of the difficulties,” he added.

“Critiques without any context, such as the ones that we keep hearing from Netanyahu himself, are often just noise,” he added.

Al-Khulaifi rejected recent remarks from Netanyahu to the US-based evangelical Christian channel Daystar that Qatar had promoted “anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism” on US college campuses.

Published 20 Apr, 2025 01:15pm

Israeli forces convert Palestinian home into military outpost: report

Israeli soldiers have forcibly removed a Palestinian family from their home in the town of Turmus Aya in the occupied West Bank and converted the property into a military outpost, Al Jazeera reports, citing the Wafa news agency.

The Palestinian news agency, citing local sources, said the move comes just three days after Israeli forces created a new outpost on land belonging to the town located in the Ramallah and el-Bireh governorates.