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22-04-2024
UNITED NATIONS/ JERUSALEM/ WASHINGTON/ GAZA CITY: Emergency services in Gaza retrieve the bodies of 50 Palestinians from a mass grave at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, two weeks after Israeli forces withdrew from the area.
A pregnant woman and six children are among 16 Palestinians killed in a wave of Israeli attacks on southern Rafah. Doctors managed to save the woman’s unborn child.
Israeli forces have killed 14 people during a raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp, the Palestinian health ministry said, while Israeli settlers shot dead an ambulance driver trying to reach Palestinians wounded in violence south of Nablus.
The US House of Representatives passes $26bn in funding for Israel amid its war on Gaza and tensions with Iran, with the package to now go to the Senate for approval.
At least 34,049 Palestinians have been killed and 76,901 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captives in Gaza.
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh gave an interview to Turkey’s Anadolu news agency during his visit to Istanbul where he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Here’s a few takeaways:
The US’s veto against the establishment of a Palestinian state at the UN Security Council gives political protection for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Israel took an uncompromising stance during ceasefire negotiations, aiming to take back all captives and then re-start the war on Gaza.
Hamas is not insisting on being the sole authority in the administration of Gaza once the war is over.
Haniyeh’s visit took place soon after Qatar said it would re-assess its role as a negotiator between Israel and Hamas, opening the possibility for Turkey to become a mediator in the conflict, a role it has long sought.
Netanyahu has welcomed the billions of dollars in US assistance, writing on X it “demonstrates strong bipartisan support for Israel and defends Western civilization” but the Palestinian presidency condemned it as “an aggression against the Palestinian people” and a “dangerous escalation”.
The money would “translate into thousands of Palestinian casualties in the Gaza Strip” and the occupied West Bank, said Nabil Abu Rudeina, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The Gaza war is speeding up Israel’s “annexation” of the Palestinian economy, say analysts, who argue it has been hobbled for decades by agreements that followed the Oslo Accords.
Israel is tightening the noose on the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, by withholding tax revenues it collects on its behalf, said economist Adel Samara.
Palestinian livelihoods have also been hurt by bans on laborers crossing into Israel and by a sharp downturn in tourism in the violence-plagued territory, including a quiet Christmas season in Bethlehem.
Samara said, “Technically speaking, there is no Palestinian economy under Israeli occupation, our economy has been effectively annexed by Israelis.”
US Representative Joaquin Castro raised concerns during the House vote to send billions in military assistance to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government, directly questioning moves by the Israeli leader.
“His actions have not led to the release of the remaining hostages. He’s ignored the pleas of the families of hostages. He’s ignored the pleas of the president of the United States. He’s ignored his own people. He’s engaged in self-preservation. We should not be sending offensive weapons to Israel right now,” said Castro. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
