- Gaza medics continue to search for bodies in a hospital courtyard after Israeli soldiers raided the facility with at least 283 recovered so far from mass graves in Khan Younis.
- Donors are pressed to restore desperately needed funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA after an independent review found Israel provided “no evidence” of any wrongdoing.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says “processes” are under way to look into allegations of rights abuses by the Israeli military but doesn’t confirm reports of imminent sanctions against a notorious army unit.
- At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and 77,143 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 captive in Gaza.
- Stop investing in this genocide’In addition to anti-war demonstrations at American Ivy League schools, pro-Palestinian encampments have sprouted up on other campuses including the University of Michigan and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Dozens of arrests have been made overnight with school administrators cracking down. Mohammad Khalil, an activist from Columbia University, urged his school to stop funding war-related industries.“The university should do something about the genocide that’s happening in Gaza. They should stop investing in this genocide that our people are now suffering from,” said Khalil.Some Jewish students, meanwhile, say much of the criticism of Israel has veered into anti-Semitism and made them feel unsafe.In an email to staff and students on Monday, Columbia University President Nemat Minouche Shafik said the school is canceling in-person classes and moving to online teaching to “deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps”.
- An anti-war encampment at Columbia University in New York [Stefan Jeremiah/AP]
- 22m ago (07:26 GMT)Homes targeted, destroyed in Gaza City as incessant strikes continueReporting from Rafah, southern GazaThere is no sign of Israel’s military action slowing down. There are relentless air strikes and aggressive operations on the ground, including in the northern, central, and overcrowded southern parts of the Gaza Strip.In central areas, refugee camps have been attacked for the past 48 hours including Nuseirat, Bureij, and Maghazi, as well as parts of Deir el-Balah – a city where people were told to evacuate to.In northern Gaza City, the eastern neighbourhoods of Shujayea and Zeitoun have been pounded by land and air. The reports we’re getting say all residential buildings still standing were targeted and destroyed – in what looks like a demolition operation.Meanwhile, there are reports of clashes between armed groups and the Israeli military on the ground in Gaza City, despite the Israeli military’s repeated statements that it completed operations and those areas are cleared of Palestinian resistance.
- Israeli bombardment of the Daraj neighbourhood in Gaza City last week [AFP]
- Israeli strike hits vehicle in southern Lebanon: ReportAt least one person in the car, near the town of Aadloun, was killed, reports Lebanon’s An-Nahar media, without noting the victim’s identity.It is the first time an Israeli strike has targeted a person driving in this area, according to An-Nahar.We’ll bring you more information on this as we have it.
- NYU professor denounces ‘over-the-top response’ against demonstratorsHelga Tawil-Souri, an associated professor at New York University, says school administrators gave conflicting reasons for the crackdown on pro-Palestine demonstrators.“When they brought in the police – hundreds of policemen in riot gear – they charged us with trespassing, though we are NYU faculty and students. I don’t know how we trespass on our own campus but that was the charge against us,” she told Al Jazeera.It remains unclear how many demonstrators were arrested but news reports say “dozens”.“I’ve been a professor at NYU for 20 years. I’ve never seen a crackdown of this nature and such an over-the-top response by campus security and then on the part of the NYPD [New York Police Department]. It is reflective of attempts across the country to crack down on what is being called pro-Palestine speech.”
- Irish FM accuses Israel of deliberate attempt to undermine UNRWA: ReportIreland’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister Micheal Martin has accused Israel of deliberately undermining the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in a bid to remove “the right to return” for Palestinians.Martin said by attempting to “remove UNRWA”, Israeli had hoped to “essentially remove the right to return” for Palestinian refugees, Ireland’s state broadcaster RTE reports.UNRWA collectively recognises millions of displaced Palestinians who have a right to eventually return to their occupied land as stipulated under UN Resolution 194.Martin, who is in Egypt and will visit the Gaza border crossing at Rafah, said Ireland’s decision to increase funding to UNRWA – despite the Israeli allegations that 12 staff had taken part in the October 7 attack – was now vindicated.“We took an opposite view to most countries, we actually increased our aid at that time, and I’m hoping now as a result of the publication of this report that some countries who have paused their support will now allow their support,” he said.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/23/israels-war-on-gaza-live-palestinians-urge-donors-to-resume-unrwa-funding
