- UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says Israel “impeded” and “denied” a significant number of aid missions to northern Gaza in April, and that despite the opening of new aid crossing, six months of starvation cannot be ended without a consistent supply of aid.
- The Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing, the Gaza Strip’s northern crossing with Israel, has been opened for the first time since October 7, admitting a convoy of 31 aid trucks from Jordan.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told US Secretary of State Blinken that he will not accept a ceasefire deal with Hamas that includes ending the war on Gaza, according to Israeli media reports.
- UNICEF chief Catherine Russell said 600,000 Palestinian children are “crammed into Rafah” and an Israeli ground invasion would bring “catastrophe on top of catastrophe”.
- At least 34,568 Palestinians have been killed and 77,765 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 of people still held captive.
- Constant bombardment’ in central Gaza where battles rageReporting from Rafah, GazaOvernight strikes and artillery bombardment were extremely heavy in Gaza.The focus of the Israeli attacks was on the middle area. There have been more attacks in the last couple of hours on the Nuseirat refugee camp. They [the Israeli forces] have attacked a mosque in the camp.Witnesses have also reported constant bombardment in al-Mughraqa area, where battles are still raging between Hamas fighters and Israeli soldiers.At the same time, Palestinian armed groups have been attacking Israeli troops who are stationed at a main junction in the middle area, where citizens have reported mass confrontations and extensive fire exchange.Artillery bombardment continues in the north of the territory, specifically in Sheikh Ijlin neighbourhood. No casualties have been reported there so far.
- Tensions high in occupied West Bank’s TulkaremReporting from Tulkarem, occupied West BankThis time, it’s not because the Israeli forces are raiding the refugee camps nearby. It is because the Palestinian Authority (PA) shot and killed a Palestinian man.We’ve been speaking to the family of the 31-year-old who was shot dead. They’re saying that their son has been targeted three times before by the PA.The PA say they shot towards Ahmad Abu al-Foul because he had shot towards the Palestinian security forces.But the family that we’ve just spoken to says that he left the house unarmed, and they believe that this is part of the PA’s attempt to stop the Palestinian fighters from attacking the Israeli forces.We’ve been seeing the Israeli forces raiding this area. We were here two weeks ago, and we’ve seen the Israeli forces killing 14 Palestinians just in the Nur Shams refugee camp.Palestinians say that this is part of the Palestinian Authority’s security coordination attempt to provide more and more protection to the Israeli forces.
- Increasing aid entering Gaza but Palestinians ‘still suffering’Reporting from Rafah, GazaPalestinians are starting to feel the impact of the relative increase of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip.Aid has started to flow into the Strip from three crossings – the Rafah and Karem Abu Salem crossings in the south. And today, the Erez (Beit Hanoon) crossing in the north.According to witnesses on the ground, the Erez crossing has started working, with 31 humanitarian trucks loaded with food and medical supplies entering Gaza through it.But the reality on the ground is that the entire Gaza Strip is still suffering from the unfolding humanitarian crisis.The aid getting in is insufficient to match the immense needs of Gaza’s population.Click here to share on social media
- More than 400 attacks on Gaza health infrastructure since October 7: WHODuring the war on Gaza, the World Health Organization (WHO) has tracked 443 attacks on the enclave’s healthcare facilities or medical workers, which killed a total of 723 people and injured 924.These attacks damaged 101 healthcare facilities and 106 ambulances, said the WHO in a post on X.The extent of the damage is still being uncovered in some of these facilities, including Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, which Israeli forces besieged and attacked in February.As we’ve been reporting, Palestinian rescuers have since dug up several mass graves at the facility holding more than 300 bodies, including those of children and hospital patients.
- If you’re just joining usHere’s a look at some of the latest key developments:
- Israeli attacks have targeted Madinat az-Zahra, north of Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, killing at least six people, reports the Wafa news agency.At least eight Palestinians have been arrested in violent raids in Jalazone camp near Ramallah and the village of Husan near Bethlehem, in the occupied West Bank.Israel has warned the United States that it will initiate a response against the Palestinian Authority that will lead to its collapse if the International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, Axios reports.Tensions remain high at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where riot police are set to storm a pro-Palestinian encampment and remove hundreds of protesters.
- Are Israeli officials under threat of ICC prosecution?The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned top officials of possible arrest warrants, although the International Criminal Court has not confirmed issuing any.Our podcast series The Take spoke to Mark Kersten, assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of the Fraser Valley, about what ICC arrest warrants could mean for Israel’s war on Gaza and international law.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/5/2/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-still-denying-aid-to-north-gaza-says-un
