Seven killed in Israeli strike on Nuseirat refugee camp: Report
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that seven civilians have been killed and others injured this evening in an Israeli air raid that targeted a house west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.
Wafa, citing local sources, said that Israeli warplanes had bombarded the house of the al-Nuwayri family in the camp.
Nuseirat refugee camp and the surrounding area have come under heavy bombardment in recent days.
Increased Israeli drone activity above Rafah: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Rafah in southern Gaza, says the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians seeking refuge in the area have witnessed an increase in Israeli military operations. In particular, military surveillance quadcopter drones have been active in the skies, he said, as the loud buzzing sound of one hovering overhead could be heard.
“We’ve been hearing this buzzing since the early hours of this morning,” he said, adding that this could indicate that Rafah could face a further “intensification” of Israeli military efforts.
He said the area has already experienced heavy bombardments, and that the increased surveillance could also signal “a potential military incursion” similar to the ground operations in Khan Younis, which is also located south of the enclave.
Israeli PM Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country’s military would increase the pressure on Hamas in the “coming days”.
Death toll from Rafah strikes rises to 22, including 18 children
Health officials in Gaza are now reporting that 22 people, including 18 children, were killed in the Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight. The first Israeli strike in Rafah killed a man, his wife and their 3-year-old child, according to the nearby Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. The woman was pregnant, and the doctors saved the baby, the hospital said.
The second strike killed 17 children and two women from an extended family. A relative, Umm Mohammad, told AP that the oldest killed, an 80-year-old aunt, was taken out “in pieces.” Small children were zipped into body bags.
Mohammed al-Beheiri said his daughter, Rasha, and her six children, the youngest 18 months old, were among those killed. A woman and three children were still under the rubble.
Israel has carried out near-daily air raids on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has sought refuge from fighting elsewhere. It has also vowed to expand its ground offensive to the city on the border with Egypt despite international calls for restraint, including from the US.
Baby girl delivered from womb of Palestinian woman killed by Israeli attack
The mother was killed along with her husband and another daughter by an Israeli attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Palestinian health officials have said.
The baby, weighing 1.4kg (3lb) and delivered in an emergency caesarean section, was stable and improving gradually, said Mohammed Salama, a doctor caring for her. Her mother, Sabreen al-Sakani, had been 30 weeks pregnant.
The baby was placed in an incubator in a Rafah hospital alongside another infant, with the words “The baby of the martyr Sabreen al-Sakani” written on tape across her chest.
The baby would stay in hospital for three to four weeks, said Salama, the doctor. “After that we will see about her leaving, and where this child will go, to the family, to the aunt or uncle or grandparents. Here is the biggest tragedy. Even if this child survives, she was born an orphan,” he said.
UN’s Griffiths calls for action as Palestinian journalists share ‘utter devastation’ in Gaza
Martin Griffiths, the UN humanitarian chief, has shared images and testimonies from Palestinian photojournalists, showing what he described as “the utter devastation and heartbreak unleashed by the brutal war on Gaza”.
“We cannot stand idly by in the face of this horrific suffering,” he said in a social media post.
Palestinian photojournalists have shared photos and testimonies reflecting the utter devastation and heartbreak unleashed by the brutal war on #Gaza.
We cannot stand idly by in the face of this horrific suffering. https://t.co/AK7Iic8KXw
— UN Relief Chief (@UNReliefChief) April 21, 2024
The ICC can no longer ignore the genocide in Gaza
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/4/21/the-icc-can-no-longer-ignore-the-genocide-in-gaza
Over the past few months, the International Criminal Court (ICC), under the leadership of Prosecutor Karim Khan, has come under heavy criticism for not taking any concrete steps to prosecute the crime of genocide in Gaza.
In November, six of its state parties led by South Africa referred the situation in Palestine to the court and urged it to act. The same month, three Palestinian rights groups submitted a communication to the ICC, asking it to investigate the crimes of apartheid and genocide in Palestine.
In December, Khan visited Israel and made a short trip to Ramallah, where he briefly met with victims of Israeli crimes. He then issued a general statement about investigating “allegations of crimes” that did not in any way refer to the mounting evidence of genocide being perpetrated in Gaza.
Parisians protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza
More than a thousand protesters marched in Paris against racism, islamophobia and in support of the people of the besieged Gaza Strip. The 51 organisations dedicated the protest to the memory of all young “victims of police, judicial and prison crimes”, while also highlighting the plight of children in Gaza.
Palestinian health authorities say more than 34,000 people have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, roughly half of whom are children, according to UNICEF.
