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SvennoJ on 09 April 2025
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Main events on April 9th

  • At least 35 Palestinians have been killed, 55 wounded, and 80 are missing following a series of powerful Israeli air strikes on Shujayea district in northern Gaza City.
  • Hospitals are overwhelmed and lacking critical supplies across Gaza amid Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian enclave, which is nearing the 40-day mark.
  • A UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Gaza spokesperson has told Al Jazeera that aid services are now almost non-existent in the Palestinian enclave.
  • Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said the army is seizing “large areas” of Gaza and will retain control of a key buffer zone near the border with Egypt.
  • French President Emmanuel Macron has said France could recognise a Palestinian state as early as June. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has said the move would be a “prize for terror and a boost for Hamas”.
  • Israeli warplanes launched an attack on Lebanon and flew at low altitudes across the southern parts of the country, with an aircraft crashing in Lebanese territory due to a malfunction.
  • The US military’s assault on Yemen has continued, with its warplanes attacking the capital Sanaa, killing at least three civilians, according to the Houthi-run Ministry of Health.

Occupied West Bank’s Balata refugee camp under ‘siege’ from Israeli forces

The Israeli military has announced that it has begun a large military offensive against Nablus, specifically, the Balata refugee camp.

This is in the context of a very large, unprecedented military assault that Israel has waged against refugee camps, starting with the northern occupied West Bank. In Jenin and Tulkarem, three refugee camps were methodically destroyed and emptied of their residents.

At the moment, in Balata, the emergency services of the Palestinian Red Crescent have told Al Jazeera that the refugee camp is under siege. They are trying, struggling to coordinate the evacuation of sick children. Several people have been injured, among them were two journalists who were attempting to record and document the ongoing raid.

There are several arrests among young men, including, according to the Israeli army, two members of the Lion’s Den – a group of armed men that is not associated with any specific Palestinian faction.

This military campaign, which is unprecedented according to the UN, has already displaced 40,000 Palestinians in Jenin and Tulkarem.

Residents of Balata are fearing they will suffer the same fate.