Peace impossible without addressing the Palestinian cause, el-Sisi says

It is vital to re-establish the ceasefire in Gaza and facilitate the immediate delivery of aid into the territory as well as the release of Israeli captives held there, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi says during a joint news conference with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Cairo.

“We also agreed that any calls for forcibly transferring the Palestinians out of their homeland is unacceptable,” el-Sisi added.

He said the two leaders discussed a Gaza reconstruction conference to be held in Egypt.

“I unequivocally emphasise that establishing lasting and permanent peace will remain far-fetched so long as the Palestinian cause remains unresolved and so long as the Palestinian people continue to face the consequences of ferocious wars that will deprive the current and future generations of the right to a stable and secure future,” he said.

Red Crescent holds news conference on killing of paramedics

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has begun a news conference in el-Bireh in the occupied West Bank. The PRCS is demanding an independent investigation into Israel’s killing of paramedics in Gaza.

Netherlands tightens controls on military and dual use exports to Israel

The Dutch government says it has tightened export controls for all military and “dual use” goods destined for Israel.

All direct exports and the transit of these goods to Israel will be checked to see if they comply with European regulations, and will no longer be covered by general export licences, the government said in a letter to parliament.

“This is desirable considering the security situation in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the wider region,” Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp and Trade Minister Reinette Klever wrote.

“Exporters will still be able to request permits, that will then be checked against European regulations.”

The government said no military goods had been exported to Israel under a general permit since the start of the Gaza war.

Hamas slams US claims it uses ‘ambulances for terrorism’

Hamas has slammed a statement by the US which claimed the Palestinian group “uses ambulances and more broadly human shields for terrorism”.

It said the remarks by Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, express the Trump administration’s “understanding of the crime of executing Red Crescent and Civil Defence personnel in Rafah”.

“[The remarks] are a hideous example of immoral solidarity with the Nazis of our time in their brutal war against defenceless civilians and humanitarian organisations,” the group said.

“Hughes’s accusations that Hamas is using ambulances are pure lies, devoid of any evidence, propagated by the US administration, alongside the government of war criminal Netanyahu, to justify its heinous and documented crime against paramedics and rescue workers.”

Lebanese state media say two people killed in Israeli strike

Lebanese state media say the Israeli attack has killed two people, hours after the Israeli military said it had killed a Hezbollah leader in an earlier strike.

“Two Syrians were killed on a motorcycle and one citizen was injured in an enemy strike on the Dardara road” in southern Lebanon’s Marjayoun district, the official National News Agency said.

Activists at Egypt border demand aid entry to Gaza

A group of activists has gathered on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing to demand its immediate opening to allow humanitarian aid into the enclave.

The renewal of Israeli attacks on March 18, combined with the full closure of all crossings for cargo since March 2, has left the population of Gaza with an acute shortage of food.

Heads of multiple UN agencies call for renewal of Gaza ceasefire

Jorge Moreira da Silva, the United Nations undersecretary-general and UNOPS executive director, has joined the heads of six other UN agencies – OCHA, UNICEF, UNRWA, WFP, WHO and IOM – in a statement that calls for an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The statement stressed that no commercial or humanitarian supplies have entered Gaza due to the Israeli siege for more than a month.

“More than 2.1 million people are trapped, bombed and starved again, while, at crossing points, food, medicine, fuel and shelter supplies are piling up, and vital equipment is stuck,” it said.

“Over 1,000 children have reportedly been killed or injured in just the first week after the breakdown of the ceasefire, the highest one-week death toll among children in Gaza in the past year.”

The UN leaders noted in their statement that 25 bakeries supported by the World Food Programme during the ceasefire had to close due to flour and cooking gas shortages a few days ago.

They also stressed that the partially functional health system in Gaza is overwhelmed.

“Essential medical and trauma supplies are rapidly running out, threatening to reverse hard-won progress in keeping the health system operational,” their statement said. “We are witnessing acts of war in Gaza that show an utter disregard for human life.”

Gaza residents say Israel building positions in captured regions

Israeli troops could be seen clearing ground and building watch towers in parts of Gaza they have seized in recent days through the renewed offensive, Reuters news agency reported, quoting local residents about the matter.

The army has issued repeated forced evacuation warnings to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since it resumed operations in Gaza on March 18, pushing them into a diminishing space limited by the sea.

Zakia Sami, 60, a mother of six from Gaza City, said she could see tanks occupying the high ground as she fled her home after the army ordered the family out of the eastern suburb of Shujayea.

“They have taken over al-Muntar hilltop where we used to go to play with our kids. Now they are stationed there and they can hit any house they want inside Shujayea,” she said.

“Gaza has always been a small place and the Israelis are making it smaller and smaller every day. We are being strangled with no food and with bombs falling on us.”

Israeli envoy to Ethiopia removed from conference on Rwanda genocide

Abraham Ngusi was expelled from the African Union’s headquarters after member states refused to participate in an annual meeting commemorating the victims of the Rwandan genocide with the ambassador, according to Israeli media.

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein was quoted as saying: “It is outrageous that at an event commemorating the victims of the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, to which the Israeli ambassador in Addis Ababa was invited, the African Union Commission chairman from Djibouti chose to introduce anti-Israeli political elements.”

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/israeli-ambassador-to-ethiopia-expelled-from-conference-on-rwandan-genocide/

Netanyahu arrives at the White House

Israel’s prime minister has been welcomed at the White House with a handshake from Trump. Trump ignored questions shouted by journalists about the dipping global markets and his tariffs on Israel.

Israeli media is reporting that Netanyahu took a longer flight path to Washington to avoid the risk of an emergency landing in countries that would enforce an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him.

Convicted felon hosting wanted war criminal.

Trump-Netanyahu press conference cancelled

A press conference scheduled with Trump and Netanyahu after their meeting will no longer take place, the White House has just announced.

There was no immediate reason given for the change, but the two leaders are still due to meet in front of reporters in the Oval Office.

Netanyahu: Israel working on deal to get remaining captives out of Gaza

During a news briefing at the White House with Trump, Israel’s prime minister says his team is working on a deal to get more captives out of Gaza.

US trying very hard to get captives out: Trump

US President Donald Trump says the US and Israel are “trying very hard to get the hostages out”. “We want to get the hostages out,” Trump said alongside Netanyahu. “Israeli people want the hostages out more than anything.

“We are looking at another ceasefire, we’ll see what happens.”

You sabotaged the ceasefire with your ethnic cleansing plan and gave Israel the green light to go back to full scale genocide. The lives of the hostages are on you. The rest would have been home by now if you let the ceasefire actually succeed.


Netanyahu, Trump reiterate taking control of Gaza

Trump and Netanyahu have reiterated their expulsion plans to clear Gaza of Palestinians, with the latter saying that there are countries that want to allow people of Gaza in. The Israeli PM said that there are some countries that say “if Gazans want to leave, we want to take them in”.

Neither Netanyahu nor Trump named the countries they were talking about.


Iran in ‘great danger’ if talks with US fail: Trump

Trump confirmed that a “high-level” meeting between US and Iran will be taking place on Saturday. Answering a question by a reporter, he added that Iran would be in “great danger” if those talks fail.

“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran’s going to be in great danger. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren’t successful I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran.”

Unbelievable! UK parliament erupt in anger against Israel on MPs’ deportation

In a rare unity against Israel, the British parliament on Monday saw an overwhelming majority of MPs condemning the Netanyahu regime for deporting two upright U.K. MPs namely Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang. MPs used strong words to criticise Israel with some even demanding serious consequences.

Brits Face Gaza WAR CRIME CHARGES

"Point-Blank": Israeli Soldiers Execute 15 Gaza Medics & Rescue Workers, Bury in Unmarked Mass Grave

Outrage is growing over Israel's killing of 15 Palestinian medics and rescue workers north of the Gazan city of Rafah in the predawn hours of March 23.

Israel initially claimed the convoy had suspiciously approached troops without headlights or flashing lights, but video footage shows the ambulances had their lights on when Israeli troops opened fire, unleashing a barrage of bullets.

A paramedic who was inside the vehicle when it came under fire recorded the video on a cellphone and was among the 15 aid workers killed and buried in an unmarked mass grave. Diana Buttu, a Palestinian human rights attorney, calls the killing "the height of dehumanization."

Harsh words from Britain, 'regrettable'. It took their own getting thrown out of Israel to finally wake up a little.

‘Regrettable that Israeli gov’t is acting with impunity’: British MP

Israel has been accused of acting with “impunity” as British MPs raise concerns that two parliamentarians were stopped from entering the country.

Labour MP Sarah Owen said it was “regrettable that the Israeli government is now acting with impunity”.

“They seem to be accountable to no international law. Enabled by the US president, they continue to bomb hospitals and schools, killing aid workers and thousands of Palestinian civilians.

“Today, Breaking the Silence reported further executions as well as the destruction of homes by the [Israeli army], and now this, banning members of our parliament from entering.”

Israel has been acting with impunity for decades...

UN says nearly 400,000 displaced since end of Gaza ceasefire

Israel’s relentless attacks have lead to “large-scale civilian casualties” and displaced 400,000 people in Gaza, the United Nations secretary-general’s spokesman said. “Survivors across Gaza are being displaced repeatedly and forced into an ever-shrinking space where their basic needs just cannot be met,” said Stephane Dujarric.

Israel prevents entry of polio vaccines into Gaza

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel is preventing the entry of polio vaccines into Gaza, threatening the gains made in seven months of efforts to combat the spread of an epidemic.

On World Health Day, the ministry said sanitary conditions across Gaza were deteriorating amid the disruption of water pumps and the ban on food and medical aid. It added that Palestinians, especially children, were exposed to malnutrition as well as the spread of diarrhoea, skin diseases and epidemics.

Main events on April 7th

Trump, Netanyahu discuss expelling Palestinians from Gaza

The meeting between the US president and the Israeli prime minister didn’t conclude with any announcements, not on tariffs, not on Iran and also not on the Gaza ceasefire and the deal to get out the Israeli captives.

This is sure to invite a lot of reactions domestically in Israel.

But the other piece of conversation that will definitely catch the attention of Netanyahu’s base and of Palestinians is the conversation between Trump and Netanyahu on expelling Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump mentioned Gaza, said that he doesn’t understand why Israel gave up that territory to begin with – something, of course, that legal scholars would dispute. And then he went on to say that it would be a very good thing if the US were to take over and control Gaza.

For his part, Netanyahu spoke about his supposed conversations with leaders of countries who were willing to take Palestinians, if they had the freedom to exercise a choice of where they wanted to go.

Of course, we know already that Palestinians do not want to leave Gaza, but they do want the war to end, and legal scholars have already said that plan is tantamount to ethnic cleansing.

Trump, Netanyahu responsible for ‘making Gaza unliveable’

Omar Baddar, a Palestinian-American political analyst, says Trump and Netanyahu are doubling down on forcibly removing Palestinians from Gaza despite speculation the plan had been abandoned.

He told Al Jazeera that the meeting between the two leaders was “utterly contemptible” and demonstrated that “for the US, Israel is a nation that is above the rules and above the law”.

Baddar blamed Trump and Netanyahu for “making Gaza unliveable”. “They are talking about it being a dangerous place, but it’s only dangerous because they insist on bombing and destroying it, making it unfit for human life,” he said.

“Anytime you destroy a place’s ability to sustain life, and then you give people a choice to either stay and die or leave, by no definition is that voluntary relocation. It is obviously violent ethnic cleansing and displacement is what we’re witnessing, and it’s received precisely with the contempt that it deserves from the Palestinian-American community, from the Palestinian community abroad, throughout the world.”


_{An aerial view of hundreds of Palestinians in the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and sharing an iftar meal at a large table set amidst the rubble in the ruined streets of Gaza City, Gaza on March 09}

US bombs Yemen’s Sanaa, Kamaran: Report

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV is reporting that US forces have bombed the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, as well as the Kamaran Island in the Red Sea.

The channel said US forces launched a series of air attacks on the city of Sanaa, and six attacks on al-Jumaimah area of the Bani Hashish district and Jarban area of Sanhan district.

There were at least two raids on the island of Kamaran, which is part of the Hodeidah province, it added.

The US has been bombing Yemen since March 15, after the Houthis – who control most of the country – threatened to resume attacks on Israel-linked ships in the Red Sea over the Israeli blockade on Gaza.

The offensive has killed more than 60 people.

More US raids reported in Yemen

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV says US forces have carried out more attacks on the provinces of Sanaa and Marib.

In Sanaa, US forces launched raids on al-Jumaimah in Bani Hashish district as well as Jarban in Sanhan district. In Marib, US forces carried out five raids on the Majzar district, two on Kofal in Sirwah district, and two more on al-Jawba.

Houthis says 2 killed in US attacks on Hodeidah

The Houthi-run Ministry of Health in Yemen reports that the latest “blatant American aggression” on the Amin Moqbel area in the port city of Hodeidah has killed at least two people and wounded 13.

Multiple raids hit the “residential” district, so most of the casualties were civilians, it said in a statement.

The ministry condemned the US air strikes and said it considers attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure “a full-fledged war crime and a flagrant violation of all international laws and conventions”.

Houthi-run media reported that US attacks hit a telecommunications network in Shawa area located in the Amran governorate of Yemen as well.