Live Updates: Efforts to hide Gaza atrocities shouldn't be allowed — Erdogan

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

13:23 GMT — Efforts of the Israeli administration to hide its atrocities and massacres committed in Gaza should not be allowed, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said at a media briefing in the capital Ankara.

To prolong his political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is jeopardising the security of not only his own citizens but also the region, Erdogan said.

Türkiye will continue to intensify its efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, and ensure uninterrupted humanitarian aid reaches Palestinian people, he added.

13:06 GMT — Israeli minister claims half of Hezbollah's south Lebanon commanders killed

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has said Israeli military strikes had killed half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon during the cross-border fighting that has flared up in parallel to the Gaza war since October.

12:54 GMT — Israel 'moving ahead' with Rafah offensive: Tel Aviv

Israel was "moving ahead" with an assault on Hamas in Rafah, the only city in the besieged Gaza yet to be subjected to a ground assault in the half-year-long war, and would work to spare Palestinian civilians there, a government spokesperson has said.

12:50 GMT — Israel strikes 40 Hezbollah targets in south Lebanon, army claims

The Israeli army has claimed it struck 40 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon as near-daily exchanges of fire rage on the border between the two countries.

"A short while ago, IDF (army) fighter jets and artillery struck approximately 40 Hezbollah terror targets" around Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, including storage facilities and weaponry, the army said in a statement.

12:49 GMT — Israel committing war crimes 'using US-made munitions': Amnesty

The executive director of Amnesty International in the US has said that their research reveals that Israeli troops are committing war crimes against the Palestinian people in Gaza "using US-made munitions."

"That's why we have been calling on the US to stop sending #weaponsforwarcrimes," said Paul O'Brien in a post on X. O'Brien thanked "the 37 members of Congress who voted NO on the Israel arms bill."

1120 GMT — EU demands impartial probe into mass graves at Gaza hospitals

The European Union has backed a United Nations demand for an independent probe into the reported discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges.

"This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances, because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed," EU spokesperson Peter Stano said.

"That's why it's important to have independent investigation and to ensure accountability."

1105 GMT — Israel kills 79 people in Gaza, bringing death toll to 34,262

At least 79 more Palestinians were killed and 86 others injured over the last 24 hours as Israel continues its onslaught on besieged Gaza, the enclave's Health Ministry said.

Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them, the ministry said.

Israel has killed 34,262 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and wounded 77,229 others since the October 7, 2023.

09:05 GMT — Chilean president calls Israel's attacks in Gaza 'barbarism'

Chilean President Gabriel Boric condemned Israel's ongoing attacks in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, calling them “barbarism.”

Boric shared on X a photo of a baby, Sabreen, in an incubator, who lost her mother, father and a 4-year-old sister in an Israeli attack in Rafah on April 20.

"Let us never cease to be surprised and outraged by the barbarism being carried out by the Israeli government in Gaza," he said.


Speaking to reporters at the presidential palace, the president said that his country’s ambassador, who was recalled from Israel, will not be sent back to Tel Aviv as long as the massacre in Gaza continues.

08:30 GMT — Saudi Arabia condemns massacres committed by Israel following discovery of mass graves

Saudi Arabia condemned the Israeli war crimes committed against Palestinians following the discovery of mass graves in the courtyard of the Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

In a statement, the kingdom's Foreign Ministry expressed "condemnation of the continued and unchecked heinous war crimes committed by the Israeli occupation forces, the latest of which is the mass graves discovered in the Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Younis."

It also said the international community's failure to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law "will only result in more violations and exacerbation of humanitarian tragedies and destruction."

07:11 GMT — Lebanon's Hezbollah says fired 'dozens' of rockets at Israel

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said it fired a fresh barrage of rockets across the border after a strike blamed on Israel killed two civilians.

The group had already fired rockets at northern Israel late on Tuesday "in response" to the civilian deaths.

Hezbollah has stepped up its rocket fire on Israeli military bases in recent days.

Hezbollah fighters fired "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at a border village in northern Israel "as part of the response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on... civilian homes," the group said in a statement.

07:00 GMT — Deadly Israeli air strikes hit Nuseirat refugee camp and Rafah

At least three Palestinians were killed and another was injured in an Israeli air strike on central Gaza.

A medical source told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli air strike targeted a gathering of people near the Al Arban school in the Nuseirat refugee camp, leaving three people dead and one more injured. The victims were transferred to the Al Awda Hospital in the camp.

The Israeli warplanes also carried out a series of heavy bombardments on the northwestern areas of the camp, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

06:57 GMT — Israeli media predict offensive in Gaza's Rafah soon

Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah Israeli media reported, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.

The Rafah sweep, postponed for several weeks amid disputes with Washington, will happen "very soon," the mass-circulation Israel Hayom newspaper said, citing a decision by the Israeli government after ceasefire talks with Hamas stalled.

Several other Israeli media outlets carried similar reports. Some noted footage on social media that appeared to show the erection of a tent city for Rafah evacuees.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and the Israeli military spokesperson's office had no immediate comment.

06:55 GMT — Germany to resume cooperation with Palestinian UNRWA agency

The German government plans to resume cooperation with the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza, the foreign and development ministries said in a joint statement.

The decision follows an investigation by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into whether some UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas.

The Colonna-led review of the agency's neutrality on Monday concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations that hundreds of UNRWA staff were operatives in Gaza groups.

The German ministries urged UNRWA to swiftly implement the report's recommendations, including strengthening its internal audit function and improving external oversight of project management.

"In support of these reforms, the German government will soon continue its cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza, as Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan, among others, have already done," said the ministries in the statement.

05:30 GMT — Israel says US military aid sends 'strong message' to enemies

Israel said the US Senate approval of $13 billion in military aid sent a "strong message" to its enemies.

Israel's foreign minister on Wednesday thanked the US Senate for approving the military aid package hot on the heels of the House of Representatives.

"The Israel aid package that now passed both houses of Congress is a clear testament to the strength of our alliance and sends a strong message to all our enemies," Israel Katz posted on social media site X.

05:20 GMT - US Senate overwhelmingly passes $26.6B military aid for Israel

US Senate has passes $26.6 billion military package for Israel, the American ally accused of carrying out genocide of besieged Palestinians in Gaza using US weapons.

US President Joe Biden pledged to quickly sign the $61 billion bill — also including aid packages for Ukraine and Taiwan — after Congress gave its final approval, saying delivery of the much-needed aid would begin this week.

The US declared its support for Israel since the beginning of the war In October last year. US never holds back in arming Israel, regardless of alarming Gaza civilian casualties.

04:45 GMT — Israel prepares to invade Rafah 'very soon' — report

Ignoring global pleas and genocide allegations, Israeli military is preparing to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza "very soon," Israeli media have reported.

According to the public broadcaster KAN, which cited unnamed Israeli military sources, the military is preparing for a ground invasion in Rafah that would include "evacuating a significant number of residents."

"According to the army's plan, more than one million Palestinians in Rafah will be asked to evacuate the area to shelters recently established in the southern and central parts of the Gaza Strip," said the broadcaster.

03:50 GMT — US has concerns about potential Rafah invasion: Pentagon

The US military still has concerns about a potential Israeli ground invasion in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Pentagon has said.

Speaking at a press briefing, spokesperson Pat Ryder recalled a meeting between US and Israeli officials in which he said the two countries agreed on a "shared objective" to defeat resistance group Hamas and shared their thinking on Rafah.

"We've shared ours, but in terms of what their plan looks like. We still have some concerns in terms of the various courses of actions. And so, we'll continue to discuss those concerns related to how they're going to take into account civilian safety and humanitarian assistance," said Ryder.

03:20 GMT — Gaza demonstrators in NY university threatened with suspension

Students taking part in a sit-in protest at a school in the US against "the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza" have been threatened with suspension, activists and the school's student-run newspaper said.

Demonstrators set up what they are calling the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in the University Center lobby at the New School, a private university in New York City, on Sunday.

They have remained there since.

New School administrators ended negotiations with demonstrators without a resolution, the school's chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine said on social media Monday.

02:30 GMT — UNRWA experienced 'nothing comparable' to current Israeli attack on it

The head of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees says it has never been under as sustained an attack as it is now in an Israeli campaign to dismantle its activities in besieged Gaza and possibly elsewhere in the Middle East.

In UNRWA's 75-year history, it has experienced "absolutely nothing comparable" to the "ferocity" and scope of the current campaign against its Gaza operations, Philippe Lazzarini told reporters.

It is happening even as many donors have suspended contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that 12 employees of the agency participated in the October 7 Hamas surprise blitz in southern Israel, he said.

02:12 GMT — Pro-Palestine protesters disrupt conference in Italy

Students protesting Israel's carnage in besieged Gaza have disrupted a conference in Italy focused on its cooperation with other countries in scientific fields and space that ministers from the ruling coalition government attended.

They carried Palestinian flags and attempted to march to the conference venue at Valentino Castle in the city of Turin but were prevented by security forces.

One of the protesters managed to enter the venue, however, carrying a Palestinian flag.

For our live updates from Tuesday, April 23, click here.