Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
The Israeli army killed at least 22 Palestinians in fresh strikes targeting homes and tents across the Gaza Strip on Monday, medics said.
NOTE: The Gaza Health Ministry’s daily casualty figures are based on the number of dead and wounded Palestinians brought to hospitals, and does not include victims that are under the rubble or elsewhere, where ambulance and civil defense crews can not reach them.
Nearly 600 children have been killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip since Israel resumed its assaults on March 18, UNRWA said on Monday. Over 1,600 other children have also been injured.
“The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip is now likely at its worst point since October 2023,” it added.
Also killed on Monday was Wael Basem Mohammad Ghafri, 48, who died after exposure to toxic tear gas fired by the occupation army who were protecting illegal Israeli colonizers. The incident happened in the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah in the central part of the occupied West Bank.
Pope Francis remembered as ‘dear friend’ by the people of Gaza
In his final address on Easter Sunday, Pope Francis, 88, called for a ceasefire in Gaza from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica as an aide read out a benediction in which the pope condemned the “deplorable humanitarian situation” caused by Israel’s war on Gaza, which many on social media praised.
“I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace,” he said.
The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics regularly publicly condemned Israel’s war on Gaza before he was hospitalised. He also suggested in November that the onslaught could be classed as genocide.
“According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide,” the pontiff wrote in a new book, Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims Towards a Better World.
“We lost a saint who taught us every day how to be brave, how to be patient and stay strong. We lost a man who fought every day in every direction to protect this small herd of his,” George Antone, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, said, according to a report.
Antone said that Francis called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine during the war. He would make sure to speak not only to the priest but to everyone else in the room.
“We are heartbroken because of the death of Pope Francis, but we know that he is leaving behind a church that cares for us and that knows us by name – every single one of us,” Antone said, referring to the Christians of Gaza who used to be 20% of the population in Palestine as a whole, but now only number in the hundreds in Gaza.
In Israel, criticism and celebration after death of Pope Francis
The Vatican’s announcement of Pope Francis’ death on Monday morning was met with a mix of celebration and criticism in Israel, where politicians, pundits and social media users focused on the pontiff’s condemnation of Israel amid its war on the Gaza Strip.
Rafi Schutz, Israel’s former ambassador to the Vatican, wrote that he was “the pope who brought the world closer to him and disappointed Israel”.
The pope’s position on Israel after the start of the war deserved “harsh criticism”, Schutz continued, adding that it marked a “significant blow” to Israeli-Vatican relations.
The right-wing newspaper Israel Hayom said the pontiff will be remembered in Israel “mainly for his harsh statements against the war in Gaza”.
Similarly, the far-right Channel 14 called him Israel’s “harshest critic”.
Zvika Klein, the editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, characterized Pope Francis’ criticism of Israel and support for Palestinians under its assault as “unconditional support for Hamas” (continue reading here).
Hamas willing to ‘halt military ops, cede control’ of Gaza if truce succeeds: Report
Hamas has informed mediators that it would be willing to stop developing weapons and digging tunnels if a long-term and comprehensive truce agreement with Israel is reached, according to sources cited by the Times of Israel.
“Hamas told Arab mediators last week that it is willing to enter a long-term truce with Israel during which it would halt all military operations, including the development of weapons and the digging of tunnels,” informed officials told the outlet on 20 April.
“Hamas is also willing to cede governing control of Gaza to an independent body of Palestinian technocrats, as envisioned by an Egyptian proposal for the postwar administration of the strip,” the sources added. This is something Hamas has recently confirmed.
It falls in line with an Egyptian proposal from last year regarding the formation of a Community Support Committee led by Palestinian factions, which would assume management of post-war Gaza. Hamas said last month that it would be willing to hand over governance to such a committee.
Israel releases 10 Palestinian detainees from Gaza
Israel on Monday released 10 Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip and were transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, according to a statement by Hamas’ Office for Prisoner Affairs.
Several of the released detainees told Anadolu that they were subjected to systematic torture and starvation while in Israeli custody.
Israeli army deploys undertrained soldiers to Gaza amid troop shortage
RELATED: Israel’s Shin Bet chief accuses Netanyahu of demanding personal loyalty, seeking to surveil protesters
Israel occupation forces demolish homes in Hebron and Ramallah
Israeli occupation forces, on Monday morning, demolished a residential building in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, along with two homes in the town of Ni’lin, west of Ramallah. The demolitions come as part of a continued escalation in the destruction of Palestinian property across the occupied West Bank.
According to local sources, an Israeli military unit raided Beit Ummar and began demolishing a multi-storey residential building under the pretext of lacking a construction permit. This justification is frequently used by Israeli authorities to demolish Palestinian homes, despite the severe restrictions placed on obtaining permits in areas classified as “C”.
Activist and media coordinator Mohammad Awad stated that the demolished building, which was still under construction, had seven floors, each measuring 210 square meters.
In a separate incident in the town of Ni’lin, Israeli forces, accompanied by military bulldozers, demolished two homes belonging to members of the Surour family, displacing four households without offering alternative housing or support.
NOTE: Israel admits that its construction permit system is highly discriminatory. Between 2016 and 2020, 99.1 percent of Palestinian requests for building permits were rejected, according to data provided by the IDF’s Civil Administration.
RELATED: Israel has turbocharged West Bank housing demolitions under the cover of war
‘No Other Land’ Made Available for Download in North America Amid Distribution Challenges
The creators of recent Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature, “No Other Land”, have temporarily made the film available online in North America, with proceeds from download fees being used to support Masafer Yatta, a group of West Bank villages featured in the documentary, where Palestinians regularly face home demolitions, settler violence and unjust arrests.
Despite widespread acclaim and its history-making Oscar win, the film has faced ongoing distribution challenges, with some theaters in both the U.S. and Israel unwilling to screen it due to political sensitivities and calls for boycotts from right-wing groups.
“No Other Land” will be available online for the next three weeks, with downloads offered to individuals for personal viewing, as well as to organizations that can host screenings and donate ticket sales to the fundraiser.
According to the film’s website, proceeds will support youth education programs, women’s empowerment efforts, food sovereignty initiatives and psychological support. The money will also go toward emergency needs, including “bail funds for the many arbitrary arrests carried out daily, medical expenses incurred after attacks, and costs to repair or replace damaged or stolen property.”
“We made ‘No Other Land’ to create actual change on the ground,” the website states. “Now, we need your help to achieve it. ‘No Other Land’ isn’t just a film – it’s our lives.”
Weeks after winning the Oscar, Ballal was arrested for what the IDF claimed was stone throwing, an allegation he denies. According to his testimony, as well as those of other eyewitnesses, Ballal and two other Palestinians were detained after dozens of Israeli settlers, some masked, entered the Palestinian village of Susiya in southern Hebron and began attacking residents. The men were reportedly beaten by soldiers before they were arrested and left outside overnight, handcuffed and blindfolded.
For download, visit the No Other Land website.
RELATED: Media Obscure Message of Oscar-Winning Documentary No Other Land
Israel’s Bezalel Smotrich sparks anger after saying captive return ‘not important’
Israeli Finance Minster Bezalel Smotrich has provoked an angry backlash after he suggested that the release of captives in Gaza was “not the most important thing” for the government.
On Monday, Smotrich said in an interview with Galey Israel radio that the “Gaza problem” must be eliminated, citing a “tremendous opportunity”.
Smotrich believes the end of former US President Joe Biden’s tenure at the White House and the political demise of rivals, like former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and former Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi, means there are no longer any obstacles to fulfilling a hardline Israeli policy on Gaza.
“We have to say the truth, returning the hostages is not the most important thing,” he said (continue reading here).
Trump’s NSC Director for Israel and Iran Previously Worked for Israeli Ministry of Defense
The American official overseeing White House policy toward both Israel and Iran inside the National Security Council formerly worked for the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Drop Site News has learned. Merav Ceren’s appointment as Director for Israel and Iran at the NSC has not previously been reported, but her work with Israel’s MoD is well known among GOP circles.
New U.S. Ambassador to Israel Huckabee Says Taking on Role Is ‘A Calling From God Himself’
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee met with President Isaac Herzog on Monday in Jerusalem, in a ceremony marking the start of his tenure.
“I come to stand today with the State of Israel and with the Jewish people, because I believe that it is not simply a geopolitical position, but a divine position,” Huckabee said in his speech.
He said taking on the role was “not so much saying yes to a president … but it was yes to a calling from God himself, to come and fulfill what I believe is not just a job, but a mission.”
“We stand with the people of Israel … We share the values of the Bible,” Huckabee told his audience. “We share the understanding that the Judeo-Christian foundation is the foundation of all of Western civilization.”
Huckabee, an evangelical Christian, has been a vocal supporter of Israel throughout his political career. He has visited Israel dozens of times, describing his connection as “not so much political as it is visceral, personal.”
Last week, Mike Huckabee said, “The relationship between the United States and Israel is…rooted in our love of democracy and our love of the Judeo-Christian understanding that every life has worth and value.”
Asked about demands on Israel to resume aid in Gaza amid a now 18-month war in the Strip, Huckabee did not press Israel, saying that Hamas “brought this upon themselves.”
“If Hamas had been a civil people, if they had been something less than savages that massacred, in the most vicious way, innocent civilians … they did not attack soldiers. They attacked civilians. They attacked women, children, babies, helpless, elderly people.
“Everything that people see there is not the result of anything other than the vicious hatred that Hamas harbors and carried out on October the 7th.” Hamas is now “paying the price,” he said. “And tragically, so many innocent people are paying the price for the sins and the evil of these monsters.”
He has previously said Israel has “title deed” to the occupied West Bank, and that he refuses to refer to the area as the West Bank, saying it is Judea and Samaria, the Biblical name for the area. Adding that “there is no such thing as an occupation” or “settlements, they are communities”.
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