Find here our update on yesterday’s situation.
The war between Israel and Hamas has left 33,686 dead in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to a report released on Saturday April 13 by the Palestinian Islamist movement’s health ministry. On the Israeli side, around 1,170 people died – most of them also civilians – during the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, according to a count from Agence France-Presse (AFP) established from from official Israeli sources. Moreover, according to the Israeli army604 of its soldiers were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip.
In addition, more than 250 people were kidnapped during the October 7 attack and taken as hostages to the Palestinian territory, where 130 are still detained, including 34 presumed dead, according to the Israeli army.
Israel warns Iran against escalation in the region
Israel warned Iran on Saturday that it “would suffer the consequences of an escalation” in the region, after Tehran announced the seizure of a container ship ” related “ to the Jewish state in the Gulf. Iran recently promised to ” to punish “ Israel after a deadly strike on the 1er April on his consulate in Damascus (Syria), which he attributes to him.
A sign of increasing tensions, the Israeli army announced the closure of schools as well as the suspension of school trips and outings for security reasons.
The United States, Israel’s historic ally, will send additional troops to the region in order to “support deterrence efforts”. US President Joe Biden said Friday he expected Iran to pass ” Soon “ to action. Unusually, he cut short a weekend at his family residence on Saturday for urgent consultations at the White House with his national security team.
Fears of a regional conflagration pushed the Netherlands to close its embassy in Iran on Saturday. Several countries, including France, Germany and the United States, have also reiterated their calls on their nationals not to travel to this country. The German company Lufthansa and its Austrian subsidiary Austrian Airlines announced on Friday that they were suspending their flights to and from Tehran until April 18.
Israeli offensive continues in central Gaza
Hamas reported on Saturday that it had submitted its response to Egyptian and Qatari mediators on a proposed truce with Israel, insisting on the permanent nature of the desired ceasefire and on the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip – two requests judged “unfounded” by the Hebrew State. At the same time, the Israeli offensive knows no respite in Gaza, where 2.4 million people are threatened with famine.
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After withdrawing its troops from Khan Younes, in the south of the enclave, the Israeli army announced on Saturday that it was continuing its operations in the center of the territory. In Deir Al-Balah, a video from Agence France-Presse shows a devastated landscape and mountains of ruins. The Israeli army also said on Saturday that it had struck more than “thirty targets” in Gaza during the previous day.
While humanitarian aid has been trickling in for months, Israeli authorities have reported in recent days authorization for a record number of trucks to enter the Palestinian territory. “The increase in aid is not yet tangible”however affirmed Friday on the X network Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees.
Benjamin Netanyahu denounces “a heinous crime” following the assassination of an Israeli teenager in the West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced on Saturday “a heinous crime” following the discovery of the body of Benjamin Achimeir, a 14-year-old Israeli shepherd “murdered” in the occupied West Bank, where his disappearance the day before had triggered an outbreak of violence against the Palestinians. The teenager disappeared Friday morning while grazing his sheep near the Palestinian village of Al-Mughayyir, near Ramallah, some 500 meters from farms owned by Israeli settlers.
Israeli security forces are engaged “in the intensive pursuit of the despicable assassins and all those who collaborated with them”, assured Mr. Netanyahu in a statement sent to AFP. He also called “all Israeli citizens to allow the security forces to do their work without hindrance”without directly mentioning the armed settlers who have been attacking Palestinian villages in the region for twenty-four hours.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, at least 462 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers, according to the Palestinian Authority, which exercises partial administrative control over the territory.
Justice rejects Amnesty International, which called for the suspension of French arms sales to Israel
The Paris administrative court on Saturday rejected a request filed by Amnesty International, which wanted to urgently obtain the suspension of French arms deliveries to Israel. The summary judge declared himself incompetent and therefore dismissed the applicants’ case. He considered that this file was not “detachable from the conduct of France’s international relations”supporting the argument developed during the hearing by the government representative, Antoine Pavageau.
Amnesty International’s lawyer, Lionel Crusoe, argued for the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza and the recent position taken by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, which demanded an end to all arms sales to Israel. “No one disputes the seriousness of the situation”but France’s position is “balanced” since she called for a ceasefire, responded the representative of the Minister of the Armed Forces, Vincent Droullé. France, he insisted, does not deliver weapons to Israel, but “components integrated into a purely defensive weapons system”.