USA News Hub

<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"6628e2598f08c8e126c5e014","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

\n

• Germany has said it will restore cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip after an independent review said Israel had not provided evidence to back up claims that hundreds of employees of the UN agency for Palestinians were members of terrorist organisations.

\n

• David Satterfield, the US special envoy for humanitarian issues, has said the risk of famine in northern Gaza remains “very high” despite an increase in the amount of aid being admitted to the territory. “Israel has taken significant steps in these last two and a half weeks,” he told the media. “There is still considerable work to be done. But progress has been made.”

\n

• The health ministry in Gaza has claimed the total number of Palestinians killed during Israel’s military assault on the territory has risen to 34,262. Some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment which they said was as intense as at the start of the war. Israel’s military has said in the last 24 hours it struck at 50 targets in the Gaza Strip.

\n

• Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces overnight detained at least 15 Palestinians in multiple raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have detained over 7,000 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last October.

\n

• Israel’s military has issued a statement to say this morning it struck at what it called “Hezbollah terror targets” in southern Lebanon.

\n

• Nepal’s president asked the emir of Qatar to held secure the release of a Nepali student still believed to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

\n

• Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has accused the UN secretary general António Guterres of being a “supporter of terrorism”.

\n

• A joint statement has been issued by Iran and Pakistan, condemning “the ongoing Israeli regime’s aggression and atrocities against the Palestinian people” and calling on the UN security council to act over the strike on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria widely presumed to have been carried out by Israel.

\n

• Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has criticised US authorities for its clampdown on students protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

\n

• UN rights chief Volker Türk said he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and the reports of mass graves discovered there.

\n

• The US Senate voted resoundingly on Tuesday to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The legislation includes $26.3bn for Israel and humanitarian relief for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza.

\n

","elementId":"43399e60-345a-4180-93f0-44a9058994e0"}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":false,"summary":true},"blockCreatedOn":1713955417000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"11.43 BST","blockLastUpdated":1713956390000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"11.59 BST","blockFirstPublished":1713956391000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"11.59 BST","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"11.59","title":"Summary of the day so far …","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Wed 24 Apr 2024 11.59 BST","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Wed 24 Apr 2024 07.16 BST"},{"id":"6628ad5d8f08f2c421482f69","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

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

","elementId":"457818bc-3709-4acf-b1c3-d4993c97cc75"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

The decision follows an investigation by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna into whether significant numbers of Unrwa employees have Hamas or Islamic Jihad ties. The review of the agency’s neutrality on Monday concluded Israel had yet to back up its accusations.

","elementId":"2ee0ff6e-e47c-405e-9f1a-27743f5b1e4c"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

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.

","elementId":"9d7eb84a-5214-4764-a458-7dcb767d58b5"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

“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.

","elementId":"bb0d000e-7454-4749-a35b-227e8f38ec3f"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein on Monday accused more than 2,135 Unrwa workers of being members of Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He claimed the Colonna review of Unrwa was insufficient and an “effort to avoid the problem.”

","elementId":"85fe19e9-3c21-4387-a0bf-ff34086041d0"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

The US, which was formerly Unrwa’s largest donor, has ruled out resuming funding until March 2025 at the earliest.

","elementId":"4f34fa27-8922-4cf2-8fcb-92e14665f1f0"}],"attributes":{"pinned":true,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1713941853000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"07.57 BST","blockLastUpdated":1713942554000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"08.09 BST","blockFirstPublished":1713942555000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"08.09 BST","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"08.09","title":"Germany to resume working with Unrwa after UN report found Israel yet to supply evidence to back terror claims","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Wed 24 Apr 2024 11.59 BST","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Wed 24 Apr 2024 07.16 BST"},{"id":"6628a22c8f08c8e126c5dd6c","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

David Satterfield, the US special envoy for humanitarian issues, has said the risk of famine in northern Gaza remains “very high” despite an increase in the amount of aid being admitted to the territory.

","elementId":"26d6dc61-0278-4029-99b6-6aa39240486a"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

“Israel has taken significant steps in these last two and a half weeks,” Reuters reports Satterfield told the media. “There is still considerable work to be done. But progress has been made.”

","elementId":"a2405301-3daf-43d9-9b3c-0dbb9c5c1df0"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

The UN has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an aerial and ground offensive in the territory.

","elementId":"553431c0-8f94-44ee-b1ac-53264712edde"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

For its part, Israel has repeatedly insisted that more aid could get in, but that it wasn’t being supplied fast enough for Israel to check it. Israel inspects all shipments entering Gaza, and has a list of prohibited items which it considers might have a dual military and civilian use.

","elementId":"4f53a8ec-eb23-4f59-b308-8a030d818593"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa), said that a peak number of over 300 trucks was absle to enter on Monday, still well short of the 500 that Unrwa says is the target.

","elementId":"df94add5-6bf3-431b-9631-c4f63bd9b148"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement","source":"Twitter","id":"1782878961560604716","elementId":"ee29eb5c-2543-4ca8-8260-c8b9e60bdf60","hasMedia":false,"role":"inline","url":"https://twitter.com/UNLazzarini/status/1782878961560604716","isThirdPartyTracking":false,"html":"

Some good news for #Gaza
Yesterday, more than 310 trucks of aid entered.
This is the highest # since the war began on 7 October.
This shows that when there is a will there is a way.

It needs now to be sustained &amp; further increased.
Trucks should include both commercial and… pic.twitter.com/n0IsgH1VyK

&mdash; Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 23, 2024

\n\n"}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1713939401000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"07.16 BST","blockLastUpdated":1713939450000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"07.17 BST","blockFirstPublished":1713939450000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"07.17 BST","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"07.17","title":"US envoy says risk of famine in Gaza ‘very high’ despite some progress from Israel","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Wed 24 Apr 2024 11.59 BST","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Wed 24 Apr 2024 07.16 BST"},{"id":"662845758f0839cf006b146f","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the crisis in the Middle East.

","elementId":"68f7795b-5965-4455-8d22-5c98da26dd16"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

The US special envoy for humanitarian issues has said Israel has taken significant steps in recent weeks on allowing aid into Gaza, but considerable work remained to be done as the risk of famine in the enclave is very high.

","elementId":"7065f7df-1e85-454c-9f75-68e05e346900"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

David Satterfield declined to say whether Washington was satisfied by Israel’s moves, weeks after US President Joe Biden demanded action to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, saying conditions could be placed on support for Israel if it did not implement a series of “specific, concrete and measurable” steps.

","elementId":"60952091-b032-4906-a4c1-d724aa68f69c"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

The risk of famine throughout war-devastated Gaza, especially in the north, is “very high”, Satterfield said, calling for more to be done to get aid to those in need in that part of the tiny, densely populated Palestinian territory.

","elementId":"236ead0e-ab5e-4e45-a70f-c3e497d4fe49"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

More on that in a moment, first here’s a summary of the day’s other main news.

","elementId":"dd2cbb5a-cf2c-4a14-bfc6-715b742b0d19"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"

\n

• At Nasser hospital, southern Gaza’s main health facility, authorities are reported to have recovered a further 35 bodies in the past day from what they say is one of at least three mass graves found at the site, taking the total found there to 310 in the past week.

\n

• UN rights chief Volker Turk said he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and the reports of mass graves discovered there. Turk decried Israeli strikes on Gaza in recent days, which he said have killed mostly women and children. He also repeated a warning against a full-scale incursion on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, where more than one million people are sheltering, saying this could lead to “further atrocity crimes”.

\n

• Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it had launched a drone attack against Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, in its deepest strike into Israeli territory since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of any of its facilities being hit by Hezbollah, but had said earlier on Tuesday that it intercepted two “aerial targets” off Israel’s northern coast. Hezbollah said it acted in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack killing one of its fighters.

\n

• Qatar said there was no reason to end the presence of an office for Hamas in Doha while its mediation efforts continued amid Israel’s war in Gaza. It came after the US state department said Hamas “moved the goalpost” and changed its demands in negotiations with Israel. But it’s not clear what exactly has shifted in the details of the talks, which are being mediated by Egypt and Qatar.

\n

• A Palestinian rights group’s legal challenge to try to stop British arms exports to Israel over allegations of breaches of international law in the war in Gaza will be heard in October at London’s high court, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

\n

","elementId":"3bed6473-8f83-4e23-be52-80cd2f7ce462"}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1713939401000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"07.16 BST","blockLastUpdated":1713939395000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"07.16 BST","blockFirstPublished":1713939401000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"07.16 BST","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"07.16","title":"Welcome and summary","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Wed 24 Apr 2024 11.59 BST","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Wed 24 Apr 2024 07.16 BST"}],"filterKeyEvents":false,"id":"key-events-carousel-mobile"}” config=”{"renderingTarget":"Web","darkModeAvailable":false}”>

Key events

Summary of the day so far …

• Germany has said it will restore cooperation and funding to Unrwa operations in the Gaza Strip after an independent review said Israel had not provided evidence to back up claims that hundreds of employees of the UN agency for Palestinians were members of terrorist organisations.

• David Satterfield, the US special envoy for humanitarian issues, has said the risk of famine in northern Gaza remains “very high” despite an increase in the amount of aid being admitted to the territory. “Israel has taken significant steps in these last two and a half weeks,” he told the media. “There is still considerable work to be done. But progress has been made.”

• The health ministry in Gaza has claimed the total number of Palestinians killed during Israel’s military assault on the territory has risen to 34,262. Some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment which they said was as intense as at the start of the war. Israel’s military has said in the last 24 hours it struck at 50 targets in the Gaza Strip.

• Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces overnight detained at least 15 Palestinians in multiple raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have detained over 7,000 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last October.

• Israel’s military has issued a statement to say this morning it struck at what it called “Hezbollah terror targets” in southern Lebanon.

• Nepal’s president asked the emir of Qatar to held secure the release of a Nepali student still believed to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.

• Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has accused the UN secretary general António Guterres of being a “supporter of terrorism”.

• A joint statement has been issued by Iran and Pakistan, condemning “the ongoing Israeli regime’s aggression and atrocities against the Palestinian people” and calling on the UN security council to act over the strike on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria widely presumed to have been carried out by Israel.

• Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has criticised US authorities for its clampdown on students protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

• UN rights chief Volker Türk said he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and the reports of mass graves discovered there.

• The US Senate voted resoundingly on Tuesday to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The legislation includes $26.3bn for Israel and humanitarian relief for civilians in conflict zones, including Gaza.

The health ministry in Gaza has said 79 people were killed and 86 injured in the latest 24-hour reporting period, bringing the total number killed during Israel’s military assault on Gaza to 34,262.

77,229 are said to have been wounded. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem and Julian Borger in Washington report for the Guardian:

The absence so far of evidence presented to underpin Israel’s allegations about links between Unrwa staff and Hamas has raised questions about the snap decision by 19 donor governments to cut millions of dollars of funding to the main channel for humanitarian support for Palestinians, even as the death toll in Gaza soared, the health system collapsed and famine began to loom.

In the UK, ministers have said they would await publication of the Colonna report to make a decision on resuming funding: the UK provided £35m last financial year to Unrwa, including £16m extra for humanitarian aid. The US, previously the agency’s biggest donor, provided £340m to the agency in 2023 – nearly 30% of its total funds – but further financial support has been blocked by Congress for at least a year in the wake of Israel’s allegations.

Colonna’s report, which was commissioned by the UN, found that Unrwa had regularly supplied Israel with lists of its employees for vetting, and that “the Israeli government has not informed Unrwa of any concerns relating to any Unrwa staff based on these staff lists since 2011”.

Read more here: Germany to resume funding of Unrwa aid operations in Gaza

Some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza on Wednesday just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment which they said was as intense as at the start of the war.

“We don’t know why this is all happening. Is it because we returned home and we finally got some aid through after months of starvation and the Israelis didn’t like that?” said Mohammad Jamal, 29, a resident of Gaza City, near Zeitoun, one of Gaza’s oldest suburbs.

“It is as if the war started again. As if it is just happening, they burnt up the place,” he told Reuters via a chat app.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society also reported injuries from Israeli attacks in central Gaza.

<gu-island name="TweetBlockComponent" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"element":{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TweetBlockElement","source":"Twitter","id":"1783051312881406323","elementId":"8dd67f71-3faa-41eb-9f83-612aec57380a","hasMedia":false,"role":"inline","url":"https://twitter.com/PalestineRCS/status/1783051312881406323","isThirdPartyTracking":false,"html":"

🚑The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance teams transported five injured individuals from the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip following the occupation's shelling of civilians' homes.
📷 Filmed by PRCS volunteer: Ahmed Wishah. pic.twitter.com/WilbyM1W1D

&mdash; PRCS (@PalestineRCS) April 24, 2024

\n\n"}}” config=”{"renderingTarget":"Web","darkModeAvailable":false}”>

🚑The Palestine Red Crescent ambulance teams transported five injured individuals from the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the middle of the Gaza Strip following the occupation’s shelling of civilians’ homes.
📷 Filmed by PRCS volunteer: Ahmed Wishah. pic.twitter.com/WilbyM1W1D

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) April 24, 2024

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli security forces overnight detained at least 15 Palestinians in multiple raids across the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Israeli forces have detained over 7,000 people in the Israeli-occupied West Bank since last October according to the Addameer prisoners rights association in Ramallah.

Nepal’s president asked the emir of Qatar, who is on a two-day visit to the South Asian country, to help release a Nepali student held hostage by Hamas, officials said on Wednesday.

Associated Press reports that Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said he would do everything possible to help release Bipin Joshi.

Joshi was among 17 Nepali students studying agriculture in Alumim kibbutz, near the Gaza Strip, when Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October. Ten of the students were killed, six injured, while Joshi was abducted and taken to Gaza.

Though there has been no information on his condition or whereabouts, Nepali officials said they believed he was still alive.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has accused the UN secretary general António Guterres of being a “supporter of terrorism” in a post on social media.

Lapid wrote:

The decision of the secretary general of the UN, António Guterres, not to include Hamas in the black list of the organisations suspected of committing acts of sexual violence during a conflict, is a final sign that Guterres has become a supporter of terrorism that brings shame on the UN and its member states.

A joint statement has been issued by Iran and Pakistan, condemning “the ongoing Israeli regime’s aggression and atrocities against the Palestinian people” and calling on the UN security council to act over Israel’s strike on Iran’s diplomatic mission in Syria.

The communique was issued after Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi made a three-day visit to Pakistan, during which he visited Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. In the statement, the two countries said:

Both sides expressed their strong and unequivocal condemnation of the ongoing Israeli regime’s aggression and atrocities against the Palestinian people, along with the inhumane blockade of Gaza that has resulted in widespread death and destruction as well as displacement of millions of Palestinians. They called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access to the besieged people of Gaza, return of the displaced Palestinians, as well as ensuring accountability of the crimes being committed by the Israeli regime. They reiterated their support for a just, comprehensive, and durable solution based on the aspirations of the people of Palestine.

The statement also referred to the attack on Iran’s diplomatic building in Damascus, which has been widely attributed to Israel, and which led to the launch of Iran’s first ever direct state-to-state attack on Israel.

The two sides strongly condemned the attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which was an unacceptable violation of the sovereignty of Syria and undermined its stability and security. They agreed that the attack was a violation of international law and the UN Charter, and was illegal under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961. Recognising that the irresponsible act of the Israeli regime forces was a major escalation in an already volatile region, both sides called on the UN security council to prevent Israel regime from its adventurism in the region and its illegal acts attacking its neighbours and targeting foreign diplomatic facilities.

Israel’s military has issued a statement to say it is “currently striking Hezbollah terror targets in southern Lebanon.”

More details soon …

Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani has criticised US authorities for its clampdown on students protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

The Islamic Republic News agency (IRNA) quotes him saying:

News reports related to the widespread suppression and arrest of students from American universities by the police in this country because of their support for the Palestinian people are a violent breach of the right to vote, freedom of expression, and human rights, causing concern among public opinion worldwide.

It is necessary for the US government, while adhering to its human rights obligations, to guarantee the freedom of expression and assembly of university students and professors and to respect their legal demands and rights.

Police arrested about 150 protesters at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale and New York University on Monday night, while Columbia University announced that classes would be taught remotely for the rest of the semester, as anger boiled over after more than 100 arrests there last week. Hundreds of Jewish anti-war demonstrators have also been arrested during a Passover seder that doubled as a protest in New York.

A report by Amnesty International late in 2023 said that Iran had arrested more than 19,000 people, and at least 500 protesters have been killed when protests spread across the country after the death in custody of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, in September 2022 following her detention for allegedly breaking the country’s dress code.

In the UK, MPs on the business and trade committee are holding a one-off session on arms exports to Israel, six months after the war in Gaza began. You can watch it here …

The Israeli military has said it is deploying two reserve brigades for missions in the Gaza Strip.

Associated Press reports that in a statement, the Israeli military said the brigades would be involved in “defensive and tactical missions” in Gaza, without elaborating.

The military said the brigades had previously been operating along Israel’s northern border, where Hezbollah and Israeli forces have been repeatedly exchanging fire since 7 October.

Israel’s defence ministry has bought 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, for Palestinians relocated from Rafah, Israeli government sources have told Reuters.

Government sources told the news agency prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet planned to meet in the coming two weeks to authorise civilian evacuations – expected to take around a month – as the first stage of the Rafah sweep.

Israel claims Rafah is home to four intact Hamas combat battalions which have been reinforced by thousands of retreating fighters.

Israel’s defence ministry declined to make an official comment. Netanyahu’s office also had no immediate official comment.

The Guardian