Israel’s war on Gaza updates: ‘Scattered measures’ for Gaza aid not enough
Israel’s “temporary” aid corridor to north Gaza criticised as inadequate by UN, EU.
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The live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.
- Israel’s “temporary” aid corridor to north Gaza criticised as inadequate by UN chief Guterres and EU foreign policy chief Borrell.
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says it will allow “temporary” aid deliveries via a crossing in the northern Gaza Strip “to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war”.
- Israeli military says it dismissed two officers and reprimanded three others for roles in strikes that killed seven aid workers on a food-delivery mission in Gaza.
- UN Human Rights Council adopts resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity possibly committed in the Gaza Strip.
- At least 33,091 Palestinians have been killed and 75,750 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attack stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captive.
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A look at what happened today
We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap of today:
- The Israeli military issued a statement in which it said it “takes full responsibility for this regrettable loss of life” during the attack on a WCK vehicle, which killed seven aid workers.
- The White House said a new round of talks aimed at arranging a Gaza ceasefire is planned for Cairo this weekend with US representation.
- Colombia filed a declaration of intervention under Article 63 of the International Court of Justice statute in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel.
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would allow “temporary” aid deliveries via a crossing in the northern Gaza Strip “to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war”.
- The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society announced that Israel is currently detaining 200 Palestinian children.
- UN chief Antonio Guterres held a speech to mark six months of war in which he said the Israeli military campaign has brought “relentless death and destruction” to Palestinians in Gaza.
- The United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Gaza Strip.
WATCH: Opening Erez crossing is ‘not enough’, says expert
Jeremy Konyndyk of Refugees International says that without a ceasefire, it will not be possible to “put together the kind of anti-famine operation that Gaza now requires”.
His comments come after Israel announced that it would open the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip “temporarily” to allow in more aid, a measure that he said simply will not be enough to avert disaster.
See more of what he said in our video:
Photos: Protests in Jordan outside Israeli embassy
Israel gives update on humanitarian aid entry to Gaza
Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) office says that 155 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip today, and that 100 food packages were airdropped over northern Gaza.
Israel touted an announcement today that it would “temporarily” open the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossing with the Gaza Strip to allow in aid, however, it has not yet done so. North Gaza continues to suffer from acute food scarcity and will soon experience full-scale famine, the UN and major NGOs say.
‘Mission impossible’: Families slam Canada’s Gaza visa scheme as a failure
“Unlivable”.
That’s how Canada’s immigration minister, Marc Miller, described the situation in the Gaza Strip in late December.
The Palestinian territory was under fierce Israeli bombardment at the time. At least 20,000 people had been killed, and hunger was spreading at an alarming rate as Israel blocked deliveries of food, water and other necessities.
As conditions continued to deteriorate, Miller announced that the Canadian government was launching a special visa programme to allow citizens and permanent residents to bring extended family members from Gaza to Canada.
“To be clear, today is about providing a humanitarian pathway to safety and recognising the importance of keeping families together given the ongoing devastation,” he told reporters on December 21.
But more than three months later, not a single Palestinian applicant has left the Gaza Strip as a result of the visa programme.
Read the full article here.
US on high alert against Iran threat after Israeli strike in Syria
The United States is on high alert and preparing for a possible attack by Iran targeting Israeli or American assets in the region in response to an Israeli strike on Iran’s consulate in Syria, according to Reuters news agency, which cites a US official.
“We’re definitely at a high state of vigilance,” the official said, confirming a CNN report which made similar claims.
Tehran has promised retaliation after the Israeli air strikes in Damascus killed 13 people, including seven members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps – among them two generals leading the Corps’ Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.
“We warn that no action by any enemy concerning our holy establishment [the Islamic Republic] will go unanswered,” Hossein Salami told a state-organised gathering of thousands in the capital Tehran on Friday to chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel”.
Killing of aid workers ‘a terrible chain of errors’: Israeli military
Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari has issued a statement in which he revealed the results of an investigation into the killing of seven World Central Kitchen staff.
Hagari claimed, without presenting evidence, that “a number of gunmen” came in and out of some of the cars being tracked by the Israeli army, a group that apparently included the World Central Kitchen aid convoy.
“After some of the vehicles split from the others, the forces that were tracking the vehicles that went south did so thinking that these were Hamas vehicles”, he continued.
He later said that the incident was a “tragic mistake” that “could and should have been prevented” and stemmed from “serious operational failures, mistaken classification and identification, errors in decision-making and strikes that were conducted in violation of standard operating procedures”.
He concluded that the Israeli military “takes full responsibility for this regrettable loss of life”.
This admission from the Israeli army appears to confirm an Al Jazeera investigation, which found that the WCK vehicles were targeted deliberately, and not hit by accident.
Protesters gather in New York City in support of Palestinians
A video posted on X shows a large crowd gathered in New York City’s Times Square on the occasion of Al-Quds Day.
Today, April 5, Palestine supporters across the world are marking Al-Quds Day, held annually on the last Friday of Ramadan to express solidarity with Palestine and opposition to Israeli occupation.
🇵🇸‼️HAPPENING NOW: A huge and growing crowd is gathering in Times Square to stand with the Palestinian people against zionism and occupation this Al-Quds Day #ShutItDown4Palestine pic.twitter.com/iruetvswdu
— Party for Socialism and Liberation (@pslnational) April 5, 2024
Photos: Lailat al-Qadr at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound
Colombia is hoping to offer tangible support to the Palestinian cause
In seeking to support South Africa in its ICJ case, Colombia is also sending a message to Israel that it cannot continue with its actions in Gaza.
This is not a surprising stance given what we’ve heard from the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who has denounced Israel since the start of the war.
Colombia and Israel have long been both commercial and military partners. But that relationship started to sour since President Petro took office a year and a half ago, and in particular since the start of the war on Gaza.
That’s because Petro has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause.
Just last week, Petro threatened to cut all ties with Israel if Israel didn’t comply with the UN Security Council resolution that demanded an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
He also called on other nations back in February to cut all military purchases from Israel, even against the advice of the highest military commanders here in Colombia, from what we’re being told from sources inside the government.
That’s because Colombia depends on military support from Israel for its internal conflict, but despite all that his support for the Palestinian cause is more important for the country.
Biden urges mediators to press Hamas on Israel agreement: Report
President Joe Biden has written to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for a deal with Israel, AP reports.
The letters come one day after Biden called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a ceasefire in the six-month-old war on Gaza.
The letters to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, come as Biden has deployed CIA Director Bill Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend on reaching a ceasefire in Gaza and on the release of Israeli captives held there by Hamas and other groups in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
UN chief: Israeli intentions to increase aid to Gaza need to “quickly materialise”
Antonio Guterres says on X that the UN has been informed by Israel of its intention to “allow a meaningful increase in humanitarian aid distributed in Gaza”.
“I sincerely hope that these intentions are effectively and quickly materialized,” he continued.
Guterres has called on Israel numerous times to stop blocking aid to the Gaza Strip, calls that have so far gone unheeded. Israel’s stated intention to allow more aid into the strip came only after an intense international backlash following the killing of six foreign aid workers in Israeli air strikes on Monday.
In the aftermath of the @WCKitchen tragedy, the @UN was informed by the Israeli government of its intention to allow a meaningful increase in humanitarian aid distributed in Gaza.
I sincerely hope that these intentions are effectively and quickly materialized.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) April 5, 2024
Aid allowed into Gaza has been ‘dramatically inadequate’: US Senator
US Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, has issued a statement in which he said recent events in Gaza “have made plain that much more needs to be done to protect innocent life”.
He added that “despite constant pressure from the United States, other nations, and international organizations, the amount of aid allowed by Israel to enter Gaza has been painfully slow and dramatically inadequate”.
Kaine applauded Biden for successfully urging Netanyahu to open a border crossing from Israel to allow aid into the Gaza Strip, but he said, “This was an obvious solution that should have happened months ago.”
In the statement, he said that despite the fact that the US “has time and again stood with Israel as a friend, partner and ally”, the current approach to the war on Gaza is not working.
He also urged the US not to send more offensive weapons to Israel as it would only “further widen suffering in Israel, Gaza and the region”.
‘Clear evidence of unconscionable brutality’: OCHA official
Ramesh Rajasingham, who heads the UN humanitarian agency’s Geneva division, says, “Six months into the brutal war in Gaza, the world continues to witness clear breaches of international humanitarian law.”
“Allegations of serious violations must be investigated and the suspects prosecuted,” he urged.
“Member states can and must use their leverage to prevent and stop violations of international humanitarian law – through diplomatic and economic pressure, conditioning arms exports on compliance with the rules of war and cooperation in combating impunity,” he added.
Norman Finkelstein on Gaza: The US could have stopped Israel on day one
Al Jazeera’s Marc Lamont Hill sat down with Norman Finkelstein, one of the world’s most prominent – and controversial – Palestine scholars, for an extended interview.
Watch our video to hear his thoughts on Israel’s war on Gaza and on Palestine activism:
Lebanese paramedic succumbs to wounds following Israeli air raid
According to the Lebanese Civil Defence, Mousa al-Mousawi died following his injury in an Israeli attack on Khaim in the southern Nabatieh Governate.
The married father of three was 47, the Lebanese Civil Defence said in a post on X.
٤/١
تنعي المديرية العامة للدفاع المدني الموظف العملاني موسى عبدالكريم الموسوي من عديد مركز الخيام العضوي – النبطية الإقليمي الذي انتقل الى رحمته تعالى بتاريخ ٠٥-٠٤-٢٠٢٤ متأثراً بإصابته اثر غارة جوية إسرائيلية استهدفت بلدة الخيام. pic.twitter.com/uvjVRX17co— الدفاع المدني اللبناني (@CivilDefenseLB) April 5, 2024
Translation: The General Directorate of Civil Defense mourns the operational employee Musa Abdel Karim al-Moussawi from the Khiam Organic Center – Nabatieh Regional, who passed away on 04/05/2024 as a result of his injury as a result of an Israeli air strike that targeted the town of Khiam.
What happened to the UN ceasefire resolution?
On March 25, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution that demanded an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip during the holy month of Ramadan.
However, more than 10 days later, little appears to have changed, and with Ramadan ending around Tuesday, hopes of the resolution having an impact are all but gone.
Israel has continued its attacks across the Gaza Strip. Humanitarian access had also been a demand in the resolution, but Israel has continued to block and attack aid convoys in the Gaza Strip.
Enforcing the resolution has been difficult. The UN considers the resolution binding, as do many countries, but the US, Israel’s key ally, has stated otherwise.
The UN could potentially impose sanctions but trying to enact punitive measures would likely involve an additional resolution – which the US would likely veto.
Israel may have also felt emboldened to ignore the resolution as it had done so in the past, including in December when the UN General Assembly voted with an overwhelming majority to call for a “humanitarian ceasefire”.
Islamic Jihad thanks Iran for ‘standing with the Palestinian people’
Ziyad al-Nakhalah, the group’s secretary-general, says Iran has stood by the “resistance” as Arab governments side with Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“We are grateful for Iran, which has sided with and supported the resistance for more than 20 years,” he said.
“The battle is ongoing, and the occupation is trying to end the resistance. We are being let down by the international community and Arab government collusion.”
Israel responsible for aid access: Chairman of US Senate Intel Committee
Mark Warner says “responsibility for humanitarian access and deconfliction lies with Israel. They must meet that obligation.”
In a post on X, the senator said humanitarian organisations’ withdrawal from the Gaza Strip adds to the consequences of the “deeply disturbing [Israeli military] strike killing World Central Kitchen workers”.
“Their deaths are the latest in a conflict that has killed far too many humanitarian workers and civilians,” he said.
“As groups are forced to scale back operations, the Palestinian people continue to suffer. The entire population faces food insecurity, with experts warning of famine risk.”
Opening Beit Hanoon crossing is ‘not enough’
Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, told Al Jazeera that although Israel’s temporary opening of the Beit Hanoon, or Erez, crossing is a step in the right direction, it still falls short of what needs to happen.
“Without a ceasefire, it will not be possible for aid groups to put together the kind of anti-famine operation that Gaza now requires,” he said.
“You can’t do that solely off the backs of trucks. You need the space to operate safely, to run malnutrition treatment centres, to restore the health system, to rebuild water systems and to distribute food at large scale,” he explained.
Earlier, Netanyahu’s office said it would allow “temporary” aid deliveries via the crossing in the northern Gaza Strip “to ensure the continuation of the fighting and to achieve the goals of the war”.
New Gaza ceasefire talks set for Cairo this weekend
A new round of talks aimed at arranging a Gaza ceasefire is planned for Cairo this weekend with US representation, the White House says.
CIA Director Bill Burns will lead the US delegation, a US official said, according to Reuters.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Thursday to empower his negotiators so a deal could be reached as soon as possible.
Under the most recent proposal, Israel and Hamas would agree to a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of sick, elderly and wounded captives.
“Let’s get a deal in place, so that we can get a ceasefire for a matter of weeks in place, so that it’s easier to meet those commitments on humanitarian assistance being increased,” Kirby told reporters.
Columbia University suspends students who participated in pro-Palestinian event
Columbia University in New York has suspended six students who organized and participated in a pro-Palestinian event several weeks ago, according to Colombia Students for Justice in Palestine.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that four suspensions were related to the event, which was called Resistance 101 and was held both in person and on Zoom.
PRESS RELEASE: Last night, Columbia University suspended six students, including a Palestinian student & two jewish students with NO due process as part of an investigation into a campus event about Palestine. These students were evicted & given 24 hours to leave their homes. pic.twitter.com/t4EI247kaa
— Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine (@ColumbiaSJP) April 4, 2024
Colombia files declaration of intervention in the South Africa’s genocide case
The International Court of Justice in the Hague has announced that Colombia has filed a declaration of intervention under Article 63 of the ICJ statute in South Africa’s case against Israel.
In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians after South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.
PRESS RELEASE: #Colombia files a declaration of intervention under Article 63 of the #ICJ Statute in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (#SouthAfrica v. #Israel) https://t.co/rLVf9mjah6 pic.twitter.com/ov1i62FDuW
— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) April 5, 2024
Israeli settlers set fire to occupied West Bank homes
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli settlers burned four residential structures in the Ain al-Auja area, north of Jericho in the West Bank.
Mahmoud Ghawanmeh, a Palestinian resident of the community, told Wafa that the settlers sprayed racist slogans on several buildings before setting the fires.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) recorded 561 incidents of Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians between October 7 and February 20.
As of January 17, settlers have killed at least eight Palestinians and injured 111, per OCHA’s database. Repeated waves of violence by settlers, often backed by the army, have led to the displacement of 1,208 Palestinians, including 586 children, across 198 households.