- 22 Apr 2024 - 14:35(14:35 GMT)
Israeli air strike targets house in southern Lebanon’s Srifa village
Israeli jets have pounded the hillside village in southeast Lebanon, targeting a house, according to Lebanese media.
The report did not include details of casualties.
The Israeli military did not comment on the incident.
المنزل المستهدف بالغارة الإسرائيلية على أطراف صريفا pic.twitter.com/UzZ6JAqF8P
— bintjbeil.org (@bintjbeilnews) April 22, 2024
- 21 Apr 2024 - 23:45(23:45 GMT)
A look at what happened today
We will be closing this live page soon. Here’s a quick recap from today:
- Palestinian civil defence crews uncovered a mass grave, with 180 bodies found, inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
- Reuters, citing Iraqi sources, reported that at least five rockets were fired from Zummar, in northern Iraq, towards a US military base in northeastern Syria.
- Six Palestinians were injured during an Israeli raid on Burqa, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
- Health officials in Gaza reported that 22 people, including 18 children, were killed in the Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight.
- The Israeli military said its troops shot a Palestinian woman who attempted to stab soldiers at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley.
- The Wafa news agency reported that seven civilians were killed and others injured in an Israeli air raid that hit a house west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
- Hezbollah claimed it downed an Israeli drone which was on a combat mission in southern Lebanon.
- The Israeli military claimed that its fighter jets attacked several Hezbollah military structures in southern Lebanon.
- A Palestinian baby girl, Sabreen Jouda, was delivered prematurely after an Israeli attack killed her mother.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 23:35(23:35 GMT)
Netanyahu reaffirms military force needed for captives’ release
Leaks from a war cabinet meeting held today came out in the Israeli media, with the Israeli prime minister reportedly reprimanding those who are part of the negotiating team for speaking to the media and leaking information that he says is false, and accusing them of having these relationships with journalists and reporters that are giving Hamas the leverage to toughen its stance.
And the Israeli prime minister said publicly in an address tonight that he’d be tougher on Hamas and deliver more blows to it, saying that the only way to bring back the captives is through military and political pressure.
This is nothing new though, this is what we’ve been hearing from him for around seven months. And all of this comes amid the looming Rafah invasion.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 23:15(23:15 GMT)
Israelis block road in front of Gaza aid trucks
The demonstrators, from the Order 9 movement, gathered at night at southern Israel’s Dimona Junction, where they blocked the road after they received news that aid trucks were headed from Jordan to Gaza.
Israeli activists have repeatedly gathered in the past few months to try to stop aid from reaching Palestinians in Gaza, where civilians are struggling to survive amid severe food shortages.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 22:55(22:55 GMT)
WATCH: How Israel erased Arab-Jewish identity
You can watch AJ+’s latest video here:
- 21 Apr 2024 - 22:35(22:35 GMT)
Protesters in Paris show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza
About 2,000 people gathered in Paris to protest against racism, Islamophobia and police violence while also showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Carrying Palestinian flags and wearing keffiyehs, they chanted slogans such as, “Stop the genocide in Gaza” and “Anti-colonialist anti-Zionist resistance”.
Leading figures from France’s populist Yellow Vest movement, as well as members of the hard-left La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) party, took part in the rally.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 22:15(22:15 GMT)
Iraqi security forces searching for US base attackers
The Iraqi Security Media Cell said that its forces were conducting searches across a wide area to find the “outlaws” responsible for the rocket attack that targeted US forces at a base in northwestern Syria.
A statement from the security forces carried by the Iraqi News Agency said that the launchpad for the rockets had been found.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 22:00(22:00 GMT)
Baby delivered after mother killed in Israeli strike is in ‘stable’ condition
We now have an update regarding the Palestinian baby girl, Sabreen Jouda, who was delivered prematurely after her mother was killed by an Israeli attack.
She has been placed in an incubator at the Al-Helal Al-Emairati Maternity Hospital in Rafah.
The baby, weighing 1.4kg (3lb), was delivered in an emergency caesarean section and is stable and improving gradually, according to Mohammed Salama, a doctor caring for her.
An Israeli attack in the southern Gaza city of Rafah killed the baby’s mother, father and sister.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 21:45(21:45 GMT)
Six Palestinians injured during Israeli raid on Burqa
That’s according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, which said that the injuries were the result of live ammunition fired by Israeli forces and that two of those injured were in serious condition.
We reported earlier that a barn had been burned during an Israeli settler attack on Burqa, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 21:30(21:30 GMT)
WATCH: ‘Israelism’ – How deep do indoctrination and Israeli army glorification go?
The documentary Israelism examines the rift among Jews regarding Palestine, highlighting young people’s increasing criticism of Israel and Zionism.
This divide is driven by firsthand accounts of Israel’s actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
As the film faces opposition from groups trying to cancel its screenings, its main protagonist, Simone Zimmerman, and its co-director and producer, Erin Axelman, talk to Al Jazeera.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 21:15(21:15 GMT)
More details on reports that rockets were fired from Iraq at US military base
We are getting some more information regarding the reports that rockets were launched from Iraq’s town of Zummar towards a US military base in northeastern Syria.
Two Iraqi security sources and a senior army officer have told Reuters that a rocket launcher fixed on the back of a small truck had been parked in Zummar, a border town near Syria.
The military official said the truck caught fire after an explosion as warplanes were in the sky.
“We can’t confirm that the truck was bombed by US warplanes unless we investigate it,” said a military official on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the incident.
The reported attack comes one day after a huge blast at a military base in Iraq, which killed a member of an Iraqi security force.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 21:00(21:00 GMT)
If you’re just joining us
It’s 12am (21:00 GMT) in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. Let’s bring you up to speed with all the latest developments:
- Palestinian civil defence crews have uncovered a mass grave, with 180 bodies found, inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis.
- Health officials in Gaza say that 22 people, including 18 children, were killed in the Israeli strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight.
- UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland has said he is “gravely concerned by heightened violence across the occupied West Bank”.
- The Israeli military has said its troops shot a Palestinian woman who attempted to stab soldiers at a checkpoint in the Jordan Valley.
- Seven civilians have been killed and others injured in an Israeli air raid that hit a house west of the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa reports.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 20:55(20:55 GMT)
Israeli drone downed in southern Lebanon: Hezbollah
The armed group says it downed an Israeli drone that was on a combat mission in southern Lebanon.
The drone that was brought down above the Al Aishiyeh area in southern Lebanon was “waging its attacks on our steadfast people”, a statement by the group said.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 20:45(20:45 GMT)
Israeli air force strikes southern Lebanon
The Israeli military says that fighter jets have attacked a Hezbollah fighter who was operating a military structure in the area of Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon.
Earlier, the Israeli forces reported that they had struck a number of Hezbollah targets overnight and during the day.
Since October 8, the day after Hamas’s October 7 attack and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza, Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Israel have traded fire. In recent months, the frequency and severity of the attacks have increased, leading to fears of a greater regional conflagration.
You can read our in-depth analysis that maps the Israel-Lebanon border attacks here.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 20:30(20:30 GMT)
Majority don’t believe Israel is on verge of victory in Gaza: Poll
A poll conducted for Israel’s Channel 13 has 68 percent of respondents saying that they did not believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement that Israel was “one step away from victory” in Gaza.
Only 16 percent of respondents believed Netanyahu.
Separately, the poll predicts that Benny Gantz’s “National Unity” political alliance would emerge victorious in any parliamentary elections, with 30 seats; and Netanyahu’s Likud behind, with 20 seats. Gantz and his allies would likely have enough to secure a majority and dethrone the prime minister, reflecting public anger against Netanyahu.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 20:15(20:15 GMT)
Israeli settlers attack Palestinian village of Burqa
Israeli settlers have attacked the village, east of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, and set a barn on fire, the official Wafa news agency reports.
The head of the village council, Sayel Kanaan, said that settlers attacked the village and tried to raid a house on the northern side, and other houses on the western side.
Kanaan added that Israeli forces protecting the settlers fired sound bombs and tear gas towards residents.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 20:15(20:15 GMT)
Rockets fired from Iraq towards US base in Syria: Report
Two Iraqi security sources told the Reuters news agency that at least five rockets were fired from Zummar, in northern Iraq, towards a US military base in northeastern Syria on Sunday.
The attack, if confirmed, would be the first against US forces in the area since early February, after Iranian-backed forces stopped attacks they had been conducting.
The news of the attack comes after fears that violence between Iran and Israel could escalate into all-out war, following the Israeli killing of a top Iranian general in Tehran’s consulate in Syria, a direct Iranian attack on Israel, and reports of an Israeli attack on central Iran.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 20:00(20:00 GMT)
Rafah operation ‘inevitable and imminent’
Mohamad Elmasry, a professor in the Media Studies programme at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera that he expects the Israeli military to launch its long-feared assault on Rafah soon, despite the humanitarian consequences for civilians.
“It seems like it’s imminent … Israel has been warning for many weeks now that it’s going to invade Rafah, and then a few weeks ago it said that it had identified a specific date for its invasion,” Elmasry said. “More recently, there have been reports to suggest that the United States may have signed off on the invasion of Rafah in exchange for Israel not escalating with Iran.”
With Israel still unable to achieve its war goals, including freeing the remaining captives held in Gaza and defeating Hamas militarily, Elmasry posited a few possible reasons for such an operation.
“From one perspective [Israel] can try to salvage something out of [its war on Gaza] militarily. Maybe that’s rescuing hostages, maybe that’s killing Hamas leaders and other possible things they could point to as evidence of victory,” he said. “Another way to look at it more cynically … Israel’s ultimate end game is to try to make life unlivable for Gazans so that Israel can implement its greater Israel plan. That means transferring the population outside of Gaza.”
- 21 Apr 2024 - 19:45(19:45 GMT)
Photos: Protestors gather in Spain, Turkey, Pakistan to show solidarity with Palestinians
- 21 Apr 2024 - 19:30(19:30 GMT)
Israeli soldier dies following Hezbollah attack on April 17
The Israeli military has said that a reservist officer critically wounded in a Hezbollah drone and missile attack on the northern border community of Arab al-Aramshe succumbed to his wounds.
Arab al-Aramshe is an Arab-majority village in northern Israel near the Lebanese border.
The military identified the deputy company commander in the Etzioni Brigade as Dor Zimel, 27.
Another 17 Israelis were wounded in the attack last week.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 19:15(19:15 GMT)
Tightrope: Jordan’s balancing act between Iran and Israel
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is caught between two regional powers and could face serious social, political and economic repercussions should regional tensions continue to intensify.
Jordan’s tenuous position means that any regional action – an intensification of hostilities between Iran and Israel or an Israeli invasion of Rafah – can have incendiary repercussions domestically.
“Any imminent Iranian-Israeli war is going to put Jordan on a tightrope,” Sean Yom, an expert on Jordan at Temple University and the author of From Resilience to Revolution, told Al Jazeera. “Publicly, it has to stay out of the fray; it cannot side with any combatant.”
- 21 Apr 2024 - 19:00(19:00 GMT)
Mass graves ‘an indication that war crimes have been committed’
William Schabas, a professor of international law at Middlesex University London, spoke to Al Jazeera about the legal implications of the mass graves found in the Nasser Medical Complex.
He said mass graves have “always been an indication that war crimes have been committed, whether it was in the former Yugoslavia, Ukraine and now in Gaza”.
“There’s an obligation under international law to see that the dead are treated with respect and with dignity, that they’re buried according to rights, and that they can be identified by their next of kin. And none of that appears to be done. So Israel has a lot of explaining to do,” he said.
The fact that some of the bodies were apparently bound up or tied “points to summary execution” and calls for full-blown criminal investigation with a view to holding the perpetrators accountable, Schabas said.
The obvious institution to prosecute the perpetrators, he noted, is the International Criminal Court, which he said “jumped to attention” and immediately investigated the mass graves found outside Kyiv in 2022.
In the case of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, the US and plenty of Western countries expressed their outrage. In contrast, the lack of outrage expressed around the mass graves found in Gaza, Schabas says, points to “double standards” that have “always been a feature of the attitude towards Israel by its supporters, the various Western governments led by the United States”.
- 21 Apr 2024 - 18:45(18:45 GMT)
LISTEN: US approves $14bn to Israel, blocks Palestine UN membership
The United States voted against granting Palestinians full UN membership. Israel attacked Iran. The US Congress approved more military aid to Israel.
It is day 198 of the war. More than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed. More than 23,000 of those are women and children. And at least 8,000 people remain missing.
Listen to the latest episode of Al Jazeera’s The Take podcast:
In this episode:
- Gabriel Elizondo, Al Jazeera correspondent
- Akram Al Satarri, Freelance journalist
- Dorsa Jabbari, Al Jazeera correspondent
- Shihab Rattansi, Al Jazeera correspondent
- 21 Apr 2024 - 18:30(18:30 GMT)
German chancellor warns Netanyahu against escalation
Olaf Scholz has spoken to the Israeli prime minister and discussed the state of the region, according to a spokesperson for the German government.
“The chancellor emphasised that it was essential to avoid a regional escalation,” the spokesperson said.
Germany is one of the staunchest backers of Israel’s war on Gaza and stands accused of being complicit in an alleged Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Nicaragua has requested that the International Court of Justice order Berlin to stop military exports to Israel.
Israel’s war on Gaza updates: 180 bodies found in Khan Younis mass grave
The bodies found inside plastic bags that have Hebrew writing on them include elderly women, children and young men.
This live page is now closed. You can continue to follow our coverage of the war in Gaza here.
- Palestinian civil defence crews retrieve 180 bodies from a mass grave inside the Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza’s Khan Younis, two weeks after Israeli forces withdrew from the area.
- At least 18 children are among those killed in a series of Israeli attacks with dozens of Palestinians in Gaza killed overnight.
- The US House of Representatives passes $26bn in funding for Israel amid its war on Gaza and tensions with Iran, with the package to now go to the Senate for approval.
- At least 34,097 Palestinians have been killed and 76,980 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens still held captives in Gaza.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies