Turkey cuts off trade with Israel over Gaza war
Haydarpasa port on the Bosphorus in Istanbul. Bilateral trade between Turkey and Israel was nearly $6.8 billion last year. EPA
Turkey has confirmed it will stop all trade with Israel until the country allows humanitarian aid to flow uninterrupted into Gaza.
The decision expands on a move announced in April to restrict some Turkish exports to Israel due to the “worsening humanitarian tragedy in Palestine”, Turkey’s Trade Ministry said on Thursday.
It said efforts were under way to ensure that Palestinians were not adversely affected.
The pause took effect on Thursday, sources told Bloomberg.
“The second phase of the measures taken at the state level has been started, and export and import transactions related to Israel have been suspended to cover all products,” the ministry said.
“Turkey will firmly and decisively implement these new measures until the government of Israel allows an uninterrupted and sufficient flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
The move represents an escalation in the rift between Israel and Turkey over the war in Gaza. On Thursday, Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz accused Turkey of cutting off trade with his country.
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Abbas leaves hospital in Ramallah after routine tests
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas entered hospital on Friday and was later discharged after undergoing tests. AFPPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was at the Istishari Arab Hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday to undergo routine medical examinations, Wafa news agency reported.Mr Abbas was discharged from the hospital about an hour later, with “reassuring results”, said the agency.
Death toll rises to 34,622, Gaza health authorities say
At least 34,622 Palestinians have been killed and 77,867 injured since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, health authorities in the enclave said.
In the past 24 hours, 26 people were killed and 51 injured, the ministry added.
Israeli army says it intercepted ‘hostile aircraft’ from Lebanon
The Israeli army said its air defence system successfully intercepted “a hostile aircraft” that infiltrated from Lebanon into northern Israel on Friday.
Light damage was caused in the village of Julis as a result of fragments from the interception, said the military.
ICC prosecutor calls for end to intimidation of staff
The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor’s office called on Friday for an end to what it called intimidation of its staff, saying such threats could constitute an offence against the world’s permanent war crimes court.
In the statement posted on X, the ICC prosecutor’s office said all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials must cease immediately.
It added that the Rome Statute, which outlines the ICC’s structure and areas of jurisdiction, prohibits these actions.
The statement, which named no specific cases, followed Israeli and US criticism of the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave.
Neither Israel nor its main ally the US are members of the court, and do not recognise its jurisdiction over the Palestinian territories.
The court can prosecute individuals for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Contingency plan for Rafah incursion is mere ‘band-aid’, says WHO
The World Health Organisation has a contingency plan prepared in case of an Israeli incursion into Rafah, but an official for the agency warned that it would not be sufficient to prevent a substantial rise in the Gaza death toll.
“I want to really say that this contingency plan is a band-aid,” Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said at a Geneva press briefing via video link.
“It will absolutely not prevent the expected substantial additional mortality and morbidity posed by a military operation.”
Rafah operation could be ‘a slaughter’, UN official warns
An Israeli incursion in Rafah will put the lives of hundreds of thousands of Gazans at risk and will be a major blow to humanitarian operations in the enclave, a spokesman for the UN humanitarian office said.
Israel has warned is plans to launch an attack in the southern city of Rafah, where about a million displaced people are crowded together in shelters and makeshift accommodation.
“It could be a slaughter of civilians and an incredible blow to the humanitarian operation in the entire strip, because it is run primarily out of Rafah,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Aid operations out of Rafah include medical clinics and food distribution points, including centres for malnourished children, he added.
– Reuters
Nearly 40 children lose their mothers every day in Gaza, UNRWA warns
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said 37 children lose their mothers every day in Gaza, where more than 10,000 women have been killed and 19,000 injured since Israel began its war on the enclave.
“The war in Gaza continues to be a war on women,” UNRWA said on X.
“Conditions are appalling. More than 155,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women are faced with severely limited access to water and sanitary items.”
Iran frees crew of seized Israel-linked ship
Iran has released the crew of a seized Portuguese-flagged ship linked to Israel, but remains in control of the vessel itself, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has said.
“The seized ship, which turned off its radar in Iran’s territorial waters and jeopardized the security of navigation, is under judicial detention,” said Mr Amirabdollahian in a Foreign Ministry statement yesterday.
He said the release of the crew was a humanitarian act and they could return to their countries along with the ship’s captain.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry had earlier said the Aries was seized for “violating maritime laws” and that there was no doubt it was linked to Israel.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized the container ship MSC Aries, with a crew of 25, in the Strait of Hormuz on April 13.
Iraqi militants claim missile attacks on Tel Aviv and Dead Sea targets
Iraqi militants said on Friday they had launched missile attacks on “vital targets” in Tel Aviv and at the Dead Sea.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of Iran-backed armed groups, claimed it struck Tel Aviv with a number of cruise missiles.
This would be the first time the group attacked Tel Aviv, having previously targeted the southern Israeli resort city of Eilat.
Fighters also attacked a site at the Dead Sea with “appropriate weapons” on Friday morning, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said.
The group said the attacks were in response to Israeli forces killing thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children and women, in its war in Gaza.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed dozens of rockets and drone attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7.
At least six Palestinians killed in Israeli strike on Rafah
Young Palestinians injured in Israeli bombing arrive at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah, on Friday. APAt least six Palestinians, including children and women, were killed in an Israeli air strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah at dawn on Friday, the Wafa news agency reported.
Local sources said Israeli aircraft bombed a house in Al Zuhur neighbourhood.
A number of people were injured in a strike on a house near a refugee camp in Tel Al Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah.
Nine others were injured in a strike on Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
Israeli government confirms death of hostage in Gaza
An Israeli man held hostage in Gaza has been confirmed dead, the government said on Friday.
“We are heartbroken to share that Dror Or, who was kidnapped by Hamas on October 7, had been confirmed as murdered and his body is being held in Gaza,” the government said in a statement.
Mr Dror’s wife Yonat was killed on October 7. His children Alma, 13, and Noam, 17, were freed in November as part of a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas.
US military says it destroyed three Houthi drones in Yemen
The US military said it destroyed three drones in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen on Thursday.
The drones “presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region”, the US Central Command said on Friday.
No evidence Hamas plans to attack American forces, says US Defence Secretary
There is no indication Hamas is planning an attack on American personnel in Gaza, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday.
“I don’t discuss intelligence information at the podium. But I don’t see any indication currently that there is an active intent to do that,” Mr Austin said at a press briefing.
“Having said that … this is a combat zone and a number of things can happen, and a number of things will happen.”
A maritime pier constructed by the US military to increase the flow of aid into Gaza should be open within a matter of days, despite poor weather hampering preparations, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
The US has called on Israel and Hamas to ensure that aid bound for civilians in Gaza is not disrupted, after a shipment from Jordan was attacked by Israeli settlers.
-Reuters
Sciences Po university closes main Paris site over Gaza protest
The Sciences Po university in France said it would close its main Paris site on Friday after students protesting against the Gaza war occupied several buildings.
University authorities told staff to work from home on Friday.
On Thursday, a committee of pro-Palestine students announced a sit-in protest at Sciences Po and said six students were to begin a hunger strike “in solidarity with Palestinian victims” in Gaza.
Sciences Po is widely considered to be France’s top political science school and counts President Emmanuel Macron among its former students.
– AFP
Israeli ministers hold talks on hostages and Rafah attack plan
Senior Israeli ministers have held talks on a truce proposal to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas and discussed the prospect of an attack on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, an Israeli government source said.
The meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet was to be followed by talks involving the wider security cabinet, the source said.
Israel does not generally publish information on sessions of the two groups.
Mr Netanyahu has repeatedly backed plans to attack Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge from the war.
– Reuters
Israeli air strikes injure eight Syrian soldiers
Eight Syrian soldiers were injured in Israeli air strikes near Damascus, Syria’s Defence Ministry said on Friday.
On Thursday night, “the Israeli enemy launched air strikes from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting a site near Damascus … injuring eight soldiers”, the ministry said in a statement.
Israel rarely comments on strikes but has repeatedly said it will not allow Iran to expand its presence in Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel struck a government building in the Damascus countryside that has been used by Iran-backed Hezbollah since 2014.
– AFP
Militia claims attack on Israeli company in Eilat
Nada Homsi reports:
A militia known as Saray Al Ashtar claimed an attack on Israel on Thursday night.
It was yet another attack on Israel by another member of the Iran-allied coalition known commonly as the Axis of Resistance.
In a statement, the group said it launched a drone into the southern Israeli city of Eilat, aiming at the headquarters of Israeli company Trucknet Enterprises.
It said the attack on the company “responsible for land transportation in the Zionist entity” was conducted in support of “our patient people in the resistant Gaza”.
The group said it would “not stop its operations unless the Zionist aggression against Gaza stops”.
Trucknet in December began opening an overland trade route for goods to be imported to Israel from the Arabian Gulf.
That allowed shipping companies with Israeli ties to bypass the Red Sea blockade imposed by Yemen’s Houthis on Israel-affiliated shipping vessels.
Unesco awards press prize to Palestinian journalists in Gaza
Unesco on Thursday awarded its world press freedom prize to all Palestinian journalists covering the war in Gaza, which has been raging for more than six months.
“In these times of darkness and hopelessness, we wish to share a strong message of solidarity and recognition to those Palestinian journalists who are covering this crisis in such dramatic circumstances,” said Mauricio Weibel, chairman of the international jury of media professionals.
“As humanity, we have a huge debt to their courage and commitment to freedom of expression.”
Audrey Azoulay, director general at the UN organisation for education, science and culture, said the prize paid “tribute to the courage of journalists facing difficult and dangerous circumstances”.
According to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 97 members of the press have been killed since the war broke out in October, 92 of whom were Palestinians.
– AFP
Senators urge Biden to block Gaza refugees from US
Displaced Palestinians carry empty pots and pans to protest for more aid in Deir Al Balah, central Gaza, on April 25. BloombergEllie Sennett reports from Washington:
Dozens of US Republican senators urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to halt plans to admit refugees from Gaza into the US, claiming Palestinians from the besieged territory are a national security risk and probably Hamas sympathisers.
The 34 conservative senators who wrote to Mr Biden include minority leader Mitch McConnell and armed services committee member Joni Ernst.
“We are not confident that your administration can adequately vet this high-risk population for terrorist ties and sympathies before admitting them into the United States,” they wrote.
“We must ensure Gazans with terrorist ties or sympathies are denied admission into the United States – no easy feat, given the fact that the Gazans were the ones who voted Hamas into power in 2006.”
US media this week reported that the Biden administration is exploring “different options to resettle Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate family members who are American citizens or permanent residents”.
Washington is Israel’s top military benefactor and last week passed another $26.4 billion for its ally as it continues the war in Gaza.
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