In a context of escalating tensions with Iran, the Israeli army announced on Saturday April 13 the closure of schools throughout the State of Israel for security reasons, from 11 p.m. Saturday (10 p.m. to Paris). This announcement comes after Tehran’s threats to respond to the deadly attack carried out in early April against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, blamed on Israel. Starting Sunday, the first day of the week in Israel, “teaching activities, trips and outings” school or extracurricular activities are suspended, army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a video address. Follow our live stream.
Violent clashes in the West Bank after the death of a young Israeli. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa on Saturday condemned ongoing attacks by settlers on Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank. Violent clashes broke out after the disappearance of a young Israeli shepherd on Friday. One Palestinian died and around ten others were injured. The teenager’s lifeless body was finally found in the Ramallah region at midday on Saturday. Benjamin Netanyahu reacted, denouncing “a heinous crime”. “We will deal with the murderers and those who help them, as we do with all those who harm the citizens of the State of Israel”added the Israeli Prime Minister, quoted by the Jerusalem Post.
Israeli internal intelligence seized of the case. It is now up to the Shin Bet, the equivalent of the DGSI in Israel, to investigate the circumstances of the teenager’s death and to define whether it fits into the context of violent tensions between Israeli settlers and residents. Palestinians in the West Bank. According to the Israeli army, Benjamin Achimeir, 14, did not die accidentally, but was “killed in terrorist attack“. The young man left with his herd at dawn on Friday from the outpost of Malachei Hashalom, an illegal colony located in the Ramallah region.
A new crossing point for aid in Gaza. Since Friday, trucks loaded with medical equipment, food and basic necessities have been able to use a corridor in the north of the Palestinian enclave to deliver their precious cargo. During the day of Friday, 213 trucks were able to enter Gaza, according to the Israeli body in charge of Palestinian civil affairs, all entry points combined. Around a hundred packages were also parachuted into the enclave. Despite this reopening, several NGOs warn that the aid delivered remains largely insufficient in the face of the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hezbollah fire on Israeli positions. “Dozens of rockets”, that’s what the Lebanese Hezbollah, backed by Iran, says it fired Friday on Israeli territory. The Islamist movement attacked “enemy artillery positions (…) with dozens of Katyusha type rockets”, he wrote in a press release. The Israeli army, for its part, confirmed that a “quarantine” shots were identified coming from Lebanese territory and that “some were intercepted“. “No one was hurt”, specifies the Hebrew State, which adds that in the last few hours, the Israeli army “strike in several locations in southern Lebanon to ward off a threat”.