Washington urges Hamas to take responsibility. The White House estimated, Monday April 8, that the Palestinian organization must assume its part by accepting a ceasefire in Gaza with Israel, after new indirect negotiations this weekend in Cairo. “At the end of the weekend, a proposal was submitted to Hamas. And now it is up to Hamas to make it happen”, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said at a press conference. Follow our live stream.
Hezbollah commander killed, Israeli army says. The Israeli army announces that it has killed a commander of an elite unit of Hezbollah, the Lebanese movement allied with Hamas, on the night of Sunday to Monday, during a raid on southern Lebanon. Israeli hunters “struck and eliminated Ali Ahmad Hussein, the commander of the al-Radwan forces of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in the al-Houjair region”, specify the Israeli forces in a press release. Hezbollah confirmed the death of Ali Ahmad Hussein, whose nom de guerre Abbas Jaafar, without specifying where he was killed.
The Israeli army is “preparing” for an offensive in Rafah. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured Sunday that his troops “are preparing to continue their missions (…) in the Rafah area”, a town on the Egyptian border where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are gathered, the majority displaced. The international community has been warning for several months about the risks for civilians of an operation in Rafah.
Israeli troops withdrew from Khan Yunis. A few hours earlier on Sunday, Israeli forces withdrew from Khan Younes, another town in the south of the Gaza Strip, in order to “to prepare for future operations” according to the army. Immediately after this Israeli withdrawal, dozens of Palestinian refugees in Rafah headed back towards Khan Younes, according to AFP.
Nicaragua attacks Germany for its support of Israel. The Central American state, which filed suit against Berlin before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to stop German arms deliveries to Israel, defended its point of view in The Hague. “It is a pathetic excuse for Palestinian children, women and men to provide humanitarian aid, including through airdrops, on the one hand, and to provide the military equipment used to kill them and annihilate” on the other hand, said a Nicaraguan lawyer. Germany will respond on Tuesday.