live blog
According to Israel, the contents of around 600 trucks with aid supplies have piled up in the Gaza Strip. The US Development Agency has officially confirmed for the first time that there is famine in parts of the Gaza Strip. All developments in the live blog.
According to the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the terrorist militia Hamas, more than 33,600 people have died and more than 76,200 have been injured in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out in the Middle East.
The aid organization UNICEF has once again criticized the short message service X for the difficulty in delivering humanitarian aid supplies to the Gaza Strip. There are access restrictions and high risks for the helpers involved. On Tuesday, a separate convoy was shot at with live ammunition. The UNICEF employees are safe, but “the immense difficulties in delivering relief supplies make it almost impossible to meet the children’s immediate needs, which are growing by the minute.”
The US Embassy in Israel has issued a security warning for its employees in light of Iranian threats against the Jewish state. For reasons of caution, US government employees and their family members are prohibited from traveling outside the metropolitan areas of the cities of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beer Sheva in the south of the country until further notice, the embassy said on its website. U.S. government personnel are authorized to transit between these three areas for personal travel.
The head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, believes that there is already famine in parts of the Gaza Strip. She confirmed this view during a hearing in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US Congress. According to US media, Power is the first US government representative to publicly confirm this assessment. The official classification as a famine means that at least 20 percent of the population is affected by an extreme lack of food. In addition, at least one in three children suffers from acute malnutrition.
Against the backdrop of massive Iranian threats, a high-ranking US general traveled to Israel for security talks. The commander of the US regional command Central Command (Centcom), which is responsible for the Middle East, Erik Kukilla is on site to meet with the Israeli army leadership, said US Defense Department spokesman Pat Ryder. In addition, “the current security threats in the region” should be discussed. The trip, which was originally planned for a different date, was brought forward “due to recent developments,” it said.
In light of Iran’s threats against Israel, Lufthansa has extended the suspension of planned flights to and from the Iranian capital Tehran. Lufthansa had already announced last Saturday that it would suspend its flights until Thursday and stated: “We are constantly monitoring the situation in the Middle East and are in close contact with the authorities.”
More than 250 non-governmental organizations have written an open letter calling for an immediate halt to all arms transfers to Israel and armed Palestinian groups. The letter calls for an immediate ceasefire. In addition, “all states are called on to stop the transfer of weapons that can be used to violate international humanitarian law and human rights.”
The UN Security Council must assume its responsibility for maintaining international peace and security, it continues. To do this, he must take measures to stop the transfer of weapons to the Israeli government and armed Palestinian groups. More than 250 organizations have joined the open letter, including Amnesty International, Save the Children, Oxfam and Caritas International.
According to the Defense Minister, Israel will not leave unanswered a possible attack by Iran on its territory. “A direct Iranian attack will require an appropriate Israeli response against Iran,” Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant said in a conversation with his US counterpart Lloyd Austin, the Israeli government announced.
It was the second time within a week that the defense ministers of both allied countries spoke on the telephone. They discussed readiness for an Iranian attack on the State of Israel, “which could lead to regional escalation,” it said. Galant explained Israel’s preparations for this eventuality and emphasized that the State of Israel would not tolerate an Iranian attack on its territory, it said.
According to a senior member of the Islamist Hamas, the fate of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip can only be clarified during a ceasefire. Part of the negotiations is to reach an agreement on a cease-fire “in order to have enough time and security to collect final and more accurate data on the captured Israelis,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, in a statement on Telegram widespread statement.
The abductees are in different places in the embattled Gaza Strip and in the hands of different groups. Some of them were also lying “under the rubble” along with killed Palestinians, it was said. “We are negotiating to get heavy equipment for this purpose,” the Hamas official said.
Conflict parties as a source
In the current situation, information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by the Palestinian and Israeli conflict parties cannot be directly verified by an independent body.
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox men protested in Jerusalem on Thursday against a court decision that could end their exemption from mandatory military service. They carried signs reading: “To prison, not to the military” as they gathered outside Israel’s military draft office. There were scuffles between some of the demonstrators and the police.
The country’s Supreme Court ordered in March that ultra-Orthodox Jews of military age would no longer be funded by the government to attend religious seminars – so-called yeshivas. The decision could have far-reaching consequences for the government and tens of thousands of men who refuse to serve in the military.
Israel has long granted exemptions from military service to ultra-Orthodox men. Most Jewish men are required to serve in the military for nearly three years, followed by years of reserve duties. Two years of basic military service are required for women.
Faced with a possible Iranian retaliatory attack on Israel, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on his colleagues in China, Turkey and Saudi Arabia to deter Iran from escalating. Ministry spokesman Matthew Miller said in Washington that a number of phone calls had taken place in the past 24 hours. Similar discussions would be held with European allies and partners. Miller made it clear: “Escalation is not in Iran’s interest. It is not in the interest of the region. And it is not in the interest of the world.”
Threats of retaliation from Tehran have increased following a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy compound in the Syrian capital Damascus, in which two Iranian Revolutionary Guard generals were killed. The attack was like an attack on Iranian territory and Israel must be punished, Iran’s head of state Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday.
Nina Barth, ARD Washington, tagesschau, April 12, 2024 5:31 a.m
A Palestinian application for full membership in the United Nations has failed to reach an agreement in the UN Security Council, according to Malta’s UN Ambassador Vanessa Frazier. There was “no consensus” among members of the UN’s highest body on the request to admit the Palestinians, Frazier said after a closed meeting on Thursday. “However, the majority were clearly in favor of moving membership forward.”
According to Israeli authorities, the contents of around 600 trucks carrying aid supplies have piled up in the Gaza Strip over the past week. In recent days, the amount of aid delivered to the sealed-off coastal strip via the Kerem Shalom and Nitzana border crossings has increased significantly, said the Israeli Cogat authority, which is responsible for contacts with the Palestinians and humanitarian aid. However, the collection and distribution of aid by the UN organizations was progressing slowly, meaning that Israel was unable to provide further aid.
On the online platform According to Cogat, the reason for the traffic jam is the lack of logistical capacity and manpower on the part of the UN organizations. According to its own statements, the authority cannot deliver any further aid supplies to Gaza if the existing supplies are not picked up by the aid organizations.
James McGoldrick, UN humanitarian coordinator in Jerusalem, told US broadcaster CNN that there were numerous logistical complications and that it would take time to resolve them. Additionally, Israeli-imposed restrictions on freedom of movement within the Gaza Strip complicated matters.
Germany has promised Holocaust survivors in Israel 25 million euros as a solidarity payment. Israel says an important water pipeline in the Gaza Strip has been repaired. The developments to read.