Authorities recover 35 bodies over the past day at Nasser hospital
In Nasser hospital, southern Gaza’s main health facility, authorities are reported to have recovered a further 35 bodies in the past day from what they say is one of at least three mass graves found at the site, taking the total found there to 310 in the past week.
Palestinians say Israeli troops buried corpses there with bulldozers, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military said its troops had dug up some bodies at the site and reburied them after testing to make sure no hostages were among them.
The Associated Press has reported the burial area in the Nasser hospital was built when Israeli forces were besieging the facility last month.
At the time, people were not able to bury the dead in a cemetery and dug graves in the hospital yard, the civil defence group said.
The Palestinian Civil Defense recovers 50 bodies from what they are calling a mass grave inside Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on 21 April 2024. Photograph: Haitham Imad/EPA
In Nasser hospital, southern Gaza’s main health facility, authorities are reported to have recovered a further 35 bodies in the past day from what they say is one of at least three mass graves found at the site, taking the total found there to 310 in the past week.
UN rights chief Volker Turksaid he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and the reports of mass graves discovered there. Turk, addressing a UN briefing via a spokesperson, also decried Israeli strikes on Gaza in recent days, which he said have killed mostly women and children. He also repeated a warning against a full-scale incursion on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, where more than 1 million people are sheltering, saying this could lead to “further atrocity crimes”.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it had launched a drone attack against Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, in its deepest strike into Israeli territory since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October. The Israeli military said it had no knowledge of any of its facilities being hit by Hezbollah, but had said earlier on Tuesday that it intercepted two “aerial targets” off Israel’s northern coast. Hezbollah said it acted in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack killing one of its fighters.
Israel bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, residents said. Shelling was intense east of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia and continued on Tuesday morning in areas such as Zeitoun, one of Gaza City’s oldest suburbs, with residents reporting at least 10 strikes in a matter of seconds along the main road. Just west of Beit Hanoun in Beit Lahiya, medics and Hamas media said strikes had hit a mosque and a crowd gathering on the coastal road to collect aid dropped from the air.
Qatar said there was no reason to end the presence of an office for Hamas in Doha while its mediation efforts continued amid Israel’s war in Gaza. It came after the US state department said Hamas “moved the goalpost” and changed its demands in negotiations with Israel. But it’s not clear what exactly has shifted in the details of the talks, which are being mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
A Palestinian rights group’s legal challenge to try to stop British arms exports to Israel over allegations of breaches of international law in the war in Gaza will be heard in October at London’s high court, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
We are closing this blog now, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Middle East coverage here.
The high court has granted permission for a judicial review hearing challenging the UK government’s decision to continue granting arms to Israel which organisations say risk being used in violation of international law in Gaza.
The organisations, who first launched the case in December, made their case for a judicial review of the government’s arms sales in a “rolled-up” hearing at the high court in London on Tuesday. The hearing of the legal challenge will take place in early October.
Speaking before the court, Victoria Wakefield KC for Al-Haq mentioned the “strength of feeling” of those she represents, citing the overwhelming scale of civilian harm in Gaza, the catastrophic food insecurity and ground offensive in Rafah. More than 34,000 Palestinians – mostly civilians – have been killed during Israel’s military campaign, which was sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on 7 October.
“Its frankly difficult to conceive,” said Wakefield. “The bodies are mounting up and it will get worse and worse and worse.”
The case comes as the UK government faces ongoing pressure to disclose the official legal advice on the government’s reasoning for continuing to export arms to Israel. Earlier this month, more than 600 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges warned that the UK government is breaching international law by continuing to arm Israel.
Since 18 December, there have been 5 legal assessments of the situation in Gaza. Court documents reveal that a new decision was made on 8 April, with the decision to continue arms sales licenses.
In written submissions, Sir James Eadie KC for the secretary of state for Business and Trade said the issues have been considered “with conspicuous care and thoroughness”.
“The secretary of state’s position is that those decisions have at all times been lawful and, in particular, rational,” said Eadie.
Glan said that “in a last-minute strategic shift” the government refrained from asking the Court to find the claim is inarguable, and argued that relevant documents can only be shared in closed, secret proceedings due to national security.
“The UK government has stretched legal reasoning to the point of absurdity in order to arm a country that is committing grave violations of international humanitarian law,” said Dearbhla Minogue, a senior lawyer at Glan after the hearing.
“The government seems to be making this process as painstakingly slow as possible. Given the urgency of the situation in Gaza the government should listen to the international legal consensus and halt weapons sales now.”
Authorities recover 35 bodies over the past day at Nasser hospital
In Nasser hospital, southern Gaza’s main health facility, authorities are reported to have recovered a further 35 bodies in the past day from what they say is one of at least three mass graves found at the site, taking the total found there to 310 in the past week.
Palestinians say Israeli troops buried corpses there with bulldozers, Reuters reported.
The Israeli military said its troops had dug up some bodies at the site and reburied them after testing to make sure no hostages were among them.
The Associated Press has reported the burial area in the Nasser hospital was built when Israeli forces were besieging the facility last month.
At the time, people were not able to bury the dead in a cemetery and dug graves in the hospital yard, the civil defence group said.
The Palestinian Civil Defense recovers 50 bodies from what they are calling a mass grave inside Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza, on 21 April 2024. Photograph: Haitham Imad/EPA
Police arrested about 150 protesters at pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Yale and New York University on Monday night, while Columbia University announced that classes would be taught remotely for the rest of the semester, as anger boiled over on leading US campuses.
On the Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut, authorities arrested at least 47 protesters on Monday evening, the university said in a statement. Students who were arrested will be referred for disciplinary action.
Pro-Palestinian students and activists face police officers as they protest against Israel’s war in Gaza on the campus of New York University on 22 April 2024. Photograph: Alex Kent/AFP/Getty Images
Several hundred people had been protesting on the Yale university campus, including hunger strikers, demanding the university divest from military weapons manufacturers and other companies with ties to Israel. Yale said it had repeatedly asked students to leave, and warned them they could face law enforcement and disciplinary action if they did not.
And in downtown Manhattan, police clashed with protesters at New York University. There were reports of officers using pepper spray as demonstrators tried to block a police bus from leaving the scene with detained students, and more than 100 people were arrested.
Finland says it supports the activities of the UN relief works agency for Palestinians (Unrwa) across the region, with 10% of the country’s support for the agency this year earmarked for “risk management”.
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development @VilleTavio met with Senior Deputy Heli Uusikylä from UNRWA’s Gaza office. Finland supports UNRWA’s work in Gaza and across the region. 10 % of Finland’s support for UNRWA this year is earmarked for risk management. @UNRWA@UNRWA_EUpic.twitter.com/SdQ7U1HZGE
Allegations of the involvement of Unrwa staff in the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel led major donors in January to cut their funding to the agency, the main channel of humanitarian support not only to Palestinians in Gaza but to Palestinian refugee communities across the region.
Finland was among the countries which withdrew funding from Unrwa over the claims but it has since reversed this decision.
The funding was cut despite the dire needs of 2.3 million people in Gaza, most of whom have been forced from their homes by the Israeli offensive since 7 October and have been struggling to find water, food, shelter or medical care.
An independent review, led by the former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna, has found Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of its claims that employees of Unrwa are members of terrorist organisations.
Hezbollah reportedly launches deepest attack into Israel since Gaza war
Reuters reports that Hezbollah has said in a statement it had launched a drone attack on Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, which would mark its deepest attack inside Israel since 7 October.
Hezbollah - a Lebanese Shia Muslim militant group – said it acted in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack killing one of its fighters.
The group published what appeared to be a satellite photo, with the location of the strike symbolised by a flash with a red circle around it that sat halfway between Acre and Nahariyya to the north.
Israel and anti-Israeli forces including Hezbollah have frequently exchanged fire over the UN-drawn blue line that divides Israel and Lebanon since 7 October.
In recent weeks Israeli soldiers have been wounded on the Lebanese side of the line, and in the last couple of days an Israeli drone operating over Lebanese airspace was shot down.
Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian man early Tuesday in the West Bank city of Jericho, an eyewitness and Palestinian officials said.
Associated Press reports the Palestinian health ministry identified the man as Shadi Jalaita, 44, and said he suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
His uncle, Shafiq Jalaita, said the man had been outside his home watching an Israeli military raid taking place at a neighbour’s house in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Suddenly, three gunshots rang out, he said.
“The third bullet hit his chest and came out of his back,” Jalaita said.
The Israeli army has not commented on the shooting.
The health ministry said a child also was shot in the stomach in Jericho and was in critical condition. No further details were available.
Israel’s military has said that the incident in northern Israel has ended, and that the sirens were sounding for the risk of falling shrapnel. It says “the IDF aerial defense array successfully intercepted two suspicious aerial targets off the northern coast”.
Within the last thirty minutes the IDF has posted to its Telegram channel that warning sirens have sounded in the north of Israel. It also claims “the IDF aerial defence array successfully intercepted a suspicious aerial target off the coast of Nahariyya.”
Israel bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, residents said. Shelling was intense east of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia and continued on Tuesday morning in areas such as Zeitoun, one of Gaza City’s oldest suburbs, with residents reporting at least 10 strikes in a matter of seconds along the main road. Just west of Beit Hanoun in Beit Lahiya, medics and Hamas media said strikes had hit a mosque and a crowd gathering on the coastal road to collect aid dropped from the air.
UN rights chief Volker Turksaid he was “horrified” by the destruction of the Nasser and al-Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves discovered there. The emergency services said yesterday that 73 more bodies had been found at the site of the Nasser hospital, the biggest in southern Gaza, in the past day, raising the number found over the week to at least 283 people.
Qatar said there was no reason to end the presence of an office for Hamas in Doha while its mediation efforts continued amid Israel’s war in Gaza. It came after the US state department said Hamas “moved the goalpost” and changed its demands in negotiations with Israel. But it’s not clear what exactly has shifted in the details of the talks, which are being mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
Qatar said there was no reason to end the presence of an office for Hamas in Doha while its mediation efforts continued amid Israel’s war on Gaza.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari added in a press conference that Qatar remained committed to mediation but was reassessing its role in “frustration with attacks” on its efforts.
The US state department has said Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, has “moved the goalpost” and changed its demands in negotiations with Israel.
But it’s not clear what exactly has shifted in the details of the talks, which are being mediated by Egypt and Qatar.
The Senate is returning to Washington to vote on $95bn in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, taking the final steps in Congress to send the legislation to Joe Biden’s desk after months of delays.
The package has had broad congressional support since Biden first requested the money last summer.
But congressional leaders had to navigate strong opposition from a growing number of conservatives who question US involvement in foreign wars.
Several dozen Democrats voted against the bill aiding Israel as they demanded an end to the bombardment of Gaza that has killed, according to Gaza’s health ministry, over 34,000 Palestinians.
Israel strikes northern Gaza in heaviest shelling in weeks – residents
The Israeli military bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, residents have told Reuters.
Army tanks made a new incursion east of Beit Hanoun on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip, though they did not penetrate far into the city, according to residents, with gunfire reportedly reaching some schools where displaced people were sheltering.
Shelling was intense east of Beit Hanoun and Jabalia and continued on Tuesday morning in areas such as Zeitoun, one of Gaza City’s oldest suburbs, with residents reporting at least 10 strikes in a matter of seconds along the main road.
Just west of Beit Hanoun in Beit Lahiya, medics and Hamas media said strikes had hit a mosque and a crowd gathering on the coastal road to collect aid dropped from the air.
“It was one of those nights of horror that we had lived in at the start of the war. The bombing from tanks and planes didn’t stop,” Um Mohammad, 53, a mother-of-six living 700 metres from Zeitoun, said.
“I had to gather with my children and my sisters who came to shelter with me in one place and pray for our lives as the house kept shaking,” she told Reuters.
“I don’t know if we will make it alive before this war stops.”
The Israeli army said rockets launched overnight into Israel had come from firing positions in northern Gaza. It said it had struck rocket launchers and killed several militants overnight, in what the army called “targeted and precise” strikes.
