Here’s how things stand on Monday, April 15, 2024:
Fighting and humanitarian crisis
- Five people have been wounded in an Israeli air raid near the European Hospital south of the city of Khan Younis, the Wafa news agency reported on Sunday, quoting medical sources.
- Displaced Palestinians trying to return to their homes in northern Gaza recounted being shot at by the Israeli army in a video verified by Al Jazeera on Sunday.
- At least 33,729 Palestinians have been killed and 76,371 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive.
Diplomacy and geopolitical tensions
- Early on Sunday, booms and air raid sirens sounded across Israel after Iran launched hundreds of drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles in an unprecedented revenge mission that pushed the Middle East closer to a region-wide war.
- In Washington, DC, President Joe Biden said US forces helped Israel down “nearly all” the drones and missiles and pledged to convene allies to develop a unified response. The US president is set to host Iraq’s leader this week for talks.
- On Sunday, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called for de-escalation at a UN Security Council meeting to discuss Iran’s strikes on Israel.
- Iran’s ambassador to the UN told the meeting his country was left with no choice but to act after the international community failed to denounce Israel’s attack on its embassy in Syria on April 1. The Israeli ambassador called for “all possible sanctions” against Iran, and said Tehran had crossed a “red line”.
- A senior US official has confirmed that Biden told the Israeli prime minister Washington would not offer military support for any retaliation against Iran’s attack, according to a report by the AFP news agency on Sunday.
- Separately, the US president urged congressional leaders on Sunday to pass a spending bill that includes $14bn in aid for Israel.
- In the region, on Sunday, the US military said its Central Command forces successfully engaged and destroyed more than 80 “one-way attack” drones and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen.
- India also called on Iran to release 17 Indian crew members on board a container ship seized by Iran on Saturday.
Violence in the occupied West Bank
- Israeli forces arrested eight people in early morning raids across the occupied West Bank, according to Wafa. Six people were arrested in raids near the city of Tulkarem, while two were arrested from Kafr Nima, west of the city of Ramallah, Wafa reported on Monday.
- Israeli settlers uprooted 30 olive trees and several almond trees in the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, west of Salfit, in the occupied West Bank on Sunday, Wafa reported.
