Wednesday, May 1, 2024

0551 GMT — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has renewed calls for Hamas to accept a ceasefire and hostages’ release deal as he started talks with Israel’s leadership.

“Even in these very difficult times we are determined to get a ceasefire that brings the hostages home and to get it now,” Blinken said as he met Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

0641 GMT — Hezbollah claims attacking Israeli soldiers near Lebanese border

The Lebanese Hezbollah group has claimed it targeted the Israeli soldiers near the border area.

In a statement, the group said its fighters attacked a gathering of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the army’s Branit barracks, with missiles and artillery shelling.

The Israeli army is yet to comment on Hezbollah’s announcement.

0247 GMT — US says destroyed Houthi uncrewed surface vessel

The US has said it destroyed a target in an area of Yemen controlled by the Houthi group, the United States Central Command [CENTCOM] said.

“At approximately 1:52 pm [Sanaa time] on April 30, US Central Command [USCENTCOM] forces successfully engaged and destroyed an uncrewed surface vessel [USV] in Iranian-backed Houthi terrorist-controlled areas of Yemen, ” CENTCOM said on X, formerly Twitter.

CENTCOM said it determined that the USV presented an “imminent threat” to US and coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region.

“These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels,” it added.

0050 GMT — Israeli army admits 2 soldiers killed by ‘friendly fire’

The Israeli army has acknowledged that two soldiers killed over the weekend in central Gaza died as a result of a tank shell hitting a building they were stationed in due to a case of mistaken identity.

The Israeli army’s “preliminary investigation into the deaths of two reservists in Gaza on Sunday found that they were killed by an IDF [army] tank shell that was fired at the building in which they were staying, due to a mistaken identification,” Israel’s Haaretz daily reported.

”The IDF said that the investigation showed that during an encounter with terrorists that led to the exchange of gunfire, a tank crew mistakenly identified the two soldiers as enemies and fired at them, despite the fact that they were outside the defined boundaries given to the tank crew,” it added.

0049 GMT — Palestine seeks UNGA to reconsider bid for full membership

Palestinians are seeking approval of a resolution in the General Assembly asking the UN Security Council to reconsider “favourably” Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations, which the United States recently vetoed.

A draft Palestinian resolution obtained by The Associated Press would also decide to give Palestine “the rights and privileges” to ensure its full and effective participation in the work of the General Assembly and other UN organs “on equal footing with member nations.”

2300 GMT — Israel kills several Palestinians in new Gaza strikes

Israel has killed five people, including children, after striking different parts in besieged Gaza, WAFA news agency reported.

The agency said Israeli strikes killed two children, a little boy and his sister, and wounded others in the Shaboura camp in Rafah.

Medical sources also said three Palestinians, including a child, were killed after Israel bombarded an apartment in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.

2130 GMT — Israeli invasion on Rafah would be ‘tragedy beyond words’

United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths has warned that despite global calls for Israel to spare Rafah in southern Gaza, “a ground operation there is on the immediate horizon.”

“The simplest truth is that a ground operation in Rafah will be nothing short of a tragedy beyond words. No humanitarian plan can counter that,” Griffiths said, after hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to launch an invasion on Rafah.

Griffiths said that Israeli improvements to aid access in Gaza “cannot be used to prepare for or justify a full-blown military assault on Rafah.”

Netanyahu threatened to invade Rafah “regardless of whether a truce-for-hostages deal is struck” with Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

His comments appeared to be meant to appease his extremist ruling partners but it was not clear whether they would have any bearing on any emerging deal with Hamas. “We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas’ battalions there — with or without a deal, to achieve the total victory.”

Hamas has said Netanyahu will achieve nothing if Israeli forces invade Rafah where more than 1.5 million Palestinians have taken shelter from Israeli invasion and bombardment elsewhere in Gaza.

1930 GMT — Columbia University threatens Gaza war protesters with expulsion

Columbia University has said that students occupying a campus building as part of pro-Palestine protests or Student Spring protests, face being expelled from their academic programmes, the latest move in a standoff with school officials.

“Students occupying the building face expulsion,” Columbia’s office of public affairs said in a statement, adding that the protesters were provided “the opportunity to leave peacefully” but instead declined and escalated the situation.