Israel’s war on besieged Palestinians of Gaza — now in its 181st day — has killed at least 33,037 Palestinians and wounded 75,668 others as WCK founder says Israel targeted his aid workers “systematically, car by car.”
Thursday, April 4, 2024
0740 GMT — At least 33,037 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its war on Gaza in October last year, the enclave’s health ministry said.
The toll includes at least 62 killings over the past 24 hours alone, a ministry statement said, adding that 75,668 people have been wounded in the territory during nearly six months of war.
More updates 👇
0635 GMT — US expresses ‘outrage’ over Israeli killing of humanitarian aid workers in Gaza
US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin spoke to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant and expressed his “outrage” over this week’s attack on a humanitarian aid convoy from World Central Kitchen (WCK) that killed seven workers.
“Secretary Austin stressed the need to immediately take concrete steps to protect aid workers and Palestinian civilians in Gaza after repeated coordination failures with foreign aid groups,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Austin asked Gallant to carry out “a swift and transparent investigation, to share their conclusions publicly, and to hold those responsible to account.”
“Secretary Austin stated that this tragedy reinforced the expressed concern over a potential Israeli military operation in Rafah, specifically focusing on the need to ensure the evacuation of Palestinian civilians and the flow of humanitarian aid,” the statement added.
0618 GMT — Food aid charity demands independent inquiry of Israeli strikes
The World Central Kitchen (WCK) called for an independent investigation into this week’s Israeli killing of its seven aid workers.
“We have asked the governments of Australia, Canada, the United States of America, Poland and the United Kingdom to join us in demanding an independent, third-party investigation into these attacks, including whether they were carried out intentionally or otherwise violated international law,” the charity organisation that provides meals to communities in disaster and war zones said in a statement.
“Yesterday, to ensure the integrity of the investigation, we asked the Israeli government to immediately preserve all documents, communications, video and/or audio recordings, and any other materials potentially relevant to the April 1 strikes.”
0255 GMT — Israel bombards Gaza, kills two more Palestinians
Israel carried out an air strike on a house in Gaza, killing at least two Palestinians and injuring 15 others.
The home was located in the Maghazi refugee camp, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
The report also said that Israeli warplanes targeted a house in the Tel al Sultan neighbourhood west of Rafah in southern Gaza.
0227 GMT — Israeli army raids Jenin, clashes erupt with Palestinians
Israeli forces raided the northern West Bank city of Jenin and its refugee camp.
Israeli forces accompanied by bulldozers stormed the city in occupied West Bank from several directions and raided the camp, eyewitnesses told Anadolu.
They said alarms sounded in the camp while Israeli forces took to the rooftops of houses. They noted that armed clashes also broke out between Israeli forces and Palestinians, with the sounds of explosions heard.
No official Palestinian sources have provided details about the raid or the accompanying clashes, including casualties or material losses.
0203 GMT — Israeli explanation for aid workers killing ‘not good enough’
Israel’s explanation for the deaths from an air strike in besieged Gaza of seven aid workers, including Australian woman Zomi Frankcom, was “not good enough,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said.
“We need to have accountability for how it has occurred, and what is not good enough is the statements that have been made, including that this is just a product of war,” Albanese said during a press conference in Sydney.
Albanese seemed to be referring to comments from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message on Tuesday in which he said that “this happens in war” as the Israeli military promised an independent investigation.
0133 GMT — Biden, Netanyahu to speak following Gaza killings
US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak, a US official said, in their first call since Israel killed seven aid workers in besieged Gaza.
The call comes after Biden expressed outrage over the killings of the employees of the US-based World Central Kitchen group and said Israel must do more to protect aid workers and civilians.
“I can confirm President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak tomorrow,” a US official who is knowledgeable about the matter told the AFP news agency.
0114 GMT — Missile fired from Lebanon hits house in Israel: report
An anti-tank missile fired from Lebanon struck a house in northern Israel, an Israeli media outlet reported.
“Hezbollah operatives fired an anti-tank missile at Metula in the Galilee finger, which hit a house in the northern neighbourhood of the settlement. There were no casualties. The IDF is attacking the source of the fire,” said the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
The Lebanese Hezbollah group has not commented on the report.
The Israeli Defence Ministry announced an expansion of its operations “against Hezbollah and other entities threatening us, striking our enemies across the Middle East.”
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said a war in the north would pose a “tough challenge” for Israel, but it would be “devastating for Hezbollah and Lebanon.”
2354 GMT — Scottish leader calls for ban on arms sales to Israel
Scottish leader Humza Yousaf has reiterated his call on the UK government to suspend arms sales to Israel following the Israeli army’s killing of aid workers in besieged Gaza.
“By not stopping arms sales to Israel, the UK is in danger of being complicit in the killing of innocent civilians,” Yousaf warned in his letter to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Reminding that he called on the government in January to ban the license of arms exports from the UK to Israel, the first minister said he has yet to receive a response, adding: “You have taken no such action, despite the death toll continuing to increase.”
2200 GMT — Israel bombs Rafah home, killing several including two toddlers
Israel has killed several Palestinians, including two toddlers, after striking a home in Tal al Sultan neighbourhood in west of besieged Gaza’s Rafah city, according to local media reports and witnesses.
Images at the Kuwait Hospital in Rafah showed bloodied bodies two Palestinian girls, who were killed in the Israeli attack, lying on a medical stretcher.
Civil defence teams and local residents were conducting search and rescue operations at the blast site.
The latest Israeli strike came amid global outrage over the killing of seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen, whose founder accused Israel of deliberately killing the relief workers in “car by car” strikes.
