Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its 201st day, has killed at least 34,183 Palestinians — 70% of them babies, children and women — and wounded over 77,143 others as UN raises “war crime” alert following recovery of 300+ bodies in Gaza mass graves.
Wednesday, April 24, 2024
US Senate has passes $26.6 billion military package for Israel, the American ally accused of carrying out genocide of besieged Palestinians in Gaza using US weapons.
US President Joe Biden pledged to quickly sign the $61 billion bill — also including aid packages for Ukraine and Taiwan — after Congress gave its final approval, saying delivery of the much-needed aid would begin this week.
The US declared its support for Israel since the beginning of the war In October last year. US never holds back in arming Israel, regardless of alarming Gaza civilian casualties.
The United States gives Israel $3.8 billion in annual military dole and often shields its ally at the United Nations.
2145 GMT — Israel prepares to invade Rafah ‘very soon’ — report
Ignoring global pleas and genocide allegations, Israeli military is preparing to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza “very soon,” Israeli media have reported.
According to the public broadcaster KAN, which cited unnamed Israeli military sources, the military is preparing for a ground invasion in Rafah that would include “evacuating a significant number of residents.”
“According to the army’s plan, more than one million Palestinians in Rafah will be asked to evacuate the area to shelters recently established in the southern and central parts of the Gaza Strip,” said the broadcaster.
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2233 GMT — US has concerns about potential Rafah invasion: Pentagon
The US military still has concerns about a potential Israeli ground invasion in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Pentagon has said.
Speaking at a press briefing, spokesperson Pat Ryder recalled a meeting between US and Israeli officials in which he said the two countries agreed on a “shared objective” to defeat resistance group Hamas and shared their thinking on Rafah.
“We’ve shared ours, but in terms of what their plan looks like. We still have some concerns in terms of the various courses of actions. And so, we’ll continue to discuss those concerns related to how they’re going to take into account civilian safety and humanitarian assistance,” said Ryder.
2209 GMT — Gaza demonstrators in NY university threatened with suspension
Students taking part in a sit-in protest at a school in the US against “the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza” have been threatened with suspension, activists and the school’s student-run newspaper said.
Demonstrators set up what they are calling the Gaza Solidarity Encampment in the University Center lobby at the New School, a private university in New York City, on Sunday.
They have remained there since.
New School administrators ended negotiations with demonstrators without a resolution, the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine said on social media Monday.
They implored community members to join at the University Center to prevent arrests and suspensions from moving forward.
The New School Free Press student-run newspaper reported that Monday’s negotiations with Mark Diaz, the executive vice president for Business Operations at the university, were intended to discuss divestment from “corporations benefiting from and complicit in the ongoing genocide and apartheid against Palestinian people.”
2206 GMT — UNRWA experienced ‘nothing comparable’ to current Israeli attack on it
The head of the UN agency helping Palestinian refugees says it has never been under as sustained an attack as it is now in an Israeli campaign to dismantle its activities in besieged Gaza and possibly elsewhere in the Middle East.
In UNRWA’s 75-year history, it has experienced “absolutely nothing comparable” to the “ferocity” and scope of the current campaign against its Gaza operations, Philippe Lazzarini told reporters.
It is happening even as many donors have suspended contributions to UNRWA after Israel alleged that 12 employees of the agency participated in the October 7 Hamas surprise blitz in southern Israel, he said.
2123 GMT — Pro-Palestine protesters disrupt conference in Italy
Students protesting Israel’s carnage in besieged Gaza have disrupted a conference in Italy focused on its cooperation with other countries in scientific fields and space that ministers from the ruling coalition government attended.
They carried Palestinian flags and attempted to march to the conference venue at Valentino Castle in the city of Turin but were prevented by security forces.
One of the protesters managed to enter the venue, however, carrying a Palestinian flag.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her solidarity with the security forces.
She strongly condemned the protestors, saying on X that “the State [Italy] stands with those who protect the freedom and security of its citizens.”
Recently, students at universities in various cities in Italy have been staging protests demanding that their schools halt scientific cooperation agreements with Israel.
