Live blog: US reportedly mulls over $1B arms deal for Israel amid Gaza war

Friday, April 19, 2024

1717 GMT — The US is considering more than $1B in new weapons deals for Israel, including tank ammunition, military vehicles, and mortar rounds, amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, according to a report.

The proposed deal by the Biden administration includes transfers of $700M in 120 mm tank ammunition, $500M in tactical vehicles, and less than $100M in 120 mm mortar rounds, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing US officials.

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1850 GMT — Injured TRT Arabi journalist vows to continue reporting from Gaza

Sami Shehadeh, a Palestinian photojournalist who had his foot amputated after being injured in an Israeli army attack last Friday, said he will return to work to expose Israel's crimes in Gaza.

Sharing the moments when the Israeli army targeted members of the press, Shehadeh told Anadolu he was attacked while covering the situation at the Nuseirat refugee camp for the TRT Arabi.

"Two minutes after we arrived at the camp, we were directly targeted by the Israeli army," he said.

1843 GMT — Death toll from Israeli army's raid in occupied West Bank rises to 7

The death toll of Palestinians from the Israeli army raid in the city of Tulkarem in the northern occupied West Bank rose to seven, local media has reported.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said a 16-year-old boy was killed by gunshots from the Israeli forces in the Tulkarem refugee camp.

The official Palestine TV also reported that five more Palestinians were killed inside a home in the Nour Shams refugee camp by the Israeli forces.

It added that the Israeli army prevented ambulances from reaching the targeted home.

1834 GMT — 270,000 tonnes of solid waste accumulates across Gaza: UN

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has taken a perilous turn as a mounting solid waste threatens to compound the already dire situation, the UN has said.

"Some 270,000 tonnes of solid waste have accumulated across Gaza; that is according to the Union of Gaza Municipalities. This is creating an environmental and public health catastrophe," spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said at a news conference.

The accumulation of solid waste, exacerbated by "the destruction of waste management facilities and medical waste disposal centres, has severely hampered the collection and disposal efforts by municipalities," Dujarric said.

1818 GMT — UAE launches relief operation in Gaza's Khan Younis

The UAE has said it has launched a major relief operation in Gaza's Khan Younis, where it plans to rehabilitate a key hospital.

In a statement carried by the official WAM news agency, the UAE said it was the first foreign government to deliver aid to the city whose residents have begun to return after Israeli troops pulled back in early April ending months of heavy fighting.

"A team of volunteers headed to Khan Younis on a wide-scale field relief tour, during which they provided the necessary support to Palestinian families with the support of the UAE," WAM said.

1733 GMT — Türkiye's Freedom Flotilla ready to sail for Gaza

An international humanitarian relief effort in the form of a Freedom Flotilla Coalition was getting ready Friday to leave the western Turkish port of Tuzla and bring much-needed relief to residents of war-torn Gaza.

At least three vessels carrying some 5,000 tonnes of food, drinking water and medical aid were awaiting the green light from Turkish authorities to set sail from the port on the Sea of Marmara, south of Istanbul, organisers said.

Some 280 activists, rights campaigners, lawyers and doctors from more than 30 countries including the United States, Britain, Canada, Norway, Spain, Malaysia and Germany have joined the mission to Gaza.

1654 GMT — Gaza urges immediate action to address severe water scarcity

The Gaza government media office has called for immediate intervention to address the critical water scarcity crisis gripping the city amid mounting health and environmental challenges exacerbated by soaring temperatures.

In a statement, the office explained that "Gaza City is grappling with an acute shortage of water resources, confronting a fresh environmental disaster that poses a dire threat to its populace".

"The complete cessation of all water wells over the past fortnight, attributed to the depletion of meagre fuel reserves allocated to the Gaza municipality in previous periods, has exacerbated the situation," the statement added.

1636 GMT — Hezbollah targets Israeli spy equipment in southern Lebanon

Using “appropriate” weapons, fighters of the Lebanese group Hezbollah targeted spy equipment at an Israeli army site in southern Lebanon known as Bayad Blida, the group has said.

Along with exchanges of weapons fire across Lebanese-Israeli border areas, the official Lebanese news agency NNA reported Israeli raids on an area between the southern towns of al-Mansouri and Majdal Zoun, and also two missiles targeting a target in the town of Aitaroun.

In a separate statement, Hezbollah announced the death of one more of its fighters, bringing the group's fatalities in clashes with Israeli forces since Oct. 8 to 280, according to an Anadolu tally.

1534 GMT — Israel's Netanyahu, Germany's Baerbock clash over Gaza famine images

Germany and Israel argued heatedly over images from Gaza during their meeting in Jerusalem earlier this week, with Germany’s foreign minister contending the images fail to show the reality of famine in the enclave, Israeli media reports said Friday.

According to Israeli Channel 13, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to use images to prove that conditions in the embattled Gaza are not very bad.

But German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock objected to this, pointing to widespread reports of famine in Gaza and offering to show Netanyahu pictures on her cell phone of starving children, said the TV outlet.

1516 GMT — Thousands march in solidarity with Gaza in Yemen

Thousands marched in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza in Yemen.

Upon the call of the Houthis, a demonstration was held in the capital Sanaa with the slogan "Our war will continue until Gaza wins. We are with Gaza."

Banners and posters were also carried at the demonstration, condemning Israel's attacks on Gaza and calling for a boycott of US and Israeli products.

1438 GMT — Belgium to lead reevaluation of EU-Israel trade agreement

Belgium will lead the reevaluation of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which forms the legal basis governing the EU’s trade relations with Israel.


"Belgium will take the lead at the EU level to re-evaluate our Association Agreement with Israel," Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Petra De Sutter has said regarding the deal which came into force in 2000.


"We will co-sponsor a UN resolution in favour of full Palestinian UN membership," Sutter said, adding: "And we call for an EU-wide import duty on products coming from illegal Israeli settlements."

1437 GMT — Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia express disappointment over UN failure to admit Palestine's membership

Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia have expressed disappointment over the UN Security Council's failure to admit Palestine's full membership at the United Nations.

Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Islamabad is "deeply disappointed" at the result of Thursday’s debate at the Council and its inability to reach a consensus and recommend Palestine’s membership of the UN to the General Assembly.

"We regret the US decision to veto the draft resolution granting full membership of the UN to Palestine," she told reporters in Islamabad.

Indonesia and Malaysia have also expressed "deep regrets" over the failure of the council to adopt a resolution on the full UN membership of Palestine, due to a veto cast by the US.

1422 GMT — Israeli police defy court decision to release Palestinian academic

Israeli police have defied a magistrate court's ruling regarding the release of Palestinian professor Nadera Shalhoub, who was arrested on Thursday on charges of "incitement."

Shalhoub appeared before the court in occupied East Jerusalem after Israeli police requested a seven-day extension of her detention.

"Following a session where the defence team of Shalhoub investigated the police representative, the judge decided to release her on the condition of $2,640 bail and a third-party bail in the same amount," the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel said in a statement.

However, the Israeli police requested a freeze on the execution of the decision as a prelude to appealing.

1414 GMT — G7 stresses Israel's compliance with international law

The G7 nations have stressed that Israel must comply with international law and treat Palestinians humanely.

“Israel must act in compliance with its obligations under international law and treat individuals humanely and with dignity and should thoroughly and transparently investigate credible allegations of wrongdoing and ensure accountability for any abuses or violations,’ said the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, plus the EU foreign policy chief, in a joint statement.

Reiterating their opposition to a full-scale Israeli military offensive and invasion in Rafah, southern Gaza, which they said would have catastrophic consequences for the civilian population, they repeated the call for a credible plan to protect the civilian population in Gaza and address their humanitarian needs.

1357 GMT — Complex medical equipment 'purposefully broken' in Gaza hospitals: UN

The UN has decried the intentional destruction of complex and hard-to-obtain medical equipment in Gaza's beleaguered hospitals and maternity wards, further deepening risks to women already giving birth in "inhumane, unimaginable conditions".

Recent United Nations-led missions to 10 Gaza hospitals found many "in ruins" and just a couple capable of providing any level of maternal health services, said Dominic Allen, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) representative for the State of Palestine.

He said that what the teams found at the Nasser hospital complex, long besieged by Israeli forces during their operations in the southern city of Khan Yunis, "breaks my heart".

1340 GMT — Germany reiterates Qatar's 'important role' in Gaza war mediation

Germany has reaffirmed Qatar's "important role" in mediating the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, less than two days after the Gulf state’s prime minister said that his country was reconsidering its part as ceasefire broker.

"Qatar plays a very important role in the efforts to finally free the hostages from the hands of Hamas and we are in close coordination with Qatar," deputy foreign ministry spokesperson Christian Wagner said at a press briefing in Berlin.

1338 GMT — Blinken makes 'determination' linked to Leahy Laws against Israel

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he has made "determinations" regarding accusations that Israel violated a set of US laws that prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights.

The Leahy Laws, authored by then-Senator Patrick Leahy in the late 1990s, prohibit providing military assistance to individuals or security force units that commit gross violations of human rights and have not been brought to justice.

Earlier this week, the Pro Publica investigative news organization reported that a special State Department panel known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum had recommended months ago to Blinken that multiple Israeli military and police units be disqualified from receiving US aid on allegations of human rights violations.

1334 GMT — US sanctions extremist-occupied West Bank settlers

The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on two entities accused of fundraising for extremist Israeli-occupied West Bank settlers who have harassed and attacked Palestinians, as well as the founder of an organisation whose members regularly assault Palestinians.

The Treasury Department announcement comes as the occupied West Bank has seen some of its worst violence perpetrated by extremist settlers against Palestinians since the war in nearby Gaza began.

1315 GMT — Death toll from Israel's war on Gaza tops grim 34,000 mark

The Health Ministry in Gaza has said that at least 34,012 people have been killed in the territory during more than six months of Israel's war on Gaza.

The toll includes at least 42 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 76,833 people have been wounded in Gaza since the war began on October 7.

1311 GMT — EU adopts sanctions against 'extremist' Israeli settlers

The EU has adopted sanctions against "extremist" Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, holding them responsible for "serious human rights abuses against Palestinians."


A total of four individuals and two entities have been listed, a European Council statement said.

"The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses against Palestinians, including torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and for the violation of the right to property and to private and family life of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank," the statement said.

“The listed entities are Lehava, a radical right-wing Jewish supremacist group, and Hilltop Youth, a radical youth group consisting of members known for violent acts against Palestinians and their villages in the occupied West Bank,” it added.

1159 GMT — West shifting attention from Gaza with allegations on Iran

The West is trying to distract attention from the situation in Gaza with allegations about Iran's nuclear ambitions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.

"The desire and goal, it seems to me, is to switch the world community's attention from what is happening in Gaza, where a humanitarian disaster is unfolding and many special rapporteurs of the UN Human Rights Council are already talking about genocide," he said in an interview with three Russian radio stations.

Lavrov emphasised that despite the International Atomic Energy Agency's confirmation that Iran possesses no nuclear weapons, the West persists in accusing Iran of their use.

1031 GMT — G7 slams 'unacceptable number of civilians' killed in Gaza

The Group of Seven industrialised nations slammed the "unacceptable number of civilians" killed in Gaza during Israel's military offensive.

"We deplore all losses of civilian lives and note with great concern the unacceptable number of civilians, including thousands of women, children and persons in vulnerable situations who have been killed in Gaza," G7 foreign ministers said in a statement.

1002 GMT — UNICEF reiterates call for ceasefire as number of children killed in Gaza surpasses 14,000

The number of children who have been killed in Gaza has surpassed the grim mark of 14,000 since Oct. 7, 2023, the UNICEF said, reiterating its call for a ceasefire.

"Reports are now that more than 14,000 girls and boys have been killed in Gaza," spokesperson James Elder said on X.

"Perhaps we should say that slowly. Fourteen thousand," he said, adding: "Perhaps we should do something. And surely that 'something' is not a military offensive in Rafah."

He urged: "Ceasefire. Now."

0630 GMT — ‘Every American veto’ on Gaza costs thousands of lives: Russia

Russia has said that each US veto on Gaza in the UN Security Council costs thousands of lives in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

“Every American veto on Gaza is not just a voting statistic in the UN Security Council. We must not forget that it also had a specific terrible price -- the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza,” Russia's Permanent Representative to the UN Vasily Nebenzya said in a Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.

The current situation in the Middle East is escalating every day and drawing in new countries in the region, Nebenzya said, adding that humanitarian resolutions by the UN on Gaza cannot be implemented without a ceasefire.

"The Israeli military is attacking humanitarian convoys, blocking their access, and slowing down the passage of cargo. Western countries harshly criticise them for this only if Western citizens die as a result," he expressed.

Nebenzya argued that the international community has been unable to protect the Palestinians from "Israeli slaughter" while also failing to alleviate their "humanitarian suffering" due to the position of "one state blocking all our efforts."

"American colleagues did not hide the fact that they perceive the UN Security Council as a hindrance that should not 'get in the way' of their 'effective diplomacy on the ground,' but in fact to give its main Middle Eastern ally complete freedom of hands to 'clean up' the enclave," he further said.

"It took Washington six months to finally realise that it had lost almost all leverage over Israel and found itself in a situation where “the tail wags the dog” -- where Tel Aviv essentially dictates its terms, demanding unconditional support from the Americans for any of its reckless actions," he added.

0024 GMT — Hamas condemns US veto of Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership

Palestinian resistance group Hamas has condemned the US veto that ended a long-shot Palestinian bid for full United Nations membership.

"Hamas condemns the American veto at the Security Council of the draft resolution granting Palestine full membership in the United Nations," Hamas said in a statement, which comes amid growing international concern over the toll inflicted by Israel's carnage in the besieged Gaza.

The veto by Israel's main ally and military backer had been expected ahead of the vote, which took place more than six months into Israel's war on Gaza.

Twelve countries voted in favour of the draft resolution, which was introduced by Algeria and "recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine be admitted to membership of the United Nations".

Britain and Switzerland abstained.

0010 GMT — Pentagon chief discusses Iran, Gaza with Israel

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has spoken with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant to discuss Iran's actions in the Middle East, other regional threats and aid in besieged Gaza, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Austin discussed "the importance of increasing and sustaining" the flow of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza, including via a new route from Ashdod Port in Israel, the Pentagon said.

2300 GMT — S&P cuts Israel's long-term ratings to A+ from AA-

Ratings agency S&P Global has cut Israel's long-term ratings to A-plus from AA-minus after the confrontation with Iran heightened last weekend and amidst the already elevated geopolitical risks for Israel.

"We forecast that Israel's general government deficit will widen to 8 percent of GDP in 2024, mostly as a result of increased defence spending," S&P Global said in its statement.

2236 GMT — US Congresswoman Tlaib denounces proposed $26B aid package for Israel

US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib has strongly criticised a planned House bill that proposes a new aid package worth $26 billion for Israel.

"This week, my colleagues want to vote and send more money to genocidal (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, who absolutely wants no conditions on upholding human rights," Tlaib said during a press briefing outside the Congress building.

"Our country is not just complicit in this genocide — we're actively participating in it," she said.

Tlaib accused Netanyahu of escalating the risk of a regional war by violating international law and bombing Iran's diplomatic compound in Syria.

"This is why we must achieve an immediate permanent cease-fire that includes an end to the genocide and the release of all hostages and those arbitrarily detained by the Israeli government and to end the very risk of escalation into an even larger war," she added.

2200 GMT — US veto 'unfair, unethical and unjustified': Palestine

The Palestinian presidency has condemned the US veto of a Security Council draft resolution that recommended a full United Nations membership of a Palestinian state.

The presidency said in a statement the US veto was "unfair, unethical and unjustified."

The Palestinian Authority called it an "aggression" that pushes the Middle East towards an "abyss".

The US policy "represents a blatant aggression against international law and an encouragement to the pursuit of the genocidal war against our people... which pushes the region ever further to the edge of the abyss," Palestine's leader Mahmud Abbas's office said in a statement.

2000 GMT — Many killed and wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza camps

At least six Palestinians have been killed and many others wounded in new Israeli air strikes on camps housing displaced Palestinians in Gaza City.

An Israeli warplane targeted a house sheltering displaced people in the Al Shati Camp, killing four civilians and wounding others, Palestine's official news agency WAFA reported.

Another Israeli air strike targeted a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood north of Gaza City, resulting in injuries among civilians, the agency added.

The broadcaster also reported that an ambulance and rescue crews managed to retrieve two bodies from rubble after an Israeli fighter jet targeted a house in the New Nuseirat Camp in central Gaza.

For our live updates from Thursday, April 18, click here.