At least 36 Syrian soldiers killed in Israeli strikes on Aleppo

At least 36 Syrian soldiers were killed in an Israeli air strike on north-western Aleppo province on Friday, AFP reported, quoting the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Security sources said the strikes also killed five Hezbollah fighters, Reuters reported.

The Israeli attack struck an area “near rockets depots belonging to Lebanese group Hezbollah”, the observatory said. Dozens were injured.

The pre-dawn strike killed and wounded civilians as well as military personnel, state news agency Sana said.

A Syrian military source told the agency that “at approximately 1.45 am, the Israeli enemy launched an air attack from the direction of Athriya, south-east of Aleppo” and that civilians and military personnel were killed.

Nada Homsi reports:

Rights groups are investigating Israel’s repeated killing of medical staff in Lebanon as a potential war crime, after 10 paramedics were killed by several Israeli air strikes on Wednesday.

The 10 paramedics were among 16 civilians killed in three separate air raids that day, marking the highest civilian death toll for one day since the cross-border conflict between Hezbollah and Israel erupted nearly six months ago.

Seven of the 10 paramedics were killed in Habariyeh when the Israeli army struck a centre belonging to the Lebanese Ambulance Association. Israel said the strike targeted “a significant terrorist operative” of the Hezbollah-allied Islamic Group, along with “additional terrorists who were with him”.

But the Lebanese Ambulance Association said no fighters were present during the strike.

“The seven people who died were young men. University students. They were paramedic volunteers,” said Mohyadine Qarhani, director of the emergency and relief service of the Lebanese Ambulance Association.

Read more

Japan is set to resume funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which co-ordinates most of the aid to Gaza.

Japan, once the sixth largest donors to UNRWA, was among more than a dozen countries that paused funding after Israel claimed a small number of the agency’s 13,000 Gaza employees were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa met UNRWA commissioner general Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo on Thursday to discuss measures taken by the agency to improve governance and transparency.

“Japan and the UNRWA confirmed that they will advance final co-ordination about necessary efforts to resume Japan’s contribution,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Japan is expected resume funding in the first half of April.

-AFP

Ramola Talwar Badam writes:

In the northern Gaza Strip, about 800 Christians sheltering in two churches pray for an end to the war.

Their prayers for Easter are filled with sorrow and grief for lives lost, but remain tinged with hope for peace.

Christians sought refuge in the Holy Family Church, the only Roman Catholic parish in Gaza, and the historic Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius, after war engulfed the enclave following the October 7 attacks.

Grieving for lost friends and relatives, they choose to stay within each compound, despite the churches being just a five-minute walk apart, for fear of Israeli bombings.

Read more

US and Israeli military officials have discussed “broad concepts” about how to limit harm to civilians during a planned operation in Rafah, southern Gaza, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

A planned visit to Washington by Israeli officials will help the Americans “to understand their concept” of the military operation and offer “alternative opportunities” to minimise civilian deaths, Gen Charles Brown said.

The US has warned Israel not to launch an operation on Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering from the war.

Asked whether Israel briefed US officials on its plan, Gen Brown said “we got a little more detail on some of the broad concepts of humanitarian and moving civilians than we got on the operational piece”.

“I’m anxious to hear both of those and how it all comes together,” he added. “Additional detail will tell us about the feasibility of the plan.”

Gen Brown said Israeli officials “have listened” to US concerns about the planned attack.

–Bloomberg

The US military said on Thursday that it had destroyed four drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.

US Central Command said on X that the drones “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships in the region”.

The drones were aimed at a coalition vessel and a US warship, Centcom said.

It said they were shot down “in self-defence over the Red Sea”, and there were no injuries or damage reported to the US or coalition ships.

– Reuters

The top US general said on Thursday that Israel had not received every weapon that it has asked for, in part because President Joe Biden’s administration was not willing to provide some of them.

Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to Israel, its long-time ally, and the US has been rushing air defences and munitions to the country since the October 7 Hamas attacks.

But some Democrats and Arab-American groups have criticised the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity.

“Although we’ve been supporting them with capability, they’ve not received everything they’ve asked for,” said Gen Charles Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“Some of that is because they’ve asked for stuff that we either don’t have the capacity to provide or not willing to provide, not right now.”

Read more

The Syrian army says an Israeli air strike on Thursday on a suburb of the capital Damascus wounded two civilians and caused damage.

Syrian state media quoted an unidentified military official as saying that the strike hit a residential building, without saying in which suburb the attack occurred.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said the strike hit the southern suburb of Sayida Zeinab, where Iran-backed fighters have a presence.

It had no word on casualties.

There was no immediate statement from Israeli officials on the strikes. Israel often launches strikes on Iran-linked targets in Syria but rarely acknowledges them.

The strikes have increased over the past five months during the war in Gaza and clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces on the Lebanese border.

– AP

Israel’s Supreme Court has ruled that the government can no longer fund religious seminaries for ultra-Orthodox men of enlistment age.

In its decision, the court said that funding for religious students between the ages of 18 and 26 will be cut off on April 1.

Under longstanding agreements, Israel has granted ultra-Orthodox men exemptions from military service that is otherwise compulsory for most Jewish men.

The exemptions, along with stipends for the religious students, have generated widespread anger, especially with the country at war against Hamas militants in Gaza.

The ultra-Orthodox say that integrating into the army will threaten their generations-old way of life and that their dedication to upholding the Jewish commandments protects Israel as much as a strong army.

The ruling will affect about a third of the 180,000 yeshiva students who receive subsidies from the government for full-time learning, according to Israel’s Channel 12.

The Supreme Court also has ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to present a new proposal to increase ultra-Orthodox enlistment by the end of March.

Mr Netanyahu, whose coalition relies heavily on the support of ultra-Orthodox parties, on Thursday asked the court for a 30-day extension.

Benny Gantz, Mr Netanyahu’s top political rival and a centrist member of the war cabinet, praised the court’s decision, saying it recognised “the need for everyone in our society to take part in the right to serve the country”.

– AP

Jessica Morgan reports from Abu Dhabi:

The UAE and Egypt have dropped more aid to northern Gaza in a joint operation to support Palestinian citizens.

Aircraft dropped 79 tonnes of food and relief over isolated and inaccessible areas in the Gaza Strip.

It brings the total amount of aid provided to 743 tonnes since the operation began in February, Wam reported.

Footage released showed aircraft parachuting aid parcels in northern Gaza to reach those struggling in that part of the enclave.

Read more

Mina Aldroubi reports:Hospitals across Gaza have become battlegrounds and must be protected by the rules of war, an aid official told The National as the enclave’s Al Shifa Hospital remained under Israeli siege.

Last week, the Israeli military began a raid on Al Shifa. Tanks shelled the medical complex, setting fire to buildings, the Gaza media office said.

Homes in the surrounding area were bombed.

The Israeli army said on Thursday that Hamas fighters were firing on troops “from within and outside” the hospital’s emergency ward.

Other hospitals in Gaza, including Al Amal and Nasser, have also been attacked.

“This is deeply troubling,” Jessica Moussan, media adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told The National.

“Hospitals should be safe for people who need medical help, for those who work there and for those sheltering in them.”

Read more

Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister has appealed to Israel “to show humanity” and allow more aid into Gaza amid a “catastrophic” humanitarian situation.

Micheal Martin, who is also Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, was speaking in Dublin alongside the EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Janez Lenarcic.

“Fundamentally, it’s about trucks getting in over the borders and the land crossings,” Mr Martin said.

“It is criminal, it is absolutely a scandal that children are malnourished, that half the population are facing famine, and others in terms of insecurity. There is no need for this.”

US President Joe Biden’s administration is holding “conversations” about a peacekeeping force to secure Gaza after the war, Politico reported on Thursday.

Defence Department officials and other US authorities told Politico that there were talks about the Pentagon funding a multinational force or a Palestinian peacekeeping group.

The officials stressed that US troops would not be involved.

The UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide warned on Thursday of a rise in anti-Semitism and Islamophobic demonstrations.

“In the current context, we continue seeing hateful and inciteful language becoming normalised in the public space, including in demonstrations, by public figures and anonymous citizens alike, in the region and globally,” Alice Wairimu Nderitu said in a statement.

Ms Nderitu called for the Israel-Gaza war to end and “those responsible for hindering humanitarian access and for hate speech, dehumanising and inciteful language” to be held to account.

The UN court on Thursday ordered Israel to take measures including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and medical supplies to the Palestinian population in Gaza without delay.

In its legally binding order, the International Court of Justice told Israel to take “all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full co-operation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.

It also ordered Israel to immediately ensure “that its military does not commit acts which constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance.”

“The catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities,” the court said.

France will provide more than €30 million ($32.41 million) to the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA this year to support its operations in the devastating war in Gaza, said the French Foreign Ministry.

“We will make our contributions while ensuring that the conditions are met for UNRWA to fulfil its missions in a spirit devoid of incitement to hatred and violence”, the Foreign Ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine told journalists.

He did not say when the next payment to the agency would be made.

According to the usual quarterly schedule, the next tranche is due in April.

-Reuters

The Kuwaiti ambassador to Jordan, Hamad Al Marri, handed more than $2 million as a contribution to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the Kuna news agency reported

The UNRWA said on Tuesday it had enough funds to run its operations until the end of May after many donors paused their funding over Israeli accusations that some staff took part in Hamas’ October 7 attack, which started war in Gaza.

The UNRWA provides aid and essential services to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and across the wider region.

Jihan Abdalla reports from Washington:

The White House has said it is of “utmost importance” to restore calm along the Israel-Lebanon frontier after new border crossfire and Israeli strikes killed 16 people in southern Lebanon.

“We’re watching closely the hostilities along that blue line,” the US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Thursday.

“Restoring calm along that border remains a top priority for President Biden’s administration and it has to be of the utmost importance, we believe … for both Lebanon and Israel.”

Mr Kirby said that since October 7, the administration of President Joe Biden has been concerned about the Israel-Gaza war expanding into a wider regional conflict.

Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah have been trading fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in Gaza.

Adla Massoud reports from the UN:

Palestine’s UN envoy urged the Security Council to ensure the implementation of the resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire it adopted on Monday.

“The Security Council cannot remain silent in the face of such utter contempt by Israel,” Riyad Mansour said in a letter to the Security Council, seen by The National.

“The council must use all tools available to it and mandated by the Charter of the United Nations to implement its resolutions and maintain international peace and security.

“Israel’s mass atrocities against the Palestinian people, which are impossible to fully catalogue or comprehend, must be stopped.

“There is not a rule or principle of international law, including humanitarian and human rights law, that it has not deliberately and repeatedly breached, no indignity it has not inflicted on our people.”

Citing the report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Mr Mansour highlighted the extensive and “destructive” nature of Israel’s actions in Gaza, revealing an “intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group”.

“Israel has not only carried on with its bombardment of Gaza, it has deliberately escalated attacks in recent days, sending a blatant message of disrespect to the Security Council and an ominous, punitive message to the Palestinian people and their leadership for daring to appeal to the world for a ceasefire and protection.”