11:37
Two Palestinians shot dead by Israeli army in Jenin
The Israeli army has shot dead two Palestinians near a military base in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank. According to the army, the two Palestinians were believed to be in a vehicle that drove towards the base and from which the fire was opened. The Palestinian news agency Wafa said the army opened fire.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has increased sharply since the start of the Gaza war. The Israeli army regularly carries out raids on Palestinian towns and refugee camps, including Jenin. The operations are part of the fight against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. According to UN aid organization Ocha, 469 Palestinians have now been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers.
Last night, according to Wafa, the army once again carried out raids on various locations. This includes the cities of Tulkram and Hebron. In Hebon, parts of which are under strict Israeli military rule, a strict lockdown has been in place for Palestinian residents since the start of the war.
Thom Canters
Read here the Silver Camera-winning report by photographer Sakir Khader about the lives of Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank.
04:15
Hamas considers Israeli ceasefire proposal
Hamas has received and will study the latest Israeli counter-proposal regarding a possible ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages. The militant group announced this on Saturday.
“Today the Hamas movement received the official response from the Zionist occupying forces to our proposal that was presented to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators on April 13,” a Hamas spokesman said in a short statement. “The movement will study this proposal and then submit its response.”
On April 13, Hamas requested a permanent ceasefire, which Israel is unwilling to accept. A delegation from mediator Egypt arrived in Israel on Friday in an attempt to revive the stalled negotiations.
Israeli officials reportedly told those Egyptian colleagues that they are willing to give negotiations with Hamas on the exchange of hostages and prisoners “one last chance.” If negotiations still fail, the Israelis will continue their invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
During a previous week-long lull in fighting in November, 80 Israeli hostages were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners. (AP)
00:17
NBC News: Israel bombs ‘safe’ places in Gaza
Israel regularly carries out deadly bombings in areas of the Gaza Strip that it has designated as safe. The American news channel NBC News established this after its own investigation.
NBC News reports that at least seven deadly airstrikes took place between January and April in areas of southern Gaza that the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) had declared safe. The IDF did this, among other things, by distributing handbills in a neighborhood in the southern city of Rafah on December 18. According to relatives, fifteen family members were killed in an airstrike on January 9. NBC was on site shortly after the air raid.
About a month later, on February 12, an attack hit the Shaboura refugee camp, which was also identified as a safe zone on an IDF leaflet. An NBC News crew filmed dozens of dead bodies, including some women and children, in the aftermath of the Rafah bombing.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told a news conference last November that Al-Mawasi, a small coastal strip in Khan Younis, would not be attacked. From January, the IDF advised civilians to evacuate there eleven times. Still, several airstrikes took place, NBC says. On January 4, fourteen people, including three children, were killed when their tent was hit.
Israel released an interactive map last December that divides the Gaza Strip into zones that are safe for civilians and others where there is fighting with Hamas. International aid organizations and residents of Gaza call the map confusing and difficult to read. Regular disruptions to the internet connection make it difficult for citizens to consult it. The Israeli government and armed forces say they are doing everything possible to limit civilian deaths. (AP)
00:02
China brings Hamas and Fatah together for Palestinian unity talks
The Chinese government brings Hamas and Fatah to the table for discussions on ‘Palestinian unity’. Spokespeople for the two Palestinian groups confirm that their delegates are on their way to the Chinese capital Beijing.
It is the first time since the start of the war in Gaza that a delegation from Hamas, the militant group in charge of Gaza, has been a guest in Beijing. Chinese diplomats previously had talks with Hamas in Qatar.
On October 7, Hamas carried out a massacre in Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostage. In the Israeli retaliation that followed, which has already cost 34,000 Palestinian lives, China has emphatically sided with the Palestinians. Beijing also maintains warm ties with the Iranian government, which sides with Hamas. The carefully cultivated relationship between China and Israel matters less to Beijing at the moment.
Hamas has been at loggerheads with its secular rival Fatah, the movement of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, since 2017. China would prefer to see Fatah and Hamas put aside their mutual conflict. That would be very much against the wishes of the Americans, who consider Hamas a terrorist organization and prefer the Palestinian Authority. In this way, China not only hinders the United States, with which Beijing is involved in a geopolitical competition, but it can also more easily mobilize international support for the Palestinian cause after a possible Palestinian reconciliation.
Earlier in the conflict, China established itself as a peace mediator between Israel and the Palestinians. Beijing is also leading a diplomatic initiative to achieve Palestinian membership of the United Nations. The Chinese pro-Palestinian position is not new, because Beijing has been campaigning for an independent Palestinian state for more than sixty years.
Marije Vlaskamp
Read more about China’s role in the Middle East and in the conflict between Israel and Hamas here
11:30 PM, Yesterday
Welcome to the live blog of Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 April
This was the most important news of Friday April 26:
• Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says he will not recognize rulings by the International Criminal Court. The ICC is reportedly preparing arrest warrants for Israeli politicians and soldiers. Israel is not a member of the ICC.
• Student protests in the US spread to more than forty schools. Police have arrested hundreds of students who did not listen to orders to break up encampments.
• The Netherlands will not provide any new money to UNRWA, the UN refugee organization for Palestinians, for the time being. UNRWA must first follow recommendations to guarantee the neutrality of the organization, the government writes.
Read the full live blog from Friday April 26 here.
