Hunger increasingly threatens the Gaza Strip. This is the observation of the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, who called on Wednesday April 17 to preserve his organization. Attacked by Israel over links, proven or not, between its employees and the terrorist attack of October 7, 2023, UNRWA has suffered funding shortfalls since the start of the year. “Dismantling UNRWA will have lasting repercussions”warned his boss, arguing that in the short term, “This will worsen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” This would have disastrous consequences on the fight against famine, the risk of which “intensifies” he said, quoted by Reuters. Follow our live stream.
Hezbollah strikes injured 14 people in Israel. The Lebanese Islamist organization targeted a military command post in northern Israel on Wednesday, which left 14 soldiers injured, “in response” following the death of three of its fighters the day before in Israeli strikes. An Israeli army spokesman, Avichay Adraee, said its air force had “hit deep in Lebanon” and aimed “a terrorist infrastructure used by the Hezbollah air defense force north of Baalbeck”. Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas on October 7, Hezbollah has carried out daily attacks against Israel to support the Palestinian Islamist movement, its ally.
Israel is holding back its response to Iran. The Hebrew State “reserves the right to protect itself” against Iran, supports its Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government would have considered rapid retaliatory strikes against Tehran after the weekend attack. Israeli authorities repeat that the Iranian attack, with more than 350 drones and missiles launched towards Israel, almost all of which were intercepted in flight, will not go “unpunished”. In this matter, the United States, Israel’s historic ally, has made it known that it would not support any military response.
Negotiations over Gaza at an impasse. Talks aimed at ending hostilities in the Gaza Strip and freeing Israeli hostages “trample”noted on Wednesday the Prime Minister of Qatar, one of the main mediators between the Jewish state and Hamas. “We are going through a sensitive phase”, recognized Mohammed ben Abdelrahmane al-Thani, during a press conference. On Wednesday evening, Qatar finally declared “carry out a global reassessment” of his role as a leading mediator in the negotiations for a break in the fighting.