Israel strikes Gaza's Kuwaiti Field Hospital, kills a medic, wounds several

The Israeli military said it had shot down a drone attempting to smuggle weapons from Egyptian territory into Israel on Tuesday.

"Security forces who arrived at the scene located the drone, four weapons and ammunition," the military said in a statement.

The Israeli military has previously said it thwarted similar attempts to smuggle weapons using drones.

In February, the military shot down a drone crossing from Egypt into Israeli territory.

The military has also conducted numerous air strikes in Gaza on people attempting to retrieve drones that had crossed into the Palestinian territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited northern Gaza on Tuesday, accompanied by the country's defense minister, head of the military and other senior officials, his office said.

A statement released by the prime minister's office said Netanyahu received a security briefing in northern Gaza on the military's effort to free Israeli hostages and to defeat Hamas.

"We insist that our hostages be released and we insist on achieving all of our objectives for the war, and are doing so thanks to our heroic fighters," Netanyahu's office cited the prime minister as saying during a meeting with soldiers.

The statement did not specify where in northern Gaza Netanyahu visited or mention Hamas' claim on Tuesday that it had lost contact with those guarding Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander after the military purportedly bombed their location.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel would press on with its military offensive against Hamas to secure the release of hostages, as he praised troops during a visit to northern Gaza.

"They are striking the enemy and Hamas will continue to suffer blow after blow. We insist that they release our hostages, and we insist on achieving all of our war objectives," Netanyahu told troops in Gaza, according to a statement from his office.

Hundreds of Israeli colonists stormed Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday under protection from the Israeli police for the third day during the Passover holiday.

The settlers performed rituals and carried out "provocative" tours, as well as wearing prayer attire, while others danced and sang.

At the same time, the police restricted worshippers from entering the mosque, checking their IDs and detaining civilians - Wafa reports.

The presidents of Syria and Lebanon arrived in Qatar on separate visits Tuesday, the first official trips by both leaders to the wealthy Gulf state since taking office.

Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa met with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani in Doha, the Qatari leader's office said in a statement.

Qatar has been a key backer of the new administration in Damascus after longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December.

The talks between the Qatari and Syrian leaders "covered the most prominent regional and international developments, and an exchange of views on ways to enhance security and stability", Shiekh Tamim's office said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a rare visit to Gaza on Tuesday, his office announced, as the military pressed on with its air and ground assault against the Palestinian territory.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the northern Gaza Strip today," a statement from his office said.

The military resumed its offensive on Gaza on 18 March, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas that had largely halted the fighting in the war-battered territory.

Hamas's armed wing said Tuesday it had "lost contact" with the group holding Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander following an air strike on their location in Gaza.

"We announce that we have lost contact with the group holding soldier Edan Alexander following a direct strike on their location. We are still trying to reach them at this moment," Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said on his Telegram channel.

The Brigades released a video on Saturday showing Alexander alive, in which he criticised the Israeli government for failing to secure his release.

Israeli drone strikes killed two civilians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after targeting a home near Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. Six others were also injured.

A civilian was killed, and several others were injured after an Israeli strike targeted the Shujaiya neighbourhood east of Gaza City.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that the establishment of a Palestinian state would be a "huge reward for terrorism".

A statement released by Netanyahu's office said the two leaders spoke by phone and the Israeli prime minister expressed to the French president his "strong opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state, stating that it would be a huge reward for terrorism".

"The prime minister told the French president that a Palestinian state established just minutes away from Israeli cities would become a stronghold of Iranian terrorism, and that a vast majority of the Israeli public firmly opposes this, and this has been his consistent and long-standing policy."

Israel's military said it killed a Hezbollah "commander" in an air strike near the south Lebanon village of Aitaroun on Tuesday despite a November ceasefire with the Lebanese armed group.

"Earlier today, the IDF struck and eliminated a platoon commander in Hezbollah's Special Operations Array, in the area of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon", it said in a statement.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party accused the head of the domestic intelligence organization on Tuesday of turning parts of the service into "a private militia of the Deep State" and called for him to go, amid a deepening political crisis around the agency.

The accusation against Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, who is resisting an order for his dismissal, followed the arrest of a Shin Bet official on suspicion of leaking confidential information to journalists and a government minister.

A government bid to sack Bar, during an investigation by the agency into aides close to Netanyahu, has been temporarily frozen by the Supreme Court, which held a hearing into petitions against the dismissal last week.

Likud said Bar had lost the trust of the government and "must stop entrenching himself in his position and vacate his position immediately".

(Reuters)

Israeli forces have killed dozens of civilians in Lebanon since a ceasefire took effect late last year, including a number of women and children, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The UN rights office reported that Israeli military operations had killed and injured civilians in Lebanon in the four months since the fragile truce between Israel and Hezbollah on 27 November.

"According to our initial review, at least 71 civilians have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect," rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva.

"Among the victims are 14 women and 9 children," he said, urging that "the violence must stop immediately".

A senior Hamas official told AFP on Tuesday that the Palestinian movement will "most likely" respond to an Israeli ceasefire proposal it received through mediators within 48 hours.

"Hamas will most likely send its response to the mediators within the next 48 hours, as the movement is still conducting in-depth consultations... within its leadership framework, as well as with resistance factions, in order to formulate a unified position", the official told AFP.

An Israeli airstrike hits a location along the beach to the west of Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. pic.twitter.com/PR8P75B8KY

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) April 15, 2025

The United States is set to send a large shipment of air munitions to Israel of over 3,000 bombs and missiles as Israel intensifies its assault on Gaza and prepares for potential military action against Iran.

The munitions package is intended to support the Israeli Air Force for a large-scale offensive currently being planned against the enclave.

According to Israeli media, the shipment is part of broader US military support aimed at "resolving" the war in Gaza and preparing for possible eastern expansion.

Read the full story here. 

Israeli forces have wounded a Palestinian man after firing gunfire during a ground incursion into the eastern part of Nablus. 

According to local media agency Wafa, Israeli forces in military vehicles stormed the residential area of al-Masaken al-Sha‘biyya firing live bullets and tear gas canisters. 

A young man was wounded as a result and transferred to hospital for treatment. 

Gaza's Health Ministry has also condemned Israel's latest air attack on the Kuwaiti field Hospital in the al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis which has killed at least one medic. 

In a Telegram statement, the ministry said: "The targeting confirms the occupation's deliberate intent to inflict greater damage to the health care system and threaten the treatment of the wounded and sick, even in hospital beds.

"The occupation's crimes medical facilities will not cease as long as there is no firm stance from international and humanitarian institutions. The Ministry of Health reiterates its appeal to all international and concerned parties to protect hospitals and medical personnel." 

Israeli forces have kicked out Muslim worshippers and closed the Ibrahimi Mosque for the Jewish Passover holiday. 

Hebron Endowments director Jamal Abu Aram said that soldiers barred Palestinians from entering the mosque by blocking corridors and all its courtyards since last night and will remain closed until Wednesday evening. 

They also prevented citizens from entering the Old City due to the Passover holiday.

The Palestinian Mujahideen Movement has denounced Israel's airstrike on the northern gate of the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in southern Gaza. 

In a statement, the group said: "We strongly condemn the cowardly Zionist crime that targeted the back gate of the Kuwaiti Hospital, which resulted in the martyrdom of one of its medical personnel.

"We denounce the incompetence and silence of international institutions and the international community’s complicity with the Zionist entity, which has encouraged it to continue targeting hospitals and medical personnel and perpetrate crimes of genocide.

"We emphasise the important role played by medical personnel, despite the limited resources, in operating hospitals and treating the wounded during the genocidal war against the Gaza Strip."

French President Emmanuel Macron said that in a phone call with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he had reaffirmed the need for a Gaza ceasefire and for the demilitarisation of Hamas.

He also said the opening of all humanitarian aid crossings was a vital necessity for the civilian populations of Gaza. "The ordeal of the civilian population of Gaza must come to an end," he said.

(Reuters) 

The Maldives announced Tuesday it was banning the entry of Israelis from the luxury tourist archipelago in "resolute solidarity" with the Palestinian people.

President Mohamed Muizzu ratified the legislation shortly after it was approved by parliament on Tuesday.

"The ratification reflects the government's firm stance in response to the continuing atrocities and ongoing acts of genocide committed by Israel against the Palestinian people," his office said in a statement.

"The Maldives reaffirms its resolute solidarity with the Palestinian cause."

The ban will be implemented with immediate effect, a spokesman for Muizzu's office told AFP.

The Israeli enemy's drone strike on a car in the town of Aitaroun resulted in the death of one person and the injury of three others, including a child, the health ministry has said.

The United Nations human rights office is concerned about the protection of civilians in Lebanon as Israeli military operations have continued to kill civilians since the ceasefire.

"Israeli military operations in Lebanon continue to kill and injure civilians, and destroy civilian infrastructure, raising concerns regarding the protection of civilians," the spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Thameen Al-Kheetan, told reporters in Geneva on Tuesday.

At least 71 civilians - including 14 women and nine children - have been killed by Israeli forces in Lebanon since the ceasefire came into effect on 27 November last year, and 92,000 are still displaced, according to OHCHR.

"We are calling for investigations into all allegations of violations...Each and every military action where civilians are killed must be investigated," Al-Kheetan said.

"The ceasefire must hold and any escalation is a risk for stability in general in Lebanon, Israel and the whole region," he added.

(Reuters)

A French military aircraft touched down at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on Sunday, carrying engineering equipment for explosive ordnance disposal, according to local media reports on Tuesday.

The shipment, donated by the French government, was handed over to the Lebanese Army in a ceremony attended by officers from both the Lebanese and French armed forces, according to a statement from the Lebanese army.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply alarmed" at Sunday's strike by Israeli forces on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"Under international humanitarian law, wounded and sick, medical personnel and medical facilities, including hospitals, must be respected and protected," the UN chief's spokesperson said.

He said the attack dealt "a severe blow to an already devastated healthcare system in the Strip", adding there was strong concern that medical supplies are running low as well as food and water.

(Reuters)

Israeli forces shot and then detained a young Palestinian man in Nablus as they raided several homes in the town.

Wafa reported the army surrounded a house and detained the youth. An 86 year-old-man was also assaulted.

An Israeli airstrike killed five civilians after targeting tents sheltering displaced people in the Gaza Strip.

Three civilians were killed after a strike targeted a tent in Khan Younis, while two were killed after a tent was bombed in Beir Lahia.

An Israeli airstrike hit the northern gate of a field hospital in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, wounding a number of medics, a spokesman for the hospital said.

The strike hit the Kuwaiti Field Hospital in the Muwasi area, where hundreds of thousands of people have sought shelter in sprawling tent camps. Saber Mohammed, a spokesman for the hospital, confirmed the injuries but did not immediately have further details.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

US immigration authorities on Monday arrested another Columbia University student who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests, detaining him as he attended an interview to become an American citizen.

Mohsen Mahdawi's lawyers, in a court filing seeking his release and halt to any imminent deportation, also claimed President Donald Trump's mounting crackdown on immigrant student protesters violates the US Constitution -- the latest judicial challenge to the Republican administration.

"Mohsen Mahdawi of White River Junction, Vermont, walked into an immigration office for what was supposed to be the final step in his citizenship process. Instead, he was arrested and removed in handcuffs by plain-clothed, armed, individuals with their faces covered," Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement signed by other Vermont lawmakers.

A video apparently made by Mahdawi's friends circulating online showed masked agents loading an individual into a black SUV.

EXCLUSIVE FOOTAGE: Columbia student and Palestinian Mohsen Madawi was just arrested during a visit to the immigration office here in Colchester, VT. More to follow. Footage by: Christopher Helali pic.twitter.com/I9JvPS2DLn

— Christopher Helali (@ChrisHelali) April 14, 2025