Qatar is sending $480 million in humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza following the worst bout of violence between Israel and Gaza in years this past weekend. Qatar has long been a donor to Palestinians (Al Jazeera)
Israel, Gaza See Worst Violence Since 2014
This weekend, Israel carried out air strikes on the Gaza Strip after militants shot six hundred rockets into southern Israel, in what was the worst bout of violence since the 2014 conflict between Israel and Hamas (NPR)
Following the intense fighting that wounded hundreds and killed at least twenty-five Palestinians and four Israelis, Hamas and Islamic Jihad said a cease-fire was in place with Israel’s military (Washington Post)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not confirm the cease-fire (Haaretz)
Israeli Air Force Targets Gaza in Response to Incendiary Balloon Attacks
In response to hundreds of incendiary balloons launched by Hamas at Israel, the Israeli Air Force carried out a series of overnight strikes targeting the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli military, two rockets were launched at Israel in retaliation (Jerusalem Post)
Palestinians Refuse To Accept Tax Revenues Collected by Israel
Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas said his government will continue to refuse tax revenues collected by Israel through custom duties on products destined for Palestinian markets. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has refused to accept the earnings since February, when Israel announced that it would deduct about $10 million each month, equal to the amount it says the PA paid to the families of Palestinians jailed in Israel (Agence France-Presse)
Israeli Court Orders HRW Director Deported
A Jerusalem district court gave Omar Shakir, Human Rights Watch’s director for Israel and Palestine, until May 1 to leave the country for allegedly voicing support for a boycott movement, pending an appeal to the Supreme Court (Jerusalem Post)
The group has called for businesses to stop facilitating abuses in the occupied West Bank (Human Rights Watch)
Prominent Palestinian Activist Denied U.S. Entry
Omar Barghouti, a co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement that seeks to apply economic pressure on Israel over its treatment of Palestinians, said he was prevented from boarding a U.S.-bound flight from Israel (New York Times)
March of Return Protests Along Gaza Border Turn Violent
According to Israeli officials, Hamas exercised restraint at the Gaza border during this weekend’s protests marking the one-year anniversary of the March of Return demonstrations. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its military personnel opened fire on Palestinians who hurled explosive devices and hand grenades towards the border fence, while Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that three protestors were killed, along over three hundred casualties, including sixty people wounded by live Israeli fire (Haaretz)
Trump Recognizes Israeli Sovereignty Over the Golan Heights
U.S. President Donald J. Trump will reportedly sign a decree today officially recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the contested Golan Heights (Reuters)
Separately, in response to a rocket allegedly fired from Gaza into Tel Aviv that wounded seven, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cut short his visit to Washington and said that Israel “will respond forcefully” to the attack (Al Jazeera)
Hamas Attacks Gazan Protestors
Hamas forcibly suppressed unarmed demonstrators who rallied against Gaza’s declining living conditions and increasing oil prices (Guardian)
Separately, Israeli military police announced an investigation into the deaths of eleven Palestinians killed by live fire during protests in Gaza last year near the Israeli border (Haaretz)
Rights Groups Accuse Hamas of Crushing Gaza Protests
Hamas security forces are violently cracking down on protests that began Thursday over dire economic conditions in Gaza, according to human rights groups in the area. A Hamas spokesperson blamed the unrest on the Palestinian Authority (Al Jazeera)
Israel Strikes One Hundred Suspected Hamas Sites
The Israeli military carried out the air strikes overnight after two rockets reportedly flew toward Tel Aviv. It said it believed Hamas was behind the launches and reported no damage (Washington Post)
The Gaza Health Ministry reported four people injured in the Israeli strikes. Organizers of Friday protests along the border called off this week’s demonstration to prevent further escalation (Haaretz)
Israeli Forces Kill One, Injure Forty-Two During Gaza Protests
Israeli troops killed one Palestinian and injured forty-two during protests at the Gaza Strip border (Reuters)
U.S. Embassy and Consulate Merge in Jerusalem
The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which primarily served the capital’s Palestinians, officially merged with the U.S. Embassy in Israel. U.S. Department of State Spokesman Robert Palladino reported this decision was carried out to enhance diplomatic engagements and does not signal a change in U.S. foreign policy towards Jerusalem (Time)
UN: Gaza Protester Deaths May Amount to War Crimes
A United Nations commission reported that Israel may have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity in a crackdown last year on protests at the Gaza border. According to UN investigators, Israeli forces killed 189 people, including dozens of children (New York Times)
Gazan Demonstrators Protest Against Palestinian Leader Abbas
Thousands of protesters called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to step down following his attempts to put financial pressure on Hamas. Demonstrators also called for Israel to end its decade-long blockade of Gaza (Al Jazeera)
Palestinians Protest Israeli Move to Eject Foreign Observers
The Palestinian Authority called on the United Nations yesterday to deploy a permanent observer mission to the West Bank and East Jerusalem after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not renew the mandate of a decades-old civilian observer mission in the West Bank city of Hebron (Associated Press)
Hamas Rejects Qatari Aid
The Palestinian militant movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, said it will not accept the latest monthly transfer of $15 million from Doha, part of an informal deal totaling $90 million, due to the Israeli “occupation’s behavior and attempts to evade the agreement,” according to a top Hamas official (Haaretz)
The group reportedly accuses Israel of demanding a halt to protests in Gaza before it will allow the funds to be delivered through its territory (Al Jazeera)
Palestinian Authority to Reject U.S. Security Aid
The Palestinian Authority told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that it will no longer accept security aid as the Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act 2018 enters into force at the start of February. The new law will allow American victims of violent crime to sue recipients of aid in U.S. courts (Wafa)
Palestinian Groups Form New Political Body
Five Palestinian political groups announced they are forming a new body in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to challenge the ruling Fatah party and Hamas militant movement, which have dominated Palestinian politics (Associated Press)
Hamas and Israel Agree to Cease-Fire
Hamas leaders agreed to abide by an Egypt-brokered cease-fire to halt an escalation of fighting with Israel along the Gaza border that began Monday (Al Jazeera)
Israeli opposition leaders and some residents in targeted towns criticized the truce (New York Times)
Israel Carries Out Air Strikes on Gaza Strip
Israel carried out dozens of air strikes on the Gaza Strip today, a day after the Palestinian militant group Hamas launched more than four hundred rocket attacks across the Israeli border (Reuters)
Palestinian Authorities Call to Suspend Recognition of Israel
The Palestinian Central Council authorized the Palestine Liberation Organization to suspend recognition of Israel, stop security coordination, end agreements laid out in the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol, and invalidate the legitimacy of the Oslo Accords “in light of Israel’s continued denial of signed agreements” (Al Jazeera)
Israel Ends Fuel Blockage to Gaza Strip
Israel will end a twelve-day fuel blockage and allow diesel shipments to the Gaza Strip to resume. Israel had suspended the fuel deliveries after Israeli troops killed five Palestinians who, the army said, broke through a border fence to attack a military post (Agence France-Presse)
Netanyahu, Trump Talk Israel-Palestine at UN General Assembly
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that Israel “will not relinquish security control west of Jordan” to any future Palestinian state (Haaretz)
His comments came after U.S. President Trump said at a joint press conference with Netanyahu that he supports both one- and two-state solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (Reuters)
Two Dead After Israeli Troops Fire on Protesters
Israeli forces opened fire during a demonstration in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday, killing two Palestinian protesters and injuring forty-six. The Israeli military indicated that it had confronted people allegedly tampering with the border fence (Reuters)