White House wants 'answers' from Israel on 'disturbing' Gaza mass graves

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Summary:

• The White House said Wednesday that it wanted "answers" from Israeli authorities about "deeply disturbing" reports of mass graves at the two main hospitals in the Gaza Strip. Gaza’s civil defence agency said Tuesday that workers had uncovered hundreds of bodies allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces. 
• Israeli forces are carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday without specifying whether ground troops had crossed the border.
• US President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed foreign aid legislation that includes $26 billion in wartime aid to Israel and humanitarian relief for Gaza.
• Israel thanked the US Senate for first approving the legislation, which includes $13 billion in military aid.
• The head of Amnesty International said the post-World War II order is on the "brink of collapse", in particular due to US efforts to shield Israel from scrutiny for violations committed in Gaza.
• At least 34,183 Palestinians have been killed and an estimated 77,143 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. Some 1,170 people were killed in the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that sparked the war and 250 people were taken hostage, according to Israeli figures, with 132 still missing.

10:28pm: Columbia extends deadline on encampment as police break up other protests

Tensions appeared to ease at Columbia University on Wednesday after it extended a deadline for students to remove an encampment set up to protest Israel's Gaza incursion, while violence broke out at other college campuses as police dispersed similar protests.

At the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, police scuffled with protesters and took at least one person into custody. Fellow protesters then surrounded a vehicle where the man was being held, chanting "Let him go" and "Shame on you".

In Austin, troopers in riot gear entered on the campus of the University of Texas and forced pro-Palestine protesters and counter-protesters to disperse, according to media reports. At least 10 people were detained, the Texas Tribune reported.

On Wednesday, tent protests were underway on other campuses from coast to coast, including Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, and California State Polytechnic in Humboldt.

Meanwhile at Columbia University, administrators said it had extended by 48 hours a deadline of midnight on Tuesday to reach an agreement with student leaders of the protest, pointing to "significant progress" in the talks.

10:05pm: Biden backs freedom of expression on US campuses, says spokeswoman

President Joe Biden supports freedom of expression on US campuses, the White House said Wednesday as more and more university students protest Israel's war in Gaza.

"The president believes that free speech, debate and nondiscrimination on college campuses are important," press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing.

9:43pm: Yemen's Houthis carry out three military operations in Gulf of Aden, Indian Ocean

Yemen's Houthis said they targeted the Maersk Yorktown ship and an American warship destroyer in the Gulf of Aden as well as targeting the Israeli ship MSC Veracruz in the Indian Ocean, the Iran-aligned group's military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech on Wednesday.

9:33pm: White House's Sullivan expects to travel to Saudi Arabia in next few weeks

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday he expects to travel to Saudi Arabia in the next few weeks after postponing the trip due to a cracked rib.

Sullivan told reporters he was feeling much better after the rib injury and that he was about 80 percent recovered. He is to discuss with Saudi officials whether a deal to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia can be reached.

9:08pm: White House wants 'answers' from Israel on 'disturbing' Gaza mass graves

The White House said Wednesday that it wanted "answers" from Israeli authorities about reports of mass graves found at the two main hospitals in the Gaza Strip. 

"Those reports were deeply disturbing," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said at a news briefing. "We have been in touch at multiple levels with the Israeli government. We want answers. We want to understand exactly what happened."

9:07pm: Biden met with four-year-old American who had been held hostage by Hamas

US President Joe Biden met on Wednesday with a four-year-old American who had been held hostage by Hamas, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.

Abigail Edan, who turned four while in captivity, was freed by Hamas militants last November after being held for seven weeks in Gaza.

8:55pm: American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin's parents urge parties to reach hostage deal 

The parents of American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Rachel and Jon, posted a video on X after Hamas released a video of their son being held in Gaza earlier Wednesday on its official Telegram account.

"Seeing the video of Hersh today is overwhelming. We are relieved to see him alive but we are also concerned about his health and wellbeing as well as that of all the other hostages and all of those suffering in this region," they said.

Goldberg-Polin was abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the October 7 Hamas-led attack.

8:10pm: Netanyahu says Gaza protests on US campuses 'horrific'

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned pro-Palestinian student protests in US universities as "horrific", saying the demonstrations "have to be stopped".

"What's happening in America's college campuses is horrific," Netanyahu said in a statement, claiming that "Anti-Semitic mobs have taken over leading universities".

"They call for the annihilation of Israel. They attack Jewish students. They attack Jewish faculty," he said. "It's unconscionable. It has to be stopped."

Students protesting Israel’s war with Hamas are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its months-long conflict. Dozens have been arrested on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into anti-Semitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.

Protesters – including a number of Jewish students – say they've disavowed instances of anti-Semitism and are there to support Palestinians.

7:35pm: Legalising Israeli settlements on West Bank "dangerous and reckless", US state department says

The US State Department on Wednesday called "dangerous and reckless" the reports that Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was pushing to legalise dozens of settler outposts in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Speaking at a daily press briefing, deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel also said Washington was continuing to press the government of Israel for more information on reports of mass graves in Gaza.

7:13pm: Egypt releases 18 detained at anti-war protest

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday released 18 people, mostly women, who were arrested a day earlier in Cairo during a solidarity rally for women in war-torn Gaza and Sudan, a lawyer said.

"All those arrested during yesterday's protest in front of the UN (Women) headquarters have been released," rights lawyer Tarek el-Awadi posted on X.

Prominent activist Lobna Darwish of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) was among those detained at Tuesday's protest, along with rights lawyers Ragia Omran and Mahienour el-Massry, lawyer Khaled Ali had said earlier.

The rights lawyer and former presidential hopeful said "the people arrested yesterday are journalists, lawyers and students", adding that people "who happened to pass by in proximity to the gathering" had also been arrested.

6:20pm: US to name former UN official as new Gaza aid envoy, sources say 

US Gaza aid envoy David Satterfield is set to step down shortly and will be replaced by former senior United Nations official Lise Grande, two sources familiar with the issue told Reuters on Wednesday.

Satterfield was appointed six months ago as the US special envoy for Middle East humanitarian issues with a specific focus on leading the US response to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Grande is currently head of the independent US Institute of Peace. She previously worked for the United Nations for more than 25 years, a career that included running aid operations in Yemen, Iraq and South Sudan.

The United Nations has long complained of obstacles to getting aid in and distributing it throughout Gaza in the six months since Israel began an aerial and ground offensive against Gaza's ruling Islamist militant group Hamas.

Satterfield said on Tuesday that Israel has taken significant steps in recent weeks on allowing aid into Gaza, but considerable work remained to be done as the risk of famine in the enclave is very high.

A UN-backed report published in March said that famine was imminent and likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the enclave by July.

6:06pm: Civilian suffering in Gaza: Eyewitness testimony from inside ravaged enclave

As the war in Gaza enters its 200th day, FRANCE 24’s Delano D’Souza is joined on set by Arwa Damon, founder of INARA (International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance), a charity set up to help children impacted by war.

"I have never seen anything like this in my 20 years reporting from war zones," said the former CNN correspondent, who recently came back from a humanitarian mission in Gaza. "Despite the images that we are seeing, I don't know if there is a sufficient appreciation to the sort of depths of trauma that is being inflicted on people every single day."

10:58

5:25pm: Biden says Israel must allow aid to Palestinians 'without delay'

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday demanded that new humanitarian aid be allowed to immediately reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as key US ally Israel fights Hamas there.

"We're going to immediately secure that aid and surge it ...  including food, medical supplies, clean water," Biden said after signing a massive military aid bill for Israel and Ukraine, which also included $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza. 

"Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay," he said.

4:45: Hamas releases video of Israeli-American hostage held in Gaza

Palestinian militant group Hamas released on Wednesday a video of an Israeli-American man held hostage in Gaza and seen alive in the footage.

Israeli media identified him as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was abducted from the Nova music festival in southern Israel during the Hamas attack on October 7.

"I went to hang out with my friends, and instead, I found myself fighting for my life with severe injuries all over my body," he says in the video, the authenticity and timing of which AFP has not been able to independently verify.

The video was posted on Hamas's official Telegram account. 

Israel estimates 129 of the roughly 250 people abducted during the Hamas attack on October 7 remain in Gaza, including 34 who the military says are dead.

3:37pm: Israel says forces carrying out 'offensive action' in southern Lebanon

Israeli forces are carrying out "offensive action" across southern Lebanon, defence minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday without specifying whether ground troops had crossed the border.

"Many forces are deployed on the border and IDF (army) forces are carrying out offensive action currently throughout southern Lebanon," Gallant said in a video statement, also claiming that "half of Hezbollah's commanders in southern Lebanon have been eliminated" in months of violence.

"The other half are in hiding and abandoning the field to IDF operations," he added without giving a specific number.

3:14pm: Egypt arrests more than a dozen at anti-war protest

Eighteen people, mostly women, were arrested in Cairo during a solidarity rally for women in war-torn Gaza and Sudan at the UN Women agency headquarters, a lawyer said Wednesday.

"I am currently before the state security prosecutor's office ... the people arrested yesterday are journalists, lawyers and students," said human rights lawyer Khaled Ali in a Facebook post.

Prominent activist Lobna Darwish of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) was among those detained at Tuesday's protest, along with rights lawyers Ragia Omran and Mahienour el-Massry, he said.

The lawyer said people "who happened to pass by in proximity to the gathering" had also been arrested.

Hossam Bahgat, a leading Egyptian rights defender and founder of the EIPR, said Darwish had been "arrested during a demonstration of women in solidarity with Palestine and Sudan".

The Civil Democratic Movement, a coalition of 12 opposition political parties, condemned the arrests, saying those detained had been holding "a peaceful rally ... to demand an end to the war in Gaza".

"The demonstration was violently dispersed, and the activists were taken to an unknown location," the alliance said on Facebook, citing witnesses.

The movement and the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms demanded the "immediate release" of those detained.

3:07pm: Israel says it is 'moving ahead' with Rafah operation, will safeguard civilians

Israel is "moving ahead" with an assault on Hamas in Rafah, the only Gaza Strip city yet to be subjected to a ground offensive in the half-year-long war, and will work to spare Palestinian civilians there, a government spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Israel's military added that it has conducted all necessary preparations ahead of the assault and can launch an operation the moment it gets government approval, a senior defence official told Reuters.

03:57

2:51pm: Israeli army says it struck 40 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army said Wednesday it struck 40 Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon as near-daily exchanges of fire rage on the border between the two countries. 

"A short while ago, IDF (army) fighter jets and artillery struck approximately 40 Hezbollah terror targets" around Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon, including storage facilities and weaponry, the army said in a statement. 

2:28pm: Pro-Palestinian protests sweep US campuses

Some of America's most prestigious universities have been rocked by pro-Palestinian protests in recent weeks with  students gathering in protest camps to demand that their schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies that are enabling its months-long conflict in Gaza. 

FRANCE 24's Jessica Le Masurier reports from Washington Square, site of a New York University sit-in.

02:12

2:16pm: Blast near a ship off Yemen may mark new Houthi rebel attack after recent lull 

A ship near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait saw an explosion in the distance Wednesday, marking what may be a new attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels through the crucial waterway for international trade.

The explosion, reported by the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, comes after a relative lull from the Houthis after they launched dozens of attacks on shipping in the region over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. 

The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the blast, but suspicion fell on the group as they've repeatedly targeted ships in the same area. It typically takes the Houthis several hours before acknowledging their assaults. 

The explosion happened some 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden.  

1:28pm: Some Palestinians forced to flee homes as Israel pounds northern Gaza

Some Palestinian civilians were fleeing their homes in northern Gaza on Wednesday just weeks after returning because of an Israeli bombardment which they said was as intense as those at the start of the war.

Much of the shelling was focused for a second day on Beit Lahiya on the northern edge of Gaza, where the Israeli military gave evacuation orders to four neighbourhoods on Tuesday, warning they were in a "dangerous combat zone".

After a few weeks of relative calm, Israel intensified its attacks overnight on Monday, focusing on areas, particularly in the north, from where it had previously withdrawn many of its troops, saying Hamas was no longer in control.

1:21pm: EU urges probe into reported mass graves at Gaza hospitals

The European Union on Wednesday backed a UN demand for an independent probe into the reported discovery of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges.

"This is something that forces us to call for an independent investigation of all the suspicions and all the circumstances, because indeed it creates the impression that there might have been violations of international human rights committed," EU spokesman Peter Stano said. 

"That's why it's important to have independent investigation and to ensure accountability."

The UN rights office said Tuesday international investigators should be involved in a probe into the discovery of the bodies.  

The UN rights office said it was "horrified" by the destruction of Gaza's two biggest hospitals, Al-Shifa in Gaza City and the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis.

11:29am: Iran, Pakistan urge UN Security Council to take action against Israel

Iran and Pakistan called on the UN Security Council in a joint statement issued on Wednesday to take action against Israel, saying it had "illegally" targeted neighbouring countries and foreign diplomatic facilities.

The joint statement, released by Pakistan's foreign ministry, followed a three-day visit to the country by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East.

Explosions were heard last Friday over the Iranian city of Isfahan in what sources said was an Israeli attack. However, Tehran played down the incident and said it had no plans for retaliation.

"Recognizing that the irresponsible act of the Israeli regime forces was a major escalation in an already volatile region, both sides called on the UN Security Council to prevent the Israeli regime from its adventurism in the region and its illegal acts attacking its neighbours...," Iran and Pakistan said in their joint statement.

9:23am: Germany will resume working with UN agency for Palestinians

Germany said Wednesday it plans to follow several other countries in resuming cooperation with the UN relief agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in Gaza after the publication of an independent review of its neutrality.

Germany’s foreign and development aid ministries said in a joint statement Wednesday that the recommendations of the report “must now be implemented promptly.”

Among those recommendations were stronger oversight of UNRWA’s leadership and greater international involvement in supporting the agency as it addresses neutrality issues.

The German statement said that “against this background and accompanying these reforms, the German government will shortly continue cooperation with UNRWA in Gaza, as Australia, Canada, Sweden and Japan, for example, already have done.”

9:23am: Israeli media predict offensive in Gaza's Rafah soon

Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah, the Gazan city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.

The Rafah sweep, postponed for several weeks amid disputes with Washington, will happen "very soon," the mass-circulation Israel Hayom newspaper said, citing a decision by the Israeli government after ceasefire talks with Hamas stalled.

Several other Israeli media outlets carried similar reports. Some noted footage on social media that appeared to show the erection of a tent city for Rafah evacuees.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's office and the Israeli military spokesperson's office had no immediate comment.

9:15am: Lebanon's Hezbollah says fired 'dozens' of rockets at Israel

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it fired a fresh barrage of rockets across the border on Wednesday after a strike blamed on Israel killed two civilians.

The group had already fired rockets at northern Israel late on Tuesday "in response" to the civilian deaths.

Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily fire with the Israeli army since its ally Hamas carried out an  unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, triggering war in Gaza.

It has stepped up its rocket fire on Israeli military bases in recent days.

Hezbollah fighters fired "dozens of Katyusha rockets" at a border village in northern Israel "as part of the response to the Israeli enemy's attacks on... civilian homes," the group said in a statement.

7:36am: Arrests follow barricades and encampments as US university students protest Gaza war

Standoffs between pro-Palestinian student protesters and universities grew increasingly tense on both coasts Wednesday as hundreds encamped at Columbia University faced a deadline from the administration to clear out while dozens remained barricaded inside two buildings on a Northern California college campus.

Both are part of intensifying demonstrations over Israel's war with Hamas by university students across the country, leading to dozens of arrests on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct. 

Columbia's President Minouche Shafik in a statement Wednesday set a midnight deadline to reach an agreement with students to clear the encampment, or “we will consider alternative options.”

That deadline passed without news of an agreement. Videos show some protestors taking down their tents while others doubled down in speeches. The heightened tension arrived the night before US House Speaker Mike Johnson's trip to Columbia to visit with Jewish students and address antisemitism on college campuses.

7:30am: Israel says US military aid sends 'strong message' to enemies

Israel said Wednesday the US Senate approval of $13 billion in military aid sent a "strong message" to its enemies, with strikes pummelling Gaza in its war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Fears are rising that Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will soon follow through on repeated threats to send troops into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are sheltering, many in makeshift encampments.

In a post on X, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the US military aid approval "is a clear testament to the strength of our alliance and sends a strong message to all our enemies". 

5:04am: Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote

The Senate has passed $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.

The legislation would include $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza. About $4 billion of that would be dedicated to replenishing Israel’s missile defense systems. More than $9 billion of the total would go toward humanitarian assistance in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.

2:08am: Amnesty head says post-WWII order on 'brink of collapse'

Amnesty International said Wednesday that the post-World War II order was on the "brink of collapse", threatened by bitter conflict on multiple fronts to the rapid and unregulated rise of artificial intelligence.

"Everything we're witnessing over the last 12 months is indicating that the international global system is on the brink of collapse," Amnesty's secretary general Agnes Callamard told AFP as the group released its annual "State of the World's Human Rights" report.

"In particular, over the last six months, the United States has shielded and protected the Israeli authorities against scrutiny for the multiple violations committed in Gaza," she said.

"By using its veto against a much-needed ceasefire, the United States has emptied out the (United Nations) Security Council of what it should be doing."

Yesterday's key developments:

• UNRWA director Philippe Lazzarini called for a UN Security Council probe into the "blatant disregard" for UN operations in Gaza, where some 180 staffers have been killed.
• UN rights chief Volker Turk said that he was "horrified" by the destruction of the Nasser and Al Shifa medical facilities in Gaza and reports of mass graves discovered there.
• Gaza's Civil Defence agency that health workers had uncovered around 340 bodies over the past four days of people killed and buried by Israeli forces at a hospital in Khan Younis. 
• The White House said it would "have to see real progress" before restoring its funding to the UN agency for Palestinians, the main aid agency operating in war-torn Gaza.       
• The UN called for an international investigation into the reports of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals destroyed in Israeli sieges, saying war crimes may have been committed. 

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)