International

The Israeli Army again besieges Jan Yunis’ Naser and Al Amar hospitals

The Israeli Army again besieged the Naser and Al Amal hospitals this Sunday, both in the city of Jan Yunis, in the south of the enclave, with “intense bombings and gunfire” around both medical centers, denounced the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Dozens of armored vehicles surround both hospitals and carry out excavation work in the surroundings, Palestinian sources indicate.

The new siege of the two main hospitals of Jan Yunis, which were already besieged for more than twenty days in February, occurs when Israeli troops carry out for the seventh consecutive day a hard military operation at the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where they claim to have arrested 480 “terrorists.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent, which manages the Al Amal hospital, pointed out that Israeli armored vehicles are demolishing buildings and structures around the hospital and warned about the “extreme danger” run by their teams, which can neither enter nor leave the hospital.

A member of the Red Crescent emergency operating room, Amir Subhi Abu Aisha, died from a drone attack by Israeli troops while working in the hospital and had to be buried in the courtyard of the center, the organization reported.

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Eyewitnesses cited by the official Palestinian agency Wafa also reported aerial bombardments on the southern and eastern flanks of the Naser medical complex, the most important in the southern Strip, as well as in the nearby neighborhood of Batn as Samin, in Jan Yunis.

“The continuous artillery bombardments relentlessly hit the buildings, in addition to helicopter and drone fire, which caused the death of several civilians and other wounded,” Wafa said of the attacks on the Naser, which houses thousands of Palestinians displaced by the hard fighting in the center and south of the enclave.

He also assured on Sunday that he had arrested about 480 members of Hamas organizations or Islamic Jihad, in addition to having located “numerous weapons and terrorist infrastructure,” in the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, which is experiencing its seventh consecutive day of military siege today.

“The forces continue the precise operational activities in the area of the Shifa Hospital while avoiding damage to civilians, patients, health workers and medical equipment,” said a military statement.

The Ministry of Health of the Strip, controlled by Hamas, reported yesterday that five wounded who were treated at that center died as a result of the siege of Israeli troops, which began on Monday, and are in addition to the 13 intensive care patients who died in recent days due to lack of electricity and medical treatment.

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Health also reported that 240 patients and relatives had been arrested by Israeli forces and a dozen health personnel; while the Israeli Army indicated that it had interrogated more than 800 suspects – it assures that 480 are “terrorists” – and killed 170 alleged fighters.

“We will end this operation only when the last terrorist is in our hands, alive or dead,” said last night the commander-in-chief of the Southern Command of the Israeli Army, Major General Yaron Finkelman, who praised the success of the “bold and impressive” operation.

The Army also pointed out that on the last day, its fighter planes attacked about 65 targets in the north and center of the Gaza Strip, including “a tunnel used to carry out attacks, military complexes where armed terrorists operated and additional military infrastructure.”

Both in the center of the Gaza Strip and in the Jan Yunis area, in the south, where fighting has not stopped for more than three months, the troops “eliminated several terrorists” on the last day by sniper fire.

“The troops also located and carried out a selective raid against a drone manufacturing laboratory belonging to terrorist organizations,” he added about the operations in the central area.

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While in the Jan Yunis area, engineering forces attacked a projectile launch pit and fighter jets destroyed Hamas’ military infrastructure, including a complex used as a meeting point for militiamen.

The Israeli Army also reported on Sunday that during the early morning it bombed the Baalbek area, in northeastern Lebanon, where it attacks for the third time since the beginning of hostilities because it claims that there is military infrastructure of the Shiite militia Hizbulá, which responded with the launch of a stun of 50 rockets.

“This morning, fighter jets of the Israel Defense Forces attacked a weapons manufacturing site in Hizbulah, in the Baalbek area,” a military statement said.

It is the third time in two months that Israeli aviation has reached that point in Lebanon, more than 100 kilometers from the border, where he assures that Hezbollah has, among other military infrastructure, its air defense system; although most of the crossfire has been concentrated since October 8 in the communities bordering the divider.

The Army pointed out that Hizbulah carried out more than 50 launches to northern Israel in response, most of which were intercepted and the rest fell in depopulated areas.

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At least 84 Gazans have died in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours from Israeli attacks, including 19 who died yesterday in an attack on a group of people waiting for a humanitarian convoy in Gaza City, bringing the total number of fatalities in the war to 32,226.

“The Israeli occupation commits 8 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, including 84 martyrs and 106 injured during the last 24 hours,” said the Ministry of Health of the enclave, controlled by Hamas, in its latest count.

The total number of injuries since October 7, when the war broke out, rises to 74,518, while the Ministry has more than 7,000 bodies that are still trapped under the rubble, according to the source.

The Commissioner General of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said on Sunday that Israel has informed the UN that it will not approve more humanitarian convoys aimed at the north of the Gaza Strip, where famine is already a reality.

“Despite the tragedy that is unfolding under our surveillance, the Israeli authorities informed the UN that they will no longer approve any UNRWA food convoy to the north,” Lazzarini said in a statement.

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The commissioner recalled that UNRWA, which provides services to almost 6 million Palestinians in different countries and is the main humanitarian actor in the Gaza Strip, is in the middle of the war “the main sustenance” for more than 2 million internally displaced persons in the enclave and the only one that can proportional “vital assistance” in the north.

“This is outrageous and makes it intentional to obstruct assistance to save lives during a man-made famine. These restrictions must be lifted,” Lazzarini shouted.

International

Two killed in shooting at restaurant near Frankfurt Airport

Two people were shot dead early Tuesday at a restaurant in Raunheim, near Frankfurt Airport, according to local police.

Preliminary findings indicate that an armed individual entered the establishment at around 03:45 local time (02:45 GMT) and opened fire on the victims, who died at the scene from their injuries.

The suspect fled and remains at large, while the motive behind the shooting is still unclear, German media reported. Authorities have launched a large-scale search operation.

International

U.S. counterterrorism chief resigns over opposition to war in Iran

Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced Tuesday that he has resigned from his post, citing his opposition to the ongoing war in Iran.

In a post on X, Kent said he could not, “in good conscience,” support the conflict, arguing that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States. He also claimed that the war was driven by pressure from Israel and its lobbying influence in Washington.

In a resignation letter addressed to Donald Trump, Kent alleged that at the start of the current administration, senior Israeli officials and influential figures in U.S. media carried out a disinformation campaign that undermined the “America First” platform and fostered pro-war sentiment aimed at triggering a conflict with Iran.

Kent further stated that he could not support sending a new generation of Americans to “fight and die in a war that provides no benefit to the American people and does not justify the cost in American lives.”

Since the United States and Israel launched attacks against Iran on February 28, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed, while 10 others have been seriously wounded and around 200 have sustained minor injuries, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.

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International

German president warns Iran war could spread and disrupt Strait of Hormuz

The president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, warned Monday that the war involving Iran could expand and further disrupt shipping through the strategic Strait of Hormuz. He urged a swift end to hostilities between Iran, United States and Israel.

Speaking in Panama City during a joint appearance with Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino, Steinmeier said available information suggests Iran has significant capacity to disrupt maritime traffic through the key oil route.

“Iran has considerable potential to interfere with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz,” Steinmeier said through an interpreter. “We should therefore reach an end to the hostilities as soon as possible and call on all parties involved to make that happen.”

The remarks came during Steinmeier’s visit to Panama, the first by a German president to the Central American nation.

The German leader described the possibility of the conflict spreading as “very dangerous,” saying recent developments indicate that such a scenario cannot be ruled out.

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Over the weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump urged allied nations to help ensure safe passage for ships through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran moved to block the waterway in response to U.S. strikes. However, several allies—particularly in Europe—have shown little support for the proposal.

“Some are very enthusiastic, others are not, and some are countries we have helped for many years,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We have protected them from terrible external threats, and they’re not that enthusiastic. And the level of enthusiasm is important to me.”

Meanwhile, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, said the Strait of Hormuz falls “outside NATO’s scope” and stressed that “the war involving Iran is not Europe’s war.”