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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
International
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
he Vatican’s post offices and select collector shops began selling special edition stamps this week to mark the period between the death of Pope Francis and the election of his successor.
Known as “Sede Vacante” stamps, they feature an image used on official Vatican documents during the interregnum between popes — two crossed keys without the papal tiara. These stamps went on sale Monday and will remain valid for postal use only until the new pontiff appears at the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Until then, they can be used to send letters, postcards, and parcels. “Once the new pope is elected, the stamps lose their postal validity, but their collectible value rises,” said Francesco Santarossa, who runs a collectors’ shop across from St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has issued the stamps in four denominations: €1.25, €1.30, €2.45, and €3.20. Each is inscribed with “Città del Vaticano” and “Sede Vacante MMXXV” — Latin for “Vacant See 2025.”
International
Conclave to choose pope Francis’ successor could begin in early may
The conclave, which in the coming weeks must choose the successor to Pope Francis, will strictly follow a precise protocol refined over centuries.
The 135 cardinal electors, all under the age of 80, will cast their votes four times a day — except on the first day — until one candidate secures a two-thirds majority. The result will be announced to the world through the burning of the ballots with a chemical that produces the eagerly awaited white smoke, accompanied by the traditional cry of “Habemus Papam.”
The start date for the conclave could be announced today, as the cardinals are set to hold their fifth meeting since the pope’s passing. Luxembourg Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich suggested it could begin on May 5 or 6, following the traditional nine days of mourning. According to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the conclave could last only “a few days.”
Although the late Argentine pontiff appointed the majority of the cardinal electors, this does not necessarily ensure the selection of a like-minded successor. Francis’ leadership style differed significantly from that of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a German theologian who was less fond of large public gatherings. It also marked a contrast with the popular Polish pope, John Paul II.
The Argentine Jesuit’s reformist papacy drew strong criticism from more conservative sectors of the Church, who are hoping for a doctrinally focused shift. His tenure was marked by efforts to combat clerical sexual abuse, elevate the role of women and laypeople, and advocate for the poor and migrants, among other causes.
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
Vatican releases special “Sede Vacante” stamps ahead of papal transition
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