International
At least 45 dead in an Israeli attack on a camp for displaced people in Rafah
At least 45 people have been killed in a bombing of a refugee camp in Rafah (south of Gaza) last night, according to the Ministry of Health of the enclave, controlled by Hamas.
The attack confirmed by the Israeli Army was perpetrated in a “safe zone” of Rafah, three days after the International Court of Justice ordered the end of the Israeli Army’s military offensive in that city in the extreme south of the Gaza Strip in the face of the risk of genocide.
Of the 45 deaths counted in the massacre, twenty-three are women, children or the elderly.
“Another atrocious massacre was committed by Israeli forces in Rafah, which has so far claimed the lives of fifty martyrs and dozens of wounded, most of them children and women,” said a spokesman for the Ministry of Health of Gaza, controlled by Hamas.
For its part, the Israeli Army confirmed the attack of its aviation in the Tal al Sultan area, “based on precise intelligence” and directed against two senior officials of the Islamist Hamas group. Specifically, the commander of his division for the West Bank, Yassin Rabia; and another high command of that same division, Khaled Nagar.
“The Hamas wing in Judea and Samaria (occupied West Bank) is responsible for the planning, financing and execution of terrorist attacks throughout Judea and Samaria and within Israel,” said a military statement about that attack in Tal al Sultan, a Rafah neighborhood that Israeli forces had not yet ordered to be evacuated and that welcomed hundreds of displaced people.
An hour later, the chief prosecutor of the Israeli Army, Yifat Tomer Yerushalmi, acknowledged that the bombing of the evacuee camp in Rafah was “very serious.”
In an intervention before Israel’s lawyers, Yerushalmi announced that the armed forces are carrying out an investigation.
“Naturally, in a war of such scope and intensity, complex incidents also occur,” he said. “Some of the incidents, such as last night in Rafah, are very serious.”
Images disseminated on Palestinian social networks show a large fire caused by the aerial bombardment of the provisional tents in Tal al Sultan.
“Never before in history have such a large number of mass killing tools been used in front of the world as is happening now in Gaza, where the population is deprived of water, food, medicines, electricity and fuel, crushing the infrastructure and destroying all institutions,” denounced the Ministry of Health of Gaza.
According to their data, the deaths in Gaza reached 36,050 on Monday, after 66 people died from Israeli fire in the last 24 hours, 45 of them in the bombing in Rafah.
This attack was recorded hours after Hamas launched from that point in the Strip, according to the Army, eight rockets into central Israel, including Tel Aviv, for the first time in about four months, which did not cause serious damage or injuries.
The spokesman for the president of the Palestinian National Authority, Nabil Abu Rudeina, condemned this “deliberate attack by the occupying army” on tents of displaced people in Rafah, causing a “massacre that has exceeded all limits and requires urgent intervention to immediately stop these crimes against the Palestinian people.”
In the West Bank, hundreds of Palestinians have taken to the streets in various cities, including in hot spots such as Yenin or Tulkarem, in protest against this attack.
Numerous countries and international organizations have condemned the attack against a “safe zone” of Rafah that the Israeli Army had not yet ordered to evacuate.
Iran has described it as a war crime, while Egypt and Qatar, key mediators for a truce in Gaza, have expressed their concern about the possibility that it “complicates efforts” for a humanitarian pause.
For their part, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) have denounced that it has been “a bloody night” and “terrifying.”
In Brussels, representatives of humanitarian organizations placed a red ribbon on Monday in front of the community institutions in Brussels, where the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union is held today, to represent the “red lines” crossed by Israel in its offensive in Gaza and to ask for sanctions from European leaders.
Before that meeting, the High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security, Josep Borrell, revealed to the press that today he will propose to the Twenty-seven to relaunch the community border assistance mission in Rafah.
The German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, has warned Israel that it will not achieve its safety “if people are burned in tents.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the death of civilians last night in an Israeli attack on a camp for displaced persons in Rafah, in the extreme south of the Gaza Strip, is a “tragic mishap.”
“We are investigating the case, that is our policy. For us, every damage to uninvolved civilians is a tragedy,” Netanyahu said at an audience in the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) with families of hostages about the war in the Strip, which adds up to more than 36,000 deaths, more than 70% civilians.
The Egyptian Army confirmed on Monday that a person died during an exchange of fire with Israeli forces at the Rafah border crossing, which connects the Egyptian Sinai with the Gaza Strip, an unusual incident that the authorities of both countries say they are investigating.
“The Egyptian Armed Forces are investigating, through the competent authorities, the incident with shooting at the border line in Rafah, which caused the martyrdom of a member in charge of security,” the Egyptian Army said in a brief statement without providing further details.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) previously reported in another brief statement about a “shooting on the border with Egypt” that is being “the subject of an investigation,” while indicating that the Israeli authorities are “maintaining a dialogue with the Egyptian side.”
Eyewitnesses at the Rafah crossing at the time of the incident informed EFE that the Israeli shots reached the Egyptian side of the land crossing, taken by Israeli forces weeks ago in the midst of operations against the Palestinian town of the same name, where a large part of the displaced by the war are overcrowded.
Two Egyptian military and security sources also confirmed to EFE that after the “exchange of fire between Egyptian and Israeli soldiers,” whose details did not transcend, the security forces cordoned off the vicinity of the crossing.
“Egyptian soldiers fired at members of the Israeli army, without causing casualties. But the forces of the occupying army (Israel) responded by firing as a warning,” added the military source, who asked not to be identified.
In his account, the Egyptian security source indicated that the Israeli troops “fled after the shooting” and that the exchange “has not continued.”
“All Israeli forces withdrew from the confrontation zone at the Rafah border crossing in the Palestinian part,” they added.
The source added that this exchange of fire “is due to the tension between Tel Aviv and Cairo” for this morning’s attack on a camp for displaced people in Rafah, where about fifty people died in a fire that broke out after the bombing, according to Israel’s first investigations.
At least 135 trucks loaded only with food entered from Egypt into the Gaza Strip through the Kerem Shalom border crossing, after a first convoy of 125 vehicles entered yesterday, which did include fuel and medical supplies, Egyptian Red Crescent sources reported.
This is the second shipment with hundreds of tons of food that enters for the second consecutive day from Egyptian territory to the corridor that leads to Kerem Shalom, where they are inspected by Israel before accessing the Palestinian enclave.
Yesterday, Egypt sent for the first time 125 trucks loaded with food and medical supplies, as well as fuel, to Gaza through this point since Israel took the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing twenty days ago, in the south of the enclave and bordering the Sinai peninsula.
Central America
U.S. and Regional Allies Back Panama Amid Dispute With China
The United States, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Guyana, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago issued a joint statement in support of Panama’s sovereignty, arguing that China’s recent actions represent an attempt to politicize maritime trade and undermine the sovereignty of nations in the hemisphere.
“We are closely monitoring China’s selective economic pressure and recent actions affecting vessels flying the Panamanian flag,” the statement released Tuesday said. “Panama is a pillar of our maritime trading system and, as such, must remain free from undue external pressure.”
The statement comes amid growing tensions surrounding the Panama Canal and the operation of key ports linked to global trade.
At the end of January, Panama’s Supreme Court invalidated the legal framework supporting the 1997 concession that granted Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison, the right to operate the Balboa and Cristóbal terminals located on the Pacific and Atlantic entrances of the Panama Canal.
The ruling followed mounting pressure from the United States to curb Chinese influence around the strategic waterway, through which roughly 5% of global maritime trade passes.
CK Hutchison, which managed the ports for nearly three decades, rejected the court’s decision and accused Panamanian authorities of illegally confiscating its assets. The company has launched international arbitration proceedings against Panama, seeking more than $2 billion in damages.
Following the court ruling, reports emerged of increased detentions and inspections of Panamanian-flagged vessels in China, actions widely viewed as retaliatory measures.
On Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the joint statement as “completely unfounded and misleading,” accusing the United States of politicizing port operations and warning that Beijing would take steps to protect its interests in Panama.
International
King Charles III Says U.S.-UK Alliance Is “Irreplaceable and Unbreakable”
King Charles III of the United Kingdom reaffirmed the strength of the British-American relationship on Tuesday during a speech before the United States Congress, describing the alliance between the two nations as “irreplaceable and unbreakable.”
The address, delivered at the Capitol, marked the first speech by a British monarch before Congress since Queen Elizabeth II in 1991 and comes at a time of political tensions between Donald Trump’s administration and the Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“As President Trump himself observed during his state visit to Britain last autumn, the bond of kinship and identity between the United States and the United Kingdom is invaluable and eternal. It is irreplaceable and unbreakable,” the king said.
While reflecting on the upcoming 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, which will be commemorated this year, Charles III stated that the partnership between the two countries “was born out of disagreement, but is no less strong because of it.”
The monarch emphasized the democratic values shared by both nations and noted that major global changes have occurred whenever the two allies found common ground.
“When we have found that way to agree, great changes have taken place not only for the benefit of our peoples, but for all peoples,” he said.
King Charles also quoted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who recently described the relationship as “an indispensable alliance.”
Concluding his speech, the monarch described the shared history of the United States and the United Kingdom as “a story of reconciliation, renewal, and an extraordinary partnership.”
He added that Washington and London have forged “one of the most consequential alliances in human history.”
“I pray with all my heart that our alliance continues to defend our shared values, together with our partners in Europe, the Commonwealth, and around the world, and that we ignore calls urging us to become increasingly isolationist,” Charles III stated.
The king ended by urging both nations to “recommit to one another in selfless service to our peoples and to all peoples of the world.”
International
Trump Administration Considers Denying Green Cards Over Political Views
The administration of President Donald Trump is evaluating new immigration guidelines that could deny permanent residency to immigrants based on their political views, according to a report published by The New York Times.
The proposed measures, outlined in internal Department of Homeland Security documents, would instruct immigration officials to take applicants’ public expressions and ideological positions into account when reviewing green card applications.
According to the report, cases involving “possible anti-American and/or antisemitic conduct or ideologies” would need to be referred to higher authorities for additional review.
Even if applicants have not violated any laws, authorities could still reject residency requests if they determine that individuals have “endorsed, promoted, or supported anti-American views.”
Among the factors listed in the guidelines are participation in pro-Palestinian activities, actions considered antisemitic, and the burning of the U.S. flag.
The documents reportedly describe such actions as “heavily negative” factors in immigration evaluations, potentially blocking applicants from obtaining permanent residency and, eventually, U.S. citizenship.
The directives also place particular attention on demonstrations held on university campuses following the 2023 Hamas attacks against Israel.
However, flag burning has previously been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as a form of protected free speech under the Constitution.
The proposal has sparked criticism from immigrant advocacy organizations, including the New York Immigration Coalition.
Its president, Murad Awawdeh, warned that the policies could pose a threat to fundamental rights and freedoms.
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