Several people were injured in an attack in Jerusalem. Meanwhile, the Israeli army spokesman announces military action. More information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
Iranian president again threatens Israel with destruction
7:58 p.m.: Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is again threatening Israel with destruction. “The great nation of Iran” punished Israel for the attack on the embassy compound in Damascus at the beginning of April, said Raisi during a visit to neighboring Pakistan. If Israel makes a mistake and attacks “the holy ground of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the situation will be different. “And it’s not certain that anything of the Zionist regime (Israel) remains,” threatens the ultra-conservative cleric.
The president did not mention the suspected Israeli attack in the Iranian city of Isfahan on Friday. On April 13, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards carried out a major attack on Israel with drones and missiles, which followed a suspected Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus. Two generals and five other members of the powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in that attack earlier this month. Since the revolution in Iran in 1979, the USA and Israel have been considered archenemies of the Islamic Republic.
Israel denies report of mass grave in Gaza Strip
7:39 p.m.: According to Israel, the bodies in a mass grave discovered in the Gaza Strip were not buried by Israeli soldiers, but by Palestinians. “The allegation that Israeli forces buried the bodies of Palestinians there is baseless,” said a statement distributed by the Israeli embassy in Geneva on Tuesday evening.
Israeli soldiers only examined the bodies in the grave in search of Israeli hostages. “The investigation was carried out carefully and only in locations where intelligence indicated that hostages may have been present,” the embassy said. The dignity of the deceased was preserved. The bodies of Palestinians were returned to the same location.
The Civil Defense, controlled by the Palestinian organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip, reported on Monday of a mass grave with 283 dead, which is said to be near Nasser Hospital. The information cannot be independently verified. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, was horrified by the reported discovery of mass graves at clinics in the Gaza Strip and called for an independent investigation into the background to the deaths. Hospitals are afforded very special protection under international humanitarian law. “And the intentional killing of civilians, prisoners and others not in combat is a war crime,” it said in a statement. According to Türk’s office, which cited Gaza Civil Defense sources, some of the bodies had their hands tied.
Lebanese Hezbollah: drone strike deep into Israeli territory
2:50 p.m.: According to its own statements, the Lebanese Hezbollah militia has penetrated further into Israeli territory with a drone attack than ever before since the beginning of the Gaza war. Hezbollah said the attack targeted Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre. The Israeli military says it has no knowledge of a Hezbollah attack on any of its bases. However, it had previously announced that it had intercepted two targets in the air off the northern coast of Israel.
Hezbollah, which like the Hamas terror group in the Gaza Strip is backed by Iran, said the attack was in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack in which one of its fighters was killed. The Milliz published a suspected satellite photo in which the location of the attack was marked with a lightning bolt in a red circle halfway between Acre and Nahariya.
Residents: Heaviest attacks in weeks in the north of the Gaza Strip
1:26 p.m.: According to residents, the Israeli army has launched its worst attacks in weeks in the north of the Gaza Strip. It is said that entire streets were razed to the ground last night. Residents in the area panicked. Alarms about rocket attacks have been raised in southern Israel. There were initially no reports of damage or injuries.
