Latest Israel-Hamas war news and Gaza conflict updates

Investigations into an additional three cases have been suspended due to insufficient evidence provided by Israel, he said, and eight cases are being investigated by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services.

Since Israel made its initial allegations in January – prompting major donors, including the United States, to suspend support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) – it has made seven additional allegations. Are UNRWA Employees, Dujarric said. These include five in March and two in April. The investigation into one of them has been “suspended pending the discovery of additional supporting evidence,” Dujarric said. “The remaining six cases among them are still under investigation.”

Dujarric said investigators from the UN Office of Internal Inspection Services traveled to Israel to meet with Israeli officials and are expected to visit again in May.

All of the initial 12 aid workers were immediately evacuated by UNRWA, although two were reported killed during fighting in Gaza. Of those cases, the United Nations is considering what administrative action to take in one case that has been cleared and three in which investigations have been suspended. The employees involved in the seven new cases have been placed on administrative leave without pay.

Israel has long called for the abolition of UNRWA, saying that Palestinians and their descendants displaced by the establishment of the State of Israel decades ago should not be treated as refugees. At various points since the October attacks, Israel has publicly stated that many of UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza – almost all of whom are Palestinians – have ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups.

Israel has not provided evidence that a significant number of the aid agency’s staff have ties to these groups, according to an independent assessment of UNRWA’s procedures for ensuring neutrality among its staff released earlier this week.

Several governments had already reversed their initial suspension of funding to the agency, and even more so after the report – which was led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonnade – essentially came out with recommendations for reform of the organization. Was provided a clean bill of health. ,

The US intelligence community suspected, but did not verify, Israel’s claims about UNRWA workers on October 7, US officials told The Washington Post in February, citing a lack of independent information.

In response to the Colonna report, Israel again alleged – without providing evidence – that more than 2,135 UNRWA workers are affiliated with either Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and that “one fifth of UNRWA school administrators are members of Hamas.”

The Biden administration has called UNRWA “essential” for the provision of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, but a funding bill passed by Congress last month froze all US support until March 2025. The United States has long been UNRWA’s largest donor, providing approximately half of its budget.

What else is there to know here

• US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said there is “new momentum, new life” in hostage-taking and ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas. His comments on MSNBC came as an Egyptian delegation visited Israel to discuss hostage deal negotiations following an Israeli war cabinet meeting, and as Hamas said it was reviewing Israel’s latest offer. .
• Washington has not decided whether to cut aid to an Israeli military unit accused of human rights violations, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations. The anticipated decision is a matter of major tension with Israel. According to Israeli media reports, the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, which consists of ultra-Orthodox soldiers, has been the subject of allegations of abuses towards Palestinians since before the war in Gaza.
• UN officials have received reports that at least two children have died due to extreme heat in GazaUNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement, Gaza is experiencing an unusual heat wave, with temperatures reaching around 104 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the United Nations.
• A premature Palestinian baby who was delivered via emergency cesarean section after her mother was seriously injured has died After five days in an incubator in Gaza, the Associated Press reported. Sabreen Jouda died in a Gaza hospital after her health deteriorated, her uncle told the AP. Sabreen’s parents – including her mother, who was seven months pregnant – and sister were also killed in an Israeli airstrike last week, The Post reported, after which doctors operated on Sabreen to save her.
• At least 34,356 people have been killed and 77,368 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says the majority of those killed have been women and children. Israel estimates that Hamas’ October 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 261 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operation in Gaza.

Claire Parker contributed to this report.