In the West Bank, Israeli forces punitively demolish a Palestinian home in Bani Na’im. Israeli forces also start work on a settler road near Dayr Istiya. Palestinians rally to mark Prisoner’s Day in Ramallah, Hebron, Jericho, and Nablus. In Gaza, Israeli forces bomb Rafah, Gaza City, and Nuseirat refugee camp, killing at least 56 people. In Lebanon, Israeli forces bomb Ayta ash Shab, Yarine, Naqoura, and near Baalbek. Hezbollah forces bomb Arab al-Aramshe, wounding 18 people, including 3 civilians. (AJ, AJ, HA, HA, NYT, REU, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA, WAFA 4/17; UNOCHA 4/19)
More than 33,899 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza, including at least 14,520 children and 10,000 women, and around 76,664 have been injured since 10/7/2023. At least 7,000 people are missing in rubble, including 1,700 children. 456 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 10/7/2023, including 114 children. More than 4,890 people have been injured. Israel reports that 1,139 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed and 5,400 have been injured in Israel since 10/7/2023, including Israeli soldiers. In addition, 259 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 1,574 injured in Gaza since the ground invasion began on 10/27/2023. Over 1.93 million Palestinians, nearly 85% of the population of Gaza, have been displaced since 10/7/2023. There has been a complete electricity blackout in Gaza since 10/12/2023 due to the Israeli blockade. At least 70,000 housing units have been destroyed and 290,000 have been damaged in Israeli airstrikes since 10/7/2023, constituting over 60% of all housing units. 213 trucks carrying aid enter Gaza. Israel says that trucks arriving in Ashdod Port entered Gaza. (AJ, HA, REU, UNOCHA, WAFA 4/17; UNOCHA, UNOCHA 4/19)
The Israel Lands Authority publishes a tender for the construction of 1,047 settlement housing units in a new settlement in East Jerusalem called Amat Hamayim Hatachtona between Sur Baher and Beit Safafa. (HA, PCN, WAFA 4/18)
PA prime minister Mohammad Mustafa meets with UK foreign secretary David Cameron in Ramallah, discussing PA reform and the situation in Gaza. Mustafa also speaks with EU high commissioner for foreign affairs Josep Borrell and Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly, discussing PA reform and settler violence, in separate calls. (AJ, WAFA, WAFA 4/17)
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh will visit Turkey this weekend. (AJ 4/17)
UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini tells the UN Security Council that dismantling UNRWA would have major implications during a time of “seismic change” in the region. Lazzarini says those who call for the dismantling of UNRWA do so to erase the refugee status of Palestinian refugees. (AJ 4/17; AJ, AP 4/18)
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock meets with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, cautioning him about further attacking Iran. UK foreign secretary David Cameron says after a meeting with Netanyahu that it is “clear the Israelis are making a decision to act.” Netanyahu’s office releases a statement saying, “we will make our decisions ourselves, and the state of Israel will do whatever is necessary to defend itself.” (AJ, AP, HA, HA, NYT, NYT, REU 4/17)
Qatari prime minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani says that Qatar is reevaluating its role as a ceasefire mediator because some parties have used the mediation for “narrow political interest.” (AJ, AJ, HA, HA 4/17; NYT 4/18)
The Arab Group at the UN writes a letter to the UN Security Council members, urging the council “to right this historic wrong and fulfil the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination, sovereignty, and statehood.” Axios reports that the U.S. pressured PA president Mahmoud Abbas not to push for full membership at the UN, trying to incentivize him with a White House meeting with President Joe Biden, but that Abbas rejected the U.S. pressure. (AJ, AX, WAFA, WAFA 4/17)
Lebanese interior minister Bassam Mawlawi says Lebanon believes that Israel’s Mossad assassinated Mohammad Srour, who was found dead on 4/9 in Beit Meri. Srour was accused by the U.S. of facilitating money transfers between Iran and Hamas. (HA 4/17; AP 4/18)
President Biden says there had been a 50% increase in aid entering Gaza since his call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 4/1, adding the increase is not enough. Hamas says the claimed increase is false. (HA 4/17)
The Intercept reports that a leaked U.S. State Department cable from 4/12 shows that the U.S. is lobbying UN Security Council members to oppose granting Palestine full UN membership. The justification given by the U.S. is that normalization between Israel and Arab countries is a faster and more effective way of achieving Palestinian statehood. The cable also says that the U.S. Congress may cut UN funding if the Security Council recommends granting Palestine full membership. A second cable from 4/13 show that on the U.S.’s behalf Ecuador is lobbying Japan, South Korea, and Malta to reject Palestinian statehood. (INT 4/17)
ProPublica reports that a U.S. State Department panel recommended in December that Secretary of State Antony Blinken disqualify several Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. aid after reviewing allegations of human rights abuses, a recommendation Blinken has ignored. Among the abuses, which are mostly from West Bank incidents and before 10/7/2023, are extrajudicial killings, the killing of an elderly Palestinian American man, and the torture and rape of a Palestinian child in Israeli custody at al-Moskobiya detention center. 26 House Democrats sign a letter to the Biden administration expressing concern over the methodology used to assess whether Israel is complying with U.S. and international law in Gaza. (AJ, HA, PP 4/17)