April 9, 2024 - Israel-Hamas war

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, said that several UN agencies are assisting in the efforts to retrieve bodies in and around Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza.

Tedros said in a post on X Tuesday, that WHO, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and others were supporting Gaza’s Health Ministry “in organising dignified burials for the unidentified bodies on Al-Shifa Hospital premises.”

“This war is a moral failure of humanity,” Tedros added.

A video accompanying his post showed UN and Palestinian workers retrieving bodies from mounds of sand in the area of Al-Shifa.

CNN reported earlier today that the Gaza Civil Defense organization said that nearly 400 bodies have been recovered from around Al-Shifa hospital, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area last week.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that for the first time, the maritime air defense system known as "C-Dome" has intercepted a drone.

The IDF said Tuesday that overnight, a Sa'ar 6-class corvette missile ship “successfully intercepted a UAV that had approached from the east and had crossed into the area of the Gulf of Eilat” in the northern Red Sea.

Houthi rebels in Yemen said last month that they had fired 32 drones towards Israel in support of Hamas. 

French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne has suggested that imposing EU sanctions could be a way to pressure Israel into opening Gaza border crossings for humanitarian aid. 

“France was the first country to propose European Union sanctions on violent [Israeli] settlers in the West Bank. We will continue if needed to obtain the opening up of humanitarian aid,” Sejourne added.

The minister said that 300 trucks of aid, at a minimum, need to enter Gaza daily.

Israel has responded to Turkey's decision to ban exports of military-related products, accusing Ankara of breaching a trade agreement.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is "once again sacrificing the economic interests of the people of Turkey for his support of Hamas," adding that Israel will "respond accordingly." 

In response, Katz said he:

Some context: Turkey announced new restrictions on exports to Israel on Tuesday after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of denying a request to airdrop aid to Gaza.

Children in Gaza have been dying from “starvation-related complications” since Israel began using starvation as a weapon of war, which is a war crime, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday.

Israel denies the accusation, despite widespread evidence of malnutrition in Gaza. The report documents accounts from doctors and families in Gaza that described children, as well as pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, suffering from severe malnutrition and dehydration and hospitals ill-equipped to treat them.

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya who heads Kamal Adwan Hospital’s pediatrics unit in northern Gaza told HRW on Thursday that 26 children had died from starvation-related complications in his hospital alone. At least 16 were under 5 months old, and at least 10 were between 1 and 8 years old, he said.

The report also cites other challenges in distributing the little aid that does make it into the enclave, including ongoing Israeli bombardment and lack of security assurances. According to the report, Israel said aid entering Gaza faced no limits apart from security concerns, and some Israeli officials have blamed the UN for distribution delays. Other Israeli officials accused Hamas of aid diversion.

What Israel says: The Israeli Defense Ministry’s body governing civilian affairs in the Palestinian territories (COGAT) denied that the Israeli government was purposely starving Gaza’s civilian population. HRW said it sought comment from COGAT on the findings of its report but did not receive a response.

CNN cannot independently verify the findings in HRW’s report, but has reported similar accounts from Gazan civilians, Palestinian officials in Gaza and international humanitarian organizations documenting the war. 

Turkey announced new restrictions on exports to Israel on Tuesday after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of denying a request to airdrop aid to Gaza.

The Ministry of Trade slapped a ban on the export of 54 items, particularly products that could be used for military or construction purposes. In the statement, the ministry condemned Israel’s prevention of access to “the most basic food, medical care and supplies” for the people of Gaza. 

Among the specified items listed in the statement were steel and aluminium materials, cement, electrical cables and construction and metal working machinery. Speaking at a news conference in Ankara late Monday, Fidan said Turkey was taking “a series of new measures against Israel” after Israel denied its request to join the Jordanian aid operation.

Key context: Turkey is among the top two countries delivering aid to Gaza, alongside the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Germany has hit back at accusations from Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that it has been “facilitating genocide” in Gaza through its support for Israel, insisting that Israeli security is at the "core" of German foreign policy.

Addressing the ICJ in The Hague on Tuesday, Germany's lawyer Tania von Uslar-Gleichen stressed Germany “firmly rejects Nicaragua's accusations.”

Von Uslar-Gleichen nodded to the Nazi Holocaust against Jews during World War II in explaining to the ICJ that Israeli security is at the “core” of German foreign policy, adding: “Our history is the reason why Israel's security has been at the core of German foreign policy.”

A lawyer representing Germany, Samuel Wordsworth, argued Germany could not be found to be "facilitating genocide" because for that to be the case, the court would need to have already ruled that Israel has breached international law in Gaza. The ICJ has not however issued a ruling on whether Israel has committed any breaches of international law in Gaza.

"Nicaragua must establish that at least prima facie, the court is able to exercise jurisdiction, and it cannot do so, given the manifest absence of an indispensable third party, namely Israel".

In Monday's hearing, Nicaragua accused Germany of “facilitating genocide” through its sustained political, financial, and military support for Israel and suspension of funding to the main UN agency in Gaza, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). 

This post has been updated with additional comments from Germany's lawyer.

Gaza's Civil Defense organization says that nearly 400 bodies have been recovered from around Al-Shifa hospital, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area last week.

Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal told CNN Tuesday: “We have recovered 381 bodies from Al Shifa and the surrounding area since the withdrawal of the Israeli military.”

Basal said that the total did not include people who had been buried in the grounds of the hospital.

He added that recovery workers had also retrieved 77 bodies in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, an area that saw heavy fighting for many weeks until Israeli troops withdrew earlier this week.

Cross-border attacks between Israel and Hezbollah have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes along both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border.

In Lebanon, at least 90,000 people are now relying on food boxes to survive, including relief provided by Virginia-based non-profit Islamic Relief USA.

"Honestly, we've lost a lot. We've lost everything in our area," one woman tells CNN.

Watch more about the impact of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah on border towns here.