Here’s how things stand on Wednesday, April 17, 2024:

Fighting and humanitarian crisis

• At least 20 people have been killed in Israeli attacks on homes in Rafah, Maghazi and Gaza City since Tuesday afternoon.
• Separately, at least seven law enforcement officials tasked with protecting aid and two bystanders have been killed in an Israeli army attack in Gaza City, Gaza’s Ministry of Interior said on Tuesday.
• Fighters in Gaza continue to launch rockets into southern Israel. Two missiles fired from the Palestinian territory on Tuesday caused no damage or casualties after landing in open areas, war monitors reported.
• At least 33,843 Palestinians have been killed and 76,575 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 and dozens of people are still being held captive in Gaza.

Diplomacy and geopolitical tensions

• Iran has warned Israel it will face a “painful response” if it takes the “slightest action” to retaliate against Tehran’s missile and drone attacks which were a response to Israel bombing the Iranian embassy in Syria. Israel’s military chief said on Monday that his country will respond to Iran’s attack, but he did not elaborate on when and how as world leaders urged against further retaliation, fearing a wider conflict in the Middle East.
• Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant thanked Italy for “standing boldly with Israel following the Iranian attack”, in a call with Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto on Tuesday.
• Google employees staging protests against the Project Nimbus surveillance and AI contract with the Israeli army were arrested at the company’s California and New York offices on Tuesday.
• The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote on the State of Palestine’s application for full UN membership on Thursday, diplomatic sources say. Hamas is “not in a position to make demands”, the US ambassador to the UN has said in response to a journalist’s question on releasing more Palestinian prisoners.
• Four months after a contentious congressional hearing led to the resignations of two Ivy League presidents, Columbia University’s president is set to appear before the same committee on Wednesday over questions of anti-Semitism and the school’s response to conflicts on campus over Israel’s war on Gaza.

Violence in the occupied West Bank