Friday briefing: Many dead in Gaza as Israelis open fire
Many people were killed in Gaza after Israel opened fire
Israeli forces opened fire yesterday as a crowd gathered near an aid convoy in Gaza City, killing or wounding dozens, the Palestinian Authority news agency and an Israeli official said.
The details of what happened were unclear, and Palestinian and Israeli officials gave completely different accounts. Here’s the latest.
Gaza health authorities said more than 100 people were killed and more than 700 injured in a “massacre.” The Palestinian Authority’s official news agency, Wafa, reported that “Israeli tanks had opened fire with machine guns on thousands” while awaiting the arrival of aid.
The Israeli official acknowledged that troops had opened fire but said most of the people had been killed or injured in a stampede several hundred meters away. The Israeli army said Gazans had surrounded aid trucks and “looted supplies.” As a result, dozens were “killed and injured by being pushed, trampled and run over by the trucks.” It did not directly address the Palestinian claims of machine gun fire and said it was investigating.
A Hamas official warned that the killings could derail ceasefire negotiations. President Biden, after expressing hope earlier this week that an agreement could be reached on Monday, agreed that the shooting would likely complicate negotiations.
A grim milestone: The death toll in Gaza has passed 30,000 since the war began on October 7, with about one person killed for every 73 Palestinians in the enclave. The figures, provided by Gaza’s health ministry, are likely an undercount, experts say.
Putin said the West risks nuclear conflict
President Vladimir Putin said in his annual State of the Nation address that the West would face the prospect of a nuclear response if it were to intervene more directly in the war in Ukraine.
The Russian leader alluded to comments from President Emmanuel Macron of France this week in which he raised the possibility of sending NATO troops to Ukraine. Putin said that NATO countries that might consider such a move “must ultimately understand” that “all this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and with it the destruction of civilization.”
Background: Putin has repeatedly made veiled nuclear threats against the West since invading Ukraine two years ago. He seemed to have toned down that rhetoric over the past year. But yesterday he backtracked, linking his threats to a claim that he was ready to resume arms control negotiations with the US.
Military assistance: The Biden administration is considering supplying Ukraine with weapons by tapping into the Pentagon’s stockpiles again, even though the administration has run out of money to replace that ammunition, according to officials.
Trump’s delaying tactics are paying off in immunity cases
The Supreme Court threw Donald Trump a legal lifeline on Wednesday as the justices decided to consider his claim that he is immune from prosecution on charges of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election. The court’s decision aided his efforts to delay the trial and increased the likelihood that he will not face a jury on Election Day in November.
At the end of April, the judges organized a hearing on the issue. The legal calendar now suggests that if the justices rule before the end of the court’s term in June and determine that Trump is not immune from prosecution, the trial could begin in late September or October.
What is a bet: If Trump is elected president before going to trial, he could dismiss the case altogether.
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