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High-profile North Korean delegation makes rare public visit to Iran

By
IFP Media Wire
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Yun Jong Ho

A delegation headed by North Korea’s minister for external economic relations, Yun Jong Ho, departed for Iran by plane on Tuesday, according to the agency. KCNA did not reveal further details about the visit.

In February, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sent a congratulatory message to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on the 45th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. Kim expressed confidence that “the traditional relations of friendship and cooperation between our two countries forged on the road of joint struggle against imperialism will expand and develop in various fields”.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said last Tuesday that Washington is “incredibly concerned” about alleged cooperation between Tehran and Pyongyang in nuclear and ballistic missile development.

The two countries remain under harsh international sanctions over their weapons programs.

North Korea and Iran have been accused by the US and its allies of respectively providing artillery shells and drones to Russia amid the conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Tehran have denied the claims, while Russia has insisted it relies on domestically produced weapons for its military operation.

WFP warns half of Gaza’s population ‘starving’, food relief a ‘drop in the ocean’ of need

By
IFP Media Wire
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Gaza War

While WFP is providing food assistance to more than 1 million people in Gaza each month, the need was so acute that such efforts amount to “a drop in the ocean of needs”, the agency said in a post on social media.

The UN’s food relief agency also added a humanitarian ceasefire was needed immediately.

Israel has consistently denied aid convoys to northern Gaza, according to the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).

It has called the reopening four bakeries in northern Gaza thanks to “critical” World Food Programme support a “drop in the ocean”.

In a post on X, UNRWA said Israeli authorities continue to prevent its food convoys from reaching the north of the besieged and bombarded territory.

“We need safe & unimpeded access. Food supplies are a matter of life & death,” it added.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,200 Palestinians have since been killed and more than 77,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

ICRC expresses concern over West Bank violence

By
IFP Media Wire
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West Bank

Since early last year, Israel has intensified raids in the West Bank, which were accelerated after Israel launched its war on Gaza on October 7. At least 482 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli soldiers or settlers since the war began.

But last week, attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian communities ramped up significantly, and a raid by Israeli forces that lasted several days on the city of Tulkarem and its Nur Shams refugee camp killed 14 people.

In its post, the ICRC said that over the weekend, two medics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) were harmed while trying to respond to calls for help.

“One volunteer suffered a gunshot wound while serving as a paramedic on a PRCS ambulance in Tulkarem. Mohammed Awad Allah Musa was killed while providing medical support on a private ambulance in Nablus,” the organisation noted.

“Ambulances and medical workers are not a target,” it added.

UN urges investigation into mass graves found at Gaza hospitals

By
IFP Media Wire
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Mass Graves Gaza

The mass graves contained some people stripped naked with their hands tied, raising concerns over potential war crimes, the U.N. said, describing the bodies as “buried deep in the ground and covered with waste.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday that investigators must have complete access to the sites and ensured safety from the Israeli military.

Mass grave sites were discovered at the Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, containing more than 300 bodies. The Khan Younis burial site was constructed because Palestinian civilians could not perform burials due to ongoing military attacks by Israeli forces, Palestinian Civil Defense announced.

“Hospitals are entitled to very special protection under international humanitarian law,” U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk said Tuesday.

“And the intentional killing of civilians, detainees and others who are ‘hors de combat’ (incapable of engaging in combat) is a war crime.”

Türk stated any investigation into the mass graves should be independent of the Israeli government “given the prevailing climate of impunity”, adding that he was “horrified” by the reports.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani added that 30 bodies were discovered at the Al-Shifa Hospital site, including some bound and tied.

She stated that there could be “many more” victims “despite the claim by the Israeli Defense Forces to have killed 200 Palestinians during the Al-Shifa medical complex operation”.

The Israeli military has again stepped-up strikes on southern Gaza in recent days, as it hopes to push into the city of Rafah. A total of 34,000 Palestinians — two-thirds of them women and children — have been killed in the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Much of Gaza has now devolved into famine.

Flashfloods hit central, southeastern Iranian cities Isfahan, Yazd

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Flood in Iran

After the heavy showers on Tuesday in the historic province of Yazd in central Iran, the rivers in 11 cities in the province burst their banks, putting the historical monuments and the villages in the region at risk.

Yazd’s neighboring province Isfahan was also affected by the floods.

The crisis management department in the province deployed several rescue teams to the flood-hit areas.

Mansour Shishe-Foroush, the head of Isfahan’s Crisis Management, said, “Due to the heavy rains and floods, 270 relief teams including crisis management agents have been settled in municipalities, rural districts, and governorates as well as executive bodies.”

The rainfall has damaged about 6,000 hectares of the farmlands in the province and has blocked roads leading to the rural areas.

The flooding comes after years of draught in many Iranian provinces, leading to water crisis in the summertime.

Iranian president inaugurates major hydropower project in Sri Lanka

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Ebrahim Raisi

The Iranian president arrived in the country earlier in the day at the invitation of his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe after a trip to Pakistan.

The Uma Oya hydropower complex, a megaproject financed by Iran, was initially launched in 2013 and was scheduled to be inaugurated in 2015 but was delayed due to US-led sanctions.

The project, valued at about $514 million, will add 290 GWh to Sri Lanka’s national grid and supply water to 6,000 hectares of farmland and drinking water to thousands of families near the capital Colombo.

In Sri Lanka, Raisi is scheduled to meet high-ranking officials and sign a number of cooperation documents.

Shirin Su lagoon in western Iran filled with water after recent downpours

By
IFP Editorial Staff
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Iran Flood

Sirous Azizi told IRNA that the 300-hectare man-made lagoon, located 40 km from the provincial city of Kobudar Ahang, had experienced an alarming decline in the water level following low precipitations in the country.

Considering the width of the body of water, the lagoon is host to a large number of aquatic and waterside migratory birds in rainy seasons, Azizi said.

The recent downpours have welcomed back gray herons, green ducks, teals, and especially flamingos to the lagoon.

Besides aquatic species, the wetland is also the habitat of the water snakes that come out of water and sunbathe on the rocks at the edge of the lagoon.

Hamas military spokesperson calls for continued attacks on Israel in first video message in weeks

By
IFP Media Wire
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Hamas Group

“We will keep attacking the enemy with different techniques as long as the aggression continues on our land,” Abu Obaida said.

Hamas fighters would “keep coming out to fight the enemy,” he added.

He also praised Iran’s unprecedented strikes on Israel earlier this month, saying the attack’s “size and nature, established new rules and confused the enemy’s calculations”.

Abu Obaida also slammed Israel’s role in the hostage release and ceasefire negotiations, saying Israel is “trying to renounce all his promises” and wants to “gain more time”.

Israel has waged a sweeping offensive on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 which killed around 1,200 people.

At least 34,150 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 77,000 have been injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement as acute shortages of food plunge Gaza into famine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

Qatar rules out shutting Hamas office “as long as mediation channels continue”

By
IFP Media Wire
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Hamas

Qatar has come under pressure from Israel and US politicians over its links with the Palestinian group. But it announced on Tuesday that there won’t be a need to shut the Hamas political bureau in Doha provided that communication channels remain open.

“If the office is performing that role, as in the mediation efforts are ongoing, then there is no justification to end the presence of the (Hamas) office in Doha,” Spokesperson Majed Al Ansari told a news conference on Tuesday.

“We are calling on both sides to show more flexibility and seriousness in the negotiations,” Ansari added.

Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has recently expressed concerns over the current state of international mediation efforts led by Doha to help reach an agreement on the release of hostages and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the besieged enclave.

Qatar has been working to try to mediate a deal throughout the seven months of fighting in Gaza. However, there is still no sign of any breakthrough in the negotiations, as Israel and Hamas each refuse to move on conditions the other side declares unacceptable.

As the longwinded talks, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, continue, the Israeli military has continued deadly military operations inside the tiny enclave, which remains blockaded.

More than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, while the 2.3-million-strong population have been left in dire conditions, amid shortages of food, shelter and medicine.

Meanwhile, the armed group continues to hold more than 100 captives taken from Israel during its raid across the enclave’s northern border on October 7, which killed more than 1,100.

A previous deal in November saw the release of 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners in exchange for 240 Palestinians, including 71 women and 169 children.

US Senate passes Ukraine, Israel funding after months-long stalemate

By
IFP Media Wire
-
Russia Ukraine War

The final tally was 79-18, a rousing show of bipartisanship in an era of deep political divisions.

“The relentless work of six long months has paid off,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., stated on the Senate floor following an earlier procedural vote.

Now that the bill has passed, it goes to Biden, who said he would sign it into law Wednesday, after the House passed the package as four separate bills on Saturday.

The bill will “strengthen our national security and send a message to the world about the power of American leadership: we stand resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression”, Biden said in a statement Tuesday night.

The funding includes roughly $60 billion for Ukraine aid, $26 billion for Israel and $8 billion for Taiwan and Indo-Pacific security.

Spending-wise, the legislation is similar to the $95 billion foreign aid bill passed by the Senate in February, which has been effectively shelved in the House in the weeks since.

But this bill also contains several other foreign policy proposals, including a measure to force Chinese TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the social media platform or else face a national ban of the app. The provision would give ByteDance nine months to sell, though Biden could extend that timeline to a year.

A source within the company said TikTok would pursue a “legal challenge” if the bill was signed into law, according to an internal memo obtained by NBC News.

“It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives is using the cover of important foreign and humanitarian assistance to once again jam through a ban bill that would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans,” a TikTok spokesperson stated Saturday following the House’s passage of the bill.

So far this year, TikTok and ByteDance have jointly spent over $7 million on lobbying and advertisements to prevent Congress from passing the legislation to force the sale, according to disclosure reports.

The foreign aid package has also been the subject of deep GOP infighting, a major reason that the legislation has been deadlocked on Capitol Hill since Biden first proposed it in October.

House Republicans like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., have threatened to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., in part for passing this foreign aid, calling it a “total betrayal” on X. In March, she filed a motion to vacate the speaker but has yet to follow through on forcing a vote.

Those political threats, along with an increasingly razor-thin House Republican majority, led Johnson to effectively table the Senate’s $95 billion foreign aid bill for weeks.

But Johnson decided to end the stalemate on the foreign aid last week following Iran’s attack on April 13, after which the speaker faced renewed bipartisan pressure to move on the funding.

And despite Greene’s threats, Johnson’s job has some insurance from former President Donald Trump’s public support.

“Look, we have a majority of one, okay? It’s not like he can go and do whatever he wants to do. I think he’s a very good person,” Trump said in a radio interview on “The John Fredericks Show” on Monday evening.

“I think he’s trying very hard.”

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