After two weeks of operations, Israeli soldiers withdrew from the Al-Shifa complex in Gaza, the largest hospital in the Palestinian enclave. The Israeli army claims to have killed over 200 “terrorists,” and images show a landscape of devastation. The army accused Hamas leaders of hiding in the hospital, and 500 terrorists affiliated with terrorist organizations were arrested. Hamas apologized to the people of Gaza for the suffering caused by the war but reiterated their intention to continue the conflict to achieve victory and freedom for Palestinians.
In Jerusalem, families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and thousands of protestors demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gathered in front of the Israeli parliament. They announced their intention to continue protesting in the coming days. Meanwhile, an airstrike attributed to Israel targeted an annex of the Iranian embassy in Damascus, resulting in at least eight deaths. This marked the fifth airstrike in eight days in Syria, where Iran and its allies support Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.
The remains of Emile Soleil, a 2 and a half-year-old child who went missing on July 8, 2023, were found by a hiker near the village of Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence region. While confirmation of Emile’s death was made, authorities are still investigating the cause and circumstances. The focus of the ongoing investigation is to determine if the body was in that location since the child’s disappearance, using scientific methods to analyze soil samples.
Russia began its spring military conscription campaign, involving tens of thousands of young people aged 18 to 30. These conscripts will not participate in any special military operations and will serve for one year within Russia. In response to Anne Hidalgo’s statement in Kiev, declaring that Russian and Belarusian athletes are not welcome at the Paris Olympics, Moscow criticized her remarks. Russian athletes will participate under a neutral banner and will not march in the opening ceremony with national teams due to accusations of discrimination and intimidation.
In the face of rising flood risks, two departments in France, Côte-d’Or and Yonne, were placed under red alert by Météo-France. In Indre-et-Loire, where residents were evacuated due to rising waters, the alert was lowered to orange. Search efforts continued in Haute-Vienne to find a kayaker reported in difficulty near Limoges. In Turkey, the main opposition party won the municipal elections with the reelection of mayors in Istanbul and Ankara, marking a significant defeat for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The opposition party, CHP, secured victories in various conservative strongholds, prompting Erdogan to promise to respect the nation’s decision.
Finally, other notable events included Pope Francis presiding over Easter celebrations amid health concerns, Germany becoming the largest EU country to legalize recreational cannabis, the doubling of the deductible on medication boxes in health insurance plans, more than 80 political parties and organizations in Mali calling for presidential elections, PSG winning against Marseille in football, and the end of the “malus” penalty for 700,000 retirees in the Agirc-Arrco retirement fund.
