An updated mapping by OCHA shows 925 movement obstacles across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem – the highest number recorded in the past 20 years and 43 per cent above the two-decade average.
Since January 2023, 45 Palestinian communities have been fully displaced across the West Bank due to settler attacks and related access restrictions, including nine communities in 2026.
In Gaza, two years of escalated hostilities caused development to leap back by an estimated 77 years, a new European Union and United Nations assessment finds.
While major impediments persist, aid entry into Gaza surged considerably between 14 and 20 April, compared with the previous week, attributable, inter alia, to the reopening of Zikim Crossing.
Two UNICEF contractors killed while delivering drinking water in northern Gaza, prompting the suspension of operations at a key filling point.
Overview
Across the Occupied Palestinian Territory, people continue to face acute protection, access and humanitarian challenges driven by systemic violence, movement restrictions and the erosion of essential services. Recurrent attacks affecting civilians – including children, aid workers and service providers – drive and sustain displacement and further heighten risks to Palestinians’ safety and wellbeing, particularly for displaced communities, women, girls and others facing intersecting vulnerabilities.
In a new report covering 2025, UN Women notes that across Gaza and the West Bank, women and girls remained in urgent need of lifesaving humanitarian protection and assistance, including access to food, clean water, shelter, health care, and education. It warns that women and girls continue to face heightened risks of gender-based violence – particularly older women, those with disabilities or caring for family members with disabilities. The report links those risks to repeated displacement, overcrowded and unsafe living conditions, resource scarcity and the collapse of family and community protective networks. All the while, the report warns, access to services that prevent or respond to gender-based violence remain critically limited. A separate report by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) warns of harmful coping mechanisms, including child marriage, across the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In Gaza, UNFPA warns that such practices are on the rise, accompanied by a surge in adolescent pregnancies.
In the West Bank, sexualized and gender-based violence is occurring “within a coercive environment that contributes to the forcible transfer of Palestinian communities,” according to a recent report by the West Bank Protection Consortium. Communities have reported a “broader pattern of sexualized harassment, intimidation and humiliation, much of which remains underreported,” including conduct that takes “sexualized and gendered forms.” In this context, “more than 70% of displaced households identified threats to women and children, particularly sexualized violence, as the decisive reason for leaving,” highlighting its role as a key driver of displacement. The report further notes that such violence “penetrates domestic space, fractures family life and renders continued civilian residence untenable,” reinforcing the cumulative pressures that lead families to leave their communities.
West Bank
During the reporting period, between 14 and 20 April, schools reopened for in-person learning across the West Bank and students have resumed classroom attendance after nearly one month of disrupted schooling due to the regional escalation. While some students were able to access remote learning during this period, significant learning time has been lost, according to the Education Cluster. A key challenge remains supporting children to readjust to structured, in-person learning routines after an extended period of remote education. This transition is affecting attendance, engagement, and overall continuity of learning, particularly for younger students and those who faced limited access to remote modalities.
Educational materials lie scattered on the ground following the demolition of a donor-funded Palestinian school by Israeli settlers in the northern Jordan Valley. Photo by OCHA
Casualties and Settler Attacks
Between 14 and 20 April, Israeli forces shot and killed two Palestinians, including one child, in two separate incidents in Jerusalem and Hebron governorates. The first occurred on 16 April during a raid by Israeli forces in Beit Duqqu village in Jerusalem governorate. The second took place on 18 April near an Israeli settlement in Hebron governorate; according to Israeli forces, the man was inside the Israeli settlement with a knife. The bodies of both Palestinians have been withheld by Israeli authorities.
Outside the reporting period of this section, on 22 April, Israeli settlers shot and killed a Palestinian man during a settler attack in Deir Dibwan town, in Ramallah governorate. On 21 April, four Palestinian fatalities, including two children, were reported. A Palestinian woman died of injuries sustained in 2023 during an Israeli forces’ operation in Jenin Camp. In Al Mughayyir village, in Ramallah governorate, an Israeli settler opened fire toward the village near the school, killing a Palestinian child and injuring two others. Israeli forces subsequently arrived and fired live ammunition, tear gas canisters, and sound grenades. Another Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli settlers near the school. In another incident on 21 April, a Palestinian boy died in a road traffic incident at Beit ‘Einun junction on Road 60 in Hebron governorate after being struck by a vehicle belonging to an Israeli security unit, reportedly securing a ministerial convoy; Israeli police opened an investigation (not counted among the overall number of fatalities by Israeli forces or settlers).
During the same reporting period, at least 55 Palestinians, including nine children, were injured, including 31 by Israeli settlers in settler attacks and 24 by Israeli forces mainly within the context of search operations and other raids by Israeli forces. More than half of Palestinians injured by Israeli settles or forces during settler attacks (18 out 34) were reported in a single incident in Halhul town, in Hebron governorate. During this incident, dozens of Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian farmers while they were working on their land. Israeli settlers physically assaulted Palestinians, used pepper spray, and stole agricultural tools. Israeli forces arrived at the scene, declared the area a closed military zone, and detained about 120 Palestinians, later releasing most of them.
Between 14 and 20 April, OCHA documented at least 37 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians that resulted in casualties, property damage, or both, bringing the total number of attacks since the beginning of 2026 to about 680 in over 200 communities. This is an average of six incidents per day. During the reporting period, more than 260 Palestinian-owned trees and saplings and 14 vehicles, including an ambulance, were vandalized, and water pipes were damaged. In addition, at least 170 Palestinian-owned livestock were reportedly stolen by Israeli settlers from two communities in Ramallah governorate.
On 20 April, students in Umm al Khair community, in Hebron governorate, protested after Israeli settlers had blocked the main access route to the local school with a metal fence on 13 April, leaving only an unsafe alternative route passing near a settlement outpost. When students and families previously attempted to access the school, Israeli forces accompanying settlers fired tear gas canisters toward them, affecting 55 students, including 23 girls, who suffered tear gas inhalation and acute stress symptoms; no cases were referred for medical treatment. According to the Education Cluster, the incident highlights children’s exposure to the use of force by Israeli forces and settlers near schools and ongoing risks to safe access to education. In response, three education partners are delivering coordinated support to affected children, including psychosocial services. Education cash assistance for transportation has commenced and will continue through the end of the academic year. The distribution of recreational kits, stationery, and school bags also continues.
Arson attacks by Israeli settlers continued during the reporting period (14-20 April), affecting Palestinian homes, vehicles and agricultural livelihoods across multiple communities. In at least five incidents, settlers set fire to residential structures, including parts of a multi-storey home, agricultural land and assets, resulting in damage to at least two homes, destruction of crops cultivated on several dunums, and the loss of key livelihood items such as equipment, tents and vehicles. An ambulance travelling on a main road was also damaged after settlers threw flammable materials at it.
Access to Water
According to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Cluster, access to water and sanitation services across the West Bank remains constrained due to ongoing settler violence, movement restrictions, demolitions, and damage to infrastructure, particularly in the northern West Bank, Masafer Yatta in Hebron governorate, and other herding communities residing in Area C. These conditions continue to disrupt access of Palestinians to water sources, damage networks and storage structures, and limit service delivery, increasing reliance on short-term interventions such as water trucking.
So far in 2026, Israeli settlers have vandalized over 60 WASH structures and infrastructure, including pipelines, irrigation systems and water tanks, undermining access to water in 32 Palestinian communities.
The impact of these incidents on herding and farming communities is especially acute. For example, on 12 April, Israeli settlers bulldozed at least 300 metres of a main water network near Khirbet ‘Atuf, in Tubas governorate in the northern Jordan Valley, cutting off water supply to more than 20 Palestinian families in the eastern ‘Atuf and Ras al-Ahmar communities. The damage also affected the livelihoods of about 120 farmers in eastern ‘Atuf and 300 farmers in Al-Ras al-Ahmar whose lands are located east of the newly constructed trench, with water supply disconnected for at least 48 hours. Also in the northern Jordan Valley, Israeli settlers continue to destroy water pipelines connected to Ein el Himma Spring in Khirbet Tell el Himma community and restrict the access of Palestinian herders and farmers to the area through physical assaults and intimidation. In Masafer Yatta, water supply to 11 communities has been disrupted since late January, when settlers reportedly interfered with the main transmission pipeline, cutting off access, and was followed by repeated acts of sabotage against the network. In March, efforts to restore water access through the provision of spare parts to service providers enabled the temporary reconnection of a damaged main pipeline. However, the pipeline was reportedly damaged again within 12 hours, resulting in renewed disruption of supply and continued reliance on emergency water trucking.
To mitigate the impact of these violent incidents, WASH Cluster partners continue to implement a range of emergency and resilience-focused interventions. In March, 10 partners reached about 29,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other crisis-affected people across 73 communities with emergency interventions while continuing to explore more sustainable solutions where access permits. Key interventions included: delivering 2,528 cubic metres of water through trucking; installing or rehabilitating 6,864 metres of water networks; providing 636 water storage tanks; rehabilitating 23 cisterns; installing or repairing 157 latrines; desludging 1,660 cubic metres of wastewater; and distributing 338 hygiene kits.
Displacement
During the reporting period, between 14 and 20 April, OCHA triggered emergency response to the demolition of 40 Palestinian-owned structures, including 14 homes, for lacking Israeli-issued building permits, which are nearly impossible for Palestinians to obtain. These included 33 structures in Area C, displacing five families of 23 people, including 15 children, and seven structures (all homes) demolished by their owners in East Jerusalem, displacing 35 people, including 11 children.
Just over half of the structures (17) and all displacement (23 people) in Area C were in the community of Az Za’ayyem Bedouins in the Jerusalem governorate. Az Za’ayyem Bedouin is among 18 communities of over 4,000 people residing in an area designated for the E1 settlement plan in eastern Jerusalem governorate by Israeli authorities to create a continuous built-up area between Ma’ale Adumim settlement and Jerusalem.
In addition, a Palestinian family of eight people, including three children, was displaced on 14 April in a herding community in Hebron governorate, due to recurrent settler attacks. Settler attacks have accounted for about 75 per cent of displacement across the West Bank in 2026, further intensifying the coercive environment and heightening the risk of forcible transfer.
In another incident (outside the reporting period), on 21 April, Israeli settlers, believed to be from a newly-established settlement outpost near Tayasir checkpoint in Tubas governorate in the northern Jordan Valley, raided the Hammamat al Maleh community, and demolished at least two residential structures and an elementary, donor-funded school that served approximately 60 children from surrounding herding communities. In addition, the last three remaining Palestinian households in the community, comprising 15 people including six children, were fully displaced. This is one of six communities that have been fully displaced in Tubas governorate since 2023 due to settler attacks and access restrictions.
Since January 2023, 116 communities across the West Bank have experienced full or partial displacement due to settler attacks and related access restrictions, predominantly in Bedouin and herding communities in Area C. These include 45 communities comprising over 3,500 people that have been fully displaced, including 14 communities in 2023 (10 of them in the aftermath of 7 October), 10 in 2024, 12 in 2025 and nine so far in 2026. In total, more than 5,800 Palestinians have been displaced within this context, including about 1,960 people in 2026.
Access and Movement Restrictions
On 23 April, OCHA released the findings of a field survey conducted in December 2025, where it documented 925 movement obstacles that permanently or intermittently restrict the movement of 3.4 million Palestinians across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This is 43 per cent more than the annual average of 647 movement obstacles in the preceding 20 years. Checkpoints and road gates comprise nearly 60 per cent of movement obstacles, signaling the increasing entrenchment of movement restrictions. Combined with the long-standing impact of the Barrier and its associated regime, movement restrictions continue to undermine Palestinians’ access to essential services, such as health care and education.
On at least three occasions in March 2026, Israeli forces installed movement obstacles across Nablus, Salfit, and Tubas governorates, disrupting access to services, homes, and livelihoods. In Al Lubban ash Sharqiya in Nablus governorate, Israeli forces blocked with cement blocks a road that affected students’ vehicular access to schools in the area. In Deir Ballut in Salfit governorate, a roadblock restricted the movement of four families to their homes. In Khirbet ‘Atuf in Tubas governorate, Israeli forces installed two gates that forced 32 families in the area to rely on less accessible routes to reach their homes, essential services and farmland.
Further details on key incidents in the West Bank are provided in Annex 2.
For key figures and additional breakdowns of casualties, displacement and settler violence between January 2005 and March 2026, please refer to the OCHA West Bank March 2026 Snapshot.
Gaza Strip
Living conditions across the Gaza Strip remain dire, with most people still displaced, exposed to rising public health risks (see below) and ongoing strikes that cause civilian harm. Over the past week, reports of gunfire, shelling and strikes have increased significantly.
Data by the Ministry of Health (MoH) in Gaza indicates that between 15 and 21 April, 18 Palestinians were killed, three died of wounds, one body was retrieved, and 79 people were injured. This brings the overall reported casualty toll since the announcement of the ceasefire on 10 October 2025 to 786 fatalities and 2,217 injuries. Another 196 fatalities were retroactively added to the total number after their identification details were approved by MoH.
Aid workers and other providers of critical services have not been spared. On 17 April, during routine work to deliver drinking water to displaced communities, two civilian contractors operating on behalf of UNICEF were killed, and two others were injured. In a statement, UNICEF said the contractors were killed by Israeli fire at the Mansoura drinking water filling station in northern Gaza.
In a separate statement, the Humanitarian Country Team of the Occupied Palestinian Territory condemned the killing, reminded the obligation set in international humanitarian law to protect civilians, and called for immediate measures to ensure the safety of civilians and humanitarian operations.
The incident forced UNICEF to suspend water collection at that location until security conditions are restored. Since that was the primary operational filling point from the Mekorot water pipeline from Israel, serving Gaza city, mitigation measures were critical; partners have therefore increased water collection from alternative sources, including private desalination plants.
On 20 April, the European Union and the United Nations released the final Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, jointly concluded with the World Bank. The assessment finds that over 24 months of escalated hostilities caused catastrophic levels of infrastructure damage and destruction, with the total recovery and reconstruction needs estimated at US$71.4 billion over the next decade. Physical infrastructure damage is assessed at $35.2 billion, alongside $22.7 billion in economic and social losses, with housing, health, education, commerce and agriculture among the hardest hit sectors. According to the new assessment, over 370,000 housing units and nearly all schools have been destroyed or damaged, more than half of hospitals are non functional, and Gaza’s economy has contracted by 84 per cent. Overall, human development in Gaza is assessed to have leaped back by 77 years. The authors of the report call for recovery efforts to run in parallel with humanitarian response and to be Palestinian led and aligned with UN Security Council Resolution 2803.
Pests, rodents and public health
Aid workers applying pest-control measures at a displacement site in Gaza. Photo by UNRWA
Vector-borne risks linked to the proximity of solid waste accumulation to displacement sites remain high. Rodents, cockroaches, flies, and other pests are proliferating and contributing to the spread of disease. Between 14 and 19 April, the Site Management Cluster coordinated fumigation across 21 designated emergency shelters and 30 nearby displacement sites in Rafah and Khan Younis, benefiting approximately 35,000 people (6,950 families). Fumigation activities in Khan Younis have been completed, while implementation in Rafah is ongoing. The Israeli authorities have approved the import of essential pesticides, insecticides, and equipment to support implementation of the plan. Other interventions are ongoing.
Between 14 and 20 April, according to UN 2720 Mechanism data retrieved at 19:00 on 23 April, approximately 17,400 pallets of UN and partners’ aid were offloaded at the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. Of these supplies, nearly 70 per cent consisted of food assistance, followed by shelter items (24 per cent), health supplies (3 per cent), nutrition supplies (2 per cent), and WASH supplies (1 per cent). This marks a significant increase compared with the previous week, when about 7,400 pallets were offloaded, attributable, inter alia, to the reopening of Zikim Crossing for collections on 13 April.
During the same period, nearly 12,900 pallets of UN and partners’ aid were collected for onward distribution inside Gaza, compared with about 9,200 pallets the previous week.
At Ashdod Port, scanning capacity remains limited, with only 40 to 60 aid containers scanned per day – below the communicated and desirable target of between 80 and 100. Overall, between 14 and 19 April, only 48 per cent of UN and partner truckloads manifested via Ashdod offloaded at Kerem Shalom or Zikim due a low scanning throughout. The offloading rate via Egypt remained stable at 73 per cent, while 91 per cent of the trucks manifested from Israel (excluding Ashdod port) and 100 per cent of those from the West Bank offloaded at Kerem Shalom.
The Logistics Cluster has expanded common storage capacity inside Gaza to over 15,500 square metres across 12 warehouses, strengthening partners’ ability to manage incoming supplies.
All data presented so far in this section, on incoming supplies, refers to humanitarian cargo tracked by the UN 2720 mechanism; as such, it does not include bilateral donations and the commercial sector.
With regards to the commercial sector, data shared by the Gaza Chamber of Commerce with the Cash Working Group suggests that between 13 and 19 April, a total of 843 truckloads of commercial goods were collected into the Strip – more than double the quantity collected the week prior. Of the 843 trucks, the majority comprised food supplies, 75 carried shelter items, 52 hygiene supplies, 25 cooking gas and one solid fuel, while over 23 per cent comprised items classified as “other,” including soft drinks, biscuits, chips, noodles, spices, jellies and sweets, instant coffee, nuts, chocolate-hazelnut spread, flavored milk, caramel cream and breadcrumbs.
Prices have started declining, indicating a market correction since the spikes registered at the beginning of the regional escalation when all crossings were temporarily closed. However, they remain significantly higher than prior to October 2023 levels, and elevated even compared with the period between the 10 October 2025 ceasefire declaration and the beginning of the regional escalation on 28 February 2026.
For a detailed account of the latest humanitarian operations in Gaza, see Annex 1 below.
Fuel Supply
Between 16 and 21 April, UNOPS facilitated the entry of just over 500,000 litres of diesel into Gaza and distributed over 800,000 litres (including from stocks that entered before that period) in support of humanitarian operations.
Annex 1: Humanitarian Operations in the Gaza Strip by Cluster
Read more
This section covers 14 to 19 April unless otherwise specified.
Food Security
Between 1 and 19 April, Food Security partners provided general food assistance at the household level to more than 154,000 families (approximately 600,000 people) as part of the April monthly distribution cycle. Each family received two parcels, one 25-kilogram flour bag and 2.5 kilograms of high energy biscuits, covering 75 per cent of minimum caloric needs. Additional caloric needs are covered through other modalities.
As of 15 April, partners continued to prepare and serve almost 1.14 million meals every day through 122 kitchens. This includes 799,000 daily meals produced in northern Gaza and 830,000 meals in the south. Partners are working to focus more on delivery to hard-to-reach and underserved areas. Compared with late March, daily meal production has decreased by 24 per cent, largely due to the scale-down of some partners’ activities in light of the diversification of aid modalities for the sector.
Every day, at least 290 metric tons of bread, representing 35 per cent of the estimated bread needs in the Gaza Strip, are produced with the support of Food Security partners. This bread is either distributed free of charge or sold at subsidized prices across the Strip. Production is carried out in collaboration with more than 30 commercial bakeries, as well as partners’ own baking facilities and community ovens.
Food Security partners, as well as bilateral government actors, continue distributing flour to enable families to bake bread at home. However, to sustainably improve bread availability across the Strip, humanitarian-supported bread production and flour distribution alone are insufficient. Commercial flour must be allowed to enter Gaza at scale to enable commercial bakeries to produce bread for sale on the local market.
Another round of animal feed distribution began on 15 April. As of 18 April, approximately 1,100 of the 2,200 targeted herders had been assisted, each receiving three 50-kilogram bags of feed, while distributions are ongoing.
Nutrition
Between 1 and 15 April, based on initial partner reporting, Nutrition Cluster partners screened 40,819 children aged 6–59 months for acute malnutrition, of whom 1,580 (four per cent) were admitted for treatment. This includes 261 children (0.64 per cent) diagnosed with severe acute malnutrition (SAM).
During the same timeframe, 34 children aged 6–59 months were admitted to stabilization centres for the treatment of SAM with medical complications, alongside 39 infants under six months of age at risk of poor growth, while 924 other infants were newly enrolled to receive ready-to-use infant formula.
Between 1 and 15 April, partners screened 30,358 pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBW), of whom 997 (three per cent) were admitted for acute malnutrition treatment.
Provision of preventive nutrition services continued at scale. From 1 and 15 April, partners supported 6,436 malnourished PBW through the targeted supplementary feeding programme, while blanket supplementary feeding reached 86,323 children aged 6–59 months and 30,647 PBW with medium-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplements. These were delivered through a network of 281 active distribution sites.
Some 30,886 PBW and other caregivers received either group or individual counselling on infant and young child feeding in emergencies.
Health
As of 17 April, 273 health service points, representing just above 43 per cent of all mapped facilities functional prior to October 2023, were operational across the Gaza Strip, the majority only partially. These include 19 hospitals, 13 field hospitals, 117 primary health-care centres and 124 medical points. Geographically, services availability is highest in Deir al Balah (92), followed by Gaza governorate (86), Khan Younis (79), North Gaza (10), and Rafah (6).
Service delivery remained high, with health partners providing an average of approximately 276,000 consultations per week between 1 and 21 April, up from around 271,000 per week in March, indicating sustained demand despite ongoing operational constraints.
Total water production in Gaza has remained stable, despite reduced supply through the Deir al Balah (Bani Saeed) Mekorot line from Israel and low production from the Deir al Balah Seawater Desalination Plant (short-term and low volume plant).
Critical concerns remain regarding energy availability for water production. Shortages of fuel, lubricating oil, consumables, and spare parts pose a serious risk of shutdown for critical generators that provide life-saving water services across Gaza.
On WASH operations addressing health risks associated with pests and rodents, see a dedicated section above.
Shelter
Between 14 and 19 April, Shelter Cluster partners provided life-saving shelter and NFI assistance through in-kind and voucher-based modalities to 9,120 households across the Gaza Strip. Distributions included 1,592 tarpaulins, 2,907 bedding kits, 179 sealing-off kits, 9,742 mattresses, eight kitchen sets, as well as 798 clothing kits delivered through cash and voucher assistance.
Partners continued supporting households affected by the March rainfall through the Rapid Joint Distribution Mechanism, providing 570 families with emergency shelter and essential household items, including 315 tarpaulins and 465 clothing kits.
The Shelter Cluster finalized and published the Social Vulnerability Scoring Tool, developed jointly with the Protection Cluster, to strengthen prioritization based on intersectional vulnerabilities and complement technical shelter assessments.
Pipeline constraints due to administrative impediments continue to significantly limit the response, with delays in the approval of critical materials such as solar lights, timber for framing kits, and tools. These items are essential to scale up priority interventions, including shelter repairs, upgrades of makeshift structures, and support to early recovery efforts.
Between 14 and 19 April, partners offered protection services to almost 14,000 people. Services expanded gradually across displacement sites, particularly in North Gaza, using a mix of fixed-site support, shelters, community spaces, and mobile outreach to adapt to access and security constraints. Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) remained a core focus, reaching over 5,000 people through psychological first aid (PFA), support groups, and counseling. Specialized case management assisted more than 120 people with complex needs. Partners provided disability-inclusive services such as assistive device provisions and safe space programming to over 450 people, and legal assistance to more than 400, while community engagement activities to sensitize households on protection risks reached over 600 people through safe spaces and outreach initiatives.
Protection-linked intersectoral assistance continued during the reporting period, with approximately 580 households receiving cash assistance, more than 1,800 received relief and in-kind distributions, and over 1,700 received vouchers to purchase clothing. These interventions reflect the integration of protection services with material assistance to address immediate needs and reduce exposure to protection risks.
As part of the response for Palestinian returnees through Egypt, the Protection Desk team in Khan Younis supported 337 returnees between 14 and 19 April, bringing the total number of returnees assisted since the reopening of the Rafah Crossing on 2 February to 1,545.
Protection monitoring activities continued, with partners conducting 20 focus group discussions and 200 key informant interviews across 15 neighbourhoods, reaching approximately 2,320 people. Findings indicate that protection risks remain driven by deteriorating shelter conditions, unsafe WASH facilities, and increasing barriers to accessing food and essential services, particularly for elderly people and persons with disabilities.
Between 14 and 19 April, child protection partners provided about 10,000 children and caregivers with structured group MHPSS sessions, individual counselling, mind-body therapy, expressive arts, recreational and resilience-building activities, speech therapy, and family-based psychosocial support. In addition, over 500 people received specialized counselling and consultations, including PFA and targeted support for high-risk children.
Over 320 children facing heightened protection risks received targeted case management support, including identification, assessment, and referrals to specialized services such as health and education.
Over 7,000 children received in-kind assistance, including hygiene kits, clothing, and recreational kits to support well-being and engagement. At least 50 children received child protection cash or voucher assistance, provided as targeted support to address urgent protection needs and reduce reliance on negative coping mechanisms, such as child marriage and child labour.
Community-based explosive ordnance risk education reached more than 5,700 people, while child protection awareness sessions benefited over 1,600 people. Activities also included parenting sessions, safety messaging, youth engagement initiatives, child safety walks, and safety mapping exercises, with at least 100 children participating in structured activities to identify and mitigate protection risks within displacement settings.
Addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
Between 14 and 19 April, partners addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV) focused on capacity-building activities. These included a workplan review and validation workshop with 48 participants from 33 organizations, a one-day Case Management Task Force session with 19 members from 10 organizations on managing complex GBV cases, and three two-day trainings on MHPSS and GBV, reaching over 60 participants in Gaza city, Deir al Balah, and Khan Younis.
The GBV Area of Responsibility delivered a session to Food Security Sector members on identifying GBV risks within food assistance activities.
In terms of service delivery, partners reached over 10,000 people through 68 women and girls’ safe spaces, two designated emergency shelters, and 11 additional service delivery points across the Strip. Services included group MHPSS sessions, individual GBV case management with cash for protection assistance, and dignity kit distributions. Several cases were identified through hotlines and referrals from other sectors. Partners reported an increase in GBV incidents in displacement sites, including life threatening physical violence. Women and girls remain highly vulnerable due to economic stress, displacement, and poor living conditions at the sites.
Regarding emerging needs, partners reported high demand from women and girls for economic empowerment and psychosocial support activities. Ongoing challenges include movement restrictions affecting frontline service providers and people in need, as well as the high cost of materials required to facilitate activities in women and girls’ safe spaces.
Mine Action
Between 14 and 19 April, partners conducted 104 explosive hazard assessments in support of debris removal and other partner activities, and six emergency response team missions.
Explosive ordnance risk education activities continued between 9 and 16 April, reaching almost 11,900 people in Gaza city, Deir al Balah and Khan Younis.
Between 14 and 19 April, the incident tracking database recorded one accident that involved explosive ordnance, leading to one Palestinian killed. Since the beginning of the year, 21 accidents have been recorded, leading to 36 Palestinians injured and four killed.
Education
Between 14 and 19 April, partners distributed 212 cartons of school supplies across eight temporary learning spaces (TLSs) – two in Deir al Balah and six in North Gaza – benefiting 8,480 children. In addition, education partners provided early childhood development kits to two TLSs in Deir al Balah, supporting 350 pre-school children, while 450 children received recreational kits to promote structured play activities.
To expand access to learning, partners installed 36 high-performance tents across six TLSs – two in accessible areas of Rafah and four in southern Khan Younis. These improved learning spaces are expected to increase student attendance, as they offer better protection from harsh weather, particularly with the onset of summer heat.
Despite these efforts, access to learning materials remains severely constrained. Since 11 April, no educational supplies have entered Gaza. Combined with overcrowded learning spaces and limited instructional time, these constraints are exacerbating learning poverty, with many enrolled children unable to acquire foundational skills, including reading and comprehension.
Funding shortfalls continue to limit the expansion of learning opportunities, including the provision of teacher incentives and remuneration, which are essential to scaling up education services.
Access to water within TLSs is becoming increasingly problematic. Limited water storage capacity continues to adversely affect the learning environment and overall conditions within these spaces.
The Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), in partnership with the Palestinian NGO Network, launched the Humanitarian Hub Connectivity Portal, improving humanitarian access to internet connectivity, particularly in northern Gaza. In addition, the ETC contributed to and coordinated the rollout of Radio Insan (First Response Radio) across several coordination platforms.
Annex 2: Key Incidents in the West Bank, 14-20 April 2026
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On 14 April, a Palestinian family of eight, including three children, was forcibly displaced from their community near Ad Dhahiriya, in Hebron governorate, after being subjected to repeated harassment and threats by Israeli settlers believed to be from a nearby settlement outpost, leaving behind their residential shelters and animal structures.
On 14 April, Israeli settlers attacked Palestinian families in Khirbet al Marajem community near Duma village in Nablus governorate. According to the local community sources, a group of armed settlers attacked two houses, broke the security camera, electricity cable, and water pipes. There were no injuries reported.
On 16 April, Israeli forces killed and withheld the body of a Palestinian child during a five-hour raid by Israeli forces in Beit Duqqu village, in Jerusalem governorate, where they closed the village’s entrances. Palestinians threw stones and Israeli forces fired live ammunition, sound and tear gas canisters. Two Palestinians were injured, including the child, who was taken into Israeli custody and later pronounced dead. Three Palestinians were arrested.
On 17 April, Israeli settlers believed to be from an Israeli settlement outpost nearby attacked houses in Asira al Qibliya village, in Nablus governorate. Settlers threw inflammable material at a three-story house, partially damaging and burning the storage door and an electric generator, and set fire to two parked vehicles.
On 17 April, Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian house in Beitin village, in Ramallah governorate, injuring an elderly Palestinian man and causing property damage. According to local sources, a group of Israeli settlers broke into a house at the entrance of the village and assaulted the elderly couple residing there. The man was beaten with sticks and stones, sustaining chest and leg injuries, including fractures. Settlers also damaged two windows, destroyed a cement-block wall surrounding the house, and threw stones at a family-owned parked vehicle, damaging its windshield.
On 18 April, Israeli forces killed and withheld the body of a Palestinian man near the Israeli settlement of Negohot, in Hebron governorate. Israeli forces stated that the man was inside the Israeli settlement with a knife.
On 18 April, Israeli settlers set fire to a Palestinian house, burned a vehicle, and damaged another house during an attack in Turmusa’yya village, in Ramallah governorate. According to local sources, Israeli settlers, believed to be from nearby settlement outposts, entered the outskirts of the village and threw flammable materials into an uninhabited house and a nearby parked vehicle, setting both ablaze. Later, settlers attacked another inhabited house, damaging the main gate motor and breaking two windows. They also sprayed threatening revenge graffiti on the walls of the houses. No injuries were reported.
On 19 April, Israeli settlers believed to be from Evyatar settlement outpost attempted to set fire to an ambulance near Beita town, in Nablus governorate. According to the affected paramedical staff and video footage, while the ambulance was travelling on the main road, a group of masked Israeli settlers approached it and threw flammable material and stones, damaging the windshield, one side mirror, and the front exterior of the vehicle. No injuries were reported.
On 20 April, a group of masked Israeli settlers, believed to be from Evyatar settlement outpost, attacked a Palestinian house and vandalized vehicles in Beita town, in Nablus governorate. According to local sources, some settlers, including armed individuals, entered the eastern part of the town and attacked a Palestinian house, damaging the outer gate of the yard and vandalizing a vehicle parked inside using stones and wooden sticks. Later the same day, another group of settlers entered the southern side of the town and attacked three Palestinian houses. The settlers threw stones at the houses, vandalized an electricity pole – disrupting power to approximately 10 Palestinian homes – and damaged two water connections belonging to two of the affected houses before withdrawing from the area.
** Double asterisks indicate that a figure, sentence, or section has been rectified, added, or retracted after the initial publication of this update.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the UAE’s central bank chief raised the idea of a currency-swap line with Treasury Department and Federal Reserve officials during meetings in Washington, D.C., last week.
To be sure, the UAE has plenty of money, including $270 billion in foreign-exchange reserves and trillions of dollars across its sovereign wealth funds.
BANGKOK (AP) — China’s role as an unofficial mediator in the latest war in the Middle East is drawing attention across the world as it seeks to project the image of being a responsible global power while U.S. actions are straining its long-standing alliances.
China’s profile in international diplomacy has risen in recent years, thanks to active efforts from its diplomats. Long reluctant to get involved in conflicts far from its borders, it has nevertheless emerged as a major player with attempts to mediate conflicts from Southeast Asia to Europe.
With the Iran war, Beijing is not an official mediator, but all parties — including Washington and Tehran — say it has played an important role in trying to de-escalate the conflict.
Experts say Beijing’s strategies for diplomacy in multiple conflicts have looked similar and have had mixed success in influencing negotiations, but the efforts come at an opportune time, as U.S. actions under President Donald Trump have increased tensions with traditional diplomatic allies.
In the Iran war, experts say, China’s close economic and political ties to Tehran put it in a unique position of influence as the conflict hurts the global energy supply, especially in Asia.
10 months ago: Putin explains his partnership with Iran on nuclear energy development and his efforts to ensure protection of Israel too if Israel agrees not to harm Russian nuclear workers in Iran:
Russia is doubling down on its nuclear commitment to Iran. Despite recent strikes hitting the perimeter of the Bushehr nuclear plant, Iranian Ambassador Kazem Jalali says Tehran is working with Moscow to accelerate the construction of two new reactors. With Rosatom experts returning to the site, the project has become more than an energy hub—it’s a symbol of a strategic alliance that Washington and Tel Aviv can’t ignore. Russia has issued a stark warning: any direct hit on Bushehr is a “red line” that could trigger a regional catastrophe.
Leavitt said Iranians were begging for talks. 4 hours later Tasnim called bullshit. Day 57 of a 6 Week War: A Slum-Flipping Ghoul, a Ferret-Faced Bribe Receipt, & a Haunted Big Mac Walk Into a Hotel
So today the property developer and the property developer fly to Islamabad, ordered by the bankrupt steak salesman, to attend a meeting Iran has publicly said isn’t happening. The Iranian Foreign Ministry told the world’s press, on the record, that this is a Pakistan-Iran bilateral and that Witkoff and Kushner can sit in the lobby and order room service. Two failed property developers being ghosted by a country whose economy they’re supposedly strangling. And Karoline Leavitt will get on Fox News tonight and call it productive. Productive. The favourite word of every man who’s just been stood up.
This is the diplomatic infrastructure standing between the world and an oil shock that is going to make 1973 look like a fart in a wind tunnel.
Here’s the part nobody in power is telling you. The smart money is bracing for it in private and refusing to say it in public.
The global economy is about to eat itself.
Scott Bessent told AP this week that Iranian oil production starts shuttering in 2 to 3 days. That’s not a forecast. That’s a calendar. When Iranian production goes offline you don’t just lose Iranian barrels, you lose the marginal supply that keeps the entire system in equilibrium. Saudi spare capacity is a fairy tale nobody on the trading floors believes anymore. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a husk. US shale is not the swing producer it was. The math does not work. The only thing keeping crude in check is a hopium cocktail of “ceasefire any day now” headlines that the smart desks stopped believing in February.
Look at gold. It’s not moving like that because retirees in Florida discovered chains. Sovereign wealth funds are buying. Central banks are buying. China, India, Russia. Anybody who can read a balance sheet and a satellite image is buying because they know what’s coming. The dollar’s reserve status is being euthanised in real time and the men at the BIS in Basel are sweating into their Swiss tailoring.
Hormuz insurance is no longer functioning. Lloyds is quoting numbers that are basically polite refusals. Reinsurance is gone. Every barrel that does come through carries a war-risk premium that gets passed to the refiner, the wholesaler, the trucker, the farmer, then your kitchen table.
US farmers are already on the canvas. Trump’s 2025 tariffs destroyed export markets that took 30 years to build. China stopped buying soy. Brazil ate America’s lunch. Mexico retaliated. Diesel hit 4 dollars a gallon and stayed there. Fertiliser doubled. Bankruptcy filings in the corn belt are at Carter-administration levels. The American family farm is being systematically liquidated by tariff policy and energy shock simultaneously, while the man in the White House promotes a meme coin.
When Iranian oil shutters next week, diesel goes to numbers that end farms. Not hurt. End. The combine doesn’t run. The fertiliser doesn’t get spread. The seed goes in late or not at all. Then the bank calls. Then the auctioneer comes. The consolidator buys at 30 cents on the dollar. That’s the bedtime story USDA economists are telling each other behind closed doors and refusing to say in front of a microphone.
Australian farmers are next. Same diesel chain. Same fertiliser chain. Same gas that we export at giveaway prices and buy back as urea at 10 times the rate. The wheat belt, the cattle stations, the dairy farmers already being ground into pulp by Coles and Woolies, every one of them about to discover the tractor cost tripled, the feed cost tripled, the freight cost tripled, and the gate price didn’t. Farms fold. Towns hollow out. The supermarkets mark up 40 percent and pretend they’re absorbing the cost. The politicians blame “global factors.”
The global factors are two property developers in a Pakistan hotel being ignored by Iran on the orders of a haunted bankruptcy notice in a too-long tie.
The smart leaders know. Japan is stockpiling. South Korea is stockpiling. India never stopped. China has been stockpiling since 2022 and could feed its population for a year if the world burned tomorrow. Europe is fragmented and half-arsed. America is doing nothing because the man in charge is selling sneakers and Bibles.
Not one head of government will go on television tonight and tell their people the truth. The truth is that the global financial system, the just-in-time supply chain, the cheap food, the cheap energy, the cheap credit, the entire 80 year post-Bretton Woods party, is being held together right now by the hope that two failed property developers can talk an Iranian foreign minister out of his own leverage in a Pakistani hotel suite.
They can’t. He won’t. The Iranians have time, leverage, a populace battle-hardened by 45 years of sanctions, and an opponent whose entire strategy depends on Karoline Leavitt telling Fox News fairy stories that get fact-checked into the ground before sundown.
Every day this drags on, the cost compounds. Diesel ticks up. Fertiliser ticks up. Freight ticks up. Insurance ticks up. Yields tick up. Spreads widen. Some marginal borrower defaults. The bank wobbles. The regulator panics. And somewhere in Iowa or the Riverina a man with 30 years of dirt under his fingernails reads the bank letter and puts his head in his hands.
That’s the world Witkoff and Kushner are flying into today. Not as fixers. As accelerants. Two failed property developers, one bagman and one failson, taking orders from a malignant orange tumour in a too-long tie, carrying the global economy in a briefcase and not realising the briefcase is on fire.
The smart money is bracing. The dumb money is buying the dip. The farmers are reading the bank letter. And the Iranians are pouring tea.
TACO forever. Until the dam breaks.
And an extract from a view from an American (Michael Corthell, Substack) :
In Trumpism, the rhetoric is supposedly about law, order, patriotism, and national restoration. Yet beneath it runs a recurring appetite for domination. The outsider must be punished. The dissenter must be silenced. The press must be discredited. The courts must be subordinated. The election is legitimate only if the movement wins.
Israeli strikes kill a journalist and injures another in Lebanon
Lebanese officials say rescue teams came under fire while trying to aid Amal Khalil, a reporter, and Zeinab Faraj, a photojournalist
Amal Khalil, who worked for Al-Akhbar, reporting near a destroyed bridge last month. She was killed in an Israeli attack on Wednesday. Photograph: Mohammed Zaatari/Associated Press
Ashley Ahn
Thu Apr 23 2026 – 07:20•3 MIN READ
Israeli strikes killed one journalist and wounded another in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, rattling a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.
The Lebanese ministry of public health said the Israeli military had targeted the journalists in the town of Tayri, where they took shelter in a nearby house after an air strike struck a vehicle in front of the car they were travelling in.
About an hour and a half later, a second strike hit the house they were hiding in, according to a statement by a Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which employed the journalist who was killed.
The Lebanese Red Cross said its teams came under fire while trying to evacuate the journalists from the house, forcing them to withdraw. The rescue crews were targeted by a warning strike and machine-gun fire, the Lebanese health ministry said.
Journalist recalls Israeli strike killing Amal Khalil in southern Lebanon
Journalist Zainab Faraj recalled the final moments of fellow journalist Amal Khalil. An Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed Amal and caused severe injuries to Zainab, who spoke from her hospital bed. Israel has killed at least five people in its recent attacks on Lebanon.
Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was detained by Kuwaiti authorities on March 3, 2026. On April 23, a Kuwaiti court acquitted him of all charges.(Photo: Courtesy of Grace Rivera)
US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin acquitted of all charges
April 23, 2026 9:21 AM EDT
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Washington, D.C., April 23, 2026 — The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes a Kuwaiti court’s acquittal of US-Kuwaiti journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on all charges following nearly two months of detention.
“We are relieved that Ahmed Shihab-Eldin has been found innocent after 52 days in detention,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “Ahmed’s freedom and safety remain our topmost priority and we will continue to closely monitor his case.”
Ahmed, is an award-winning journalist who has contributed to The New York Times, PBS, and Al Jazeera English, among others. He had not posted online since March 2, while visiting family in Kuwait, and was arrested on March 3.
Lawyers for Shihab-Eldin’s sisters said on April 23 that Ahmed had been acquitted.
With absolute immunity, aggressive settlers attack school children as they try so hard to continue their education.
Deadly Israeli settler attack on school kills two in Ramallah
Two people have been killed after Israeli settlers opened fire on a school in the occupied West Bank, including a 14-year-old boy shot in the head. The attack comes amid a surge in violence by settlers and Israeli forces against Palestinians.
Students supported by Save the Children have been blocked from entering their school by an illegal barbed-wire fence, erected by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
22 April, Ramallah – At least 55 Palestinian children have been blocked from attending school for the past ten school days because their path has been blocked by a barbed-wire fence, illegally erected by Israeli settlers.
Students, teachers and families have been protesting the blockage in Khirbet Umm Al‑Khair in the occupied Palestinian territory for the last ten days through staged peaceful ‘sit‑ins’, turning the area near the fence into an informal outdoor classroom.
Some of these children were reportedly exposed to tear gas during their sit-in, according to the West Bank Education Cluster. The school children had been due back in class for the first time in more than 40 days, after schools were closed across the West Bank during the recent escalation of violence in the region. Now, because of the barbed-wire blockade, the students in Khirbet Umm Al Khair have been unable to attend school for almost two months.
Save the Children work with the community directly and through a partner, The Agricultural Development Association (PARC), in Khirbet Umm Al-Khair, through distributing of essential items and livelihood assistance such as winter kits and animal feed.
The situation for children in the West Bank has deteriorated in 2026 due to intensified military operations, expanding restrictions for Palestinians, and rising settler violence, with children reporting being harassed and attacked while en route to school.
This week two children were killed by Israeli settlers, according to the Ministry of Health – one of the children was reported to have been killed whilst in his school grounds.[1] Also this week, the Ministry of Education reported the demolition of a school for 70 students by the Israeli forces in the northern Jordan Valley. [2] [3] Data from the University of Cambridge and the UN shows that in 2025, 195,000 class-minutes were lost for children in the West Bank – the equivalent of about 4.5 months of learning time – due to targeted attacks on education by settlers and the Israeli military. [4]
Kareem* 10, a student involved in the sit-in, said:
“We were excited to go to school, but during the night settlers came and blocked the path. Now we’re trapped and can’t study. I really wanted to go to school, but it didn’t work out. The last time we studied was a month and a half ago. For Palestinian students, education is the key to liberating the country.”
Yousef*, 30, a teacher who is involved in the sit-in, said:
“Today is the tenth day in a row that we’ve been staging a sit-in at the fence, demanding that the road be opened for the children. This is a very simple and basic demand; every child has the right to education. This is what we’re demanding.
“These students were deprived of education due to the war. The night before classes resumed, the settlers knew and blocked the road. The goal isn’t simply to block the road and prevent the children from attending under the pretext that the land belongs to the settlers. No, the goal is to pressure the residents through the children, to force them to leave. We are trying to get the road back on track, and we will continue until we succeed.”
Save the Children is calling on governments to pressure the Israeli authorities to end all discriminatory policies and practices contributing to the coercive environment in the West Bank and across the occupied Palestinian territory, including ending the blockade to the school in Khirbet Umm Al‑Khair. There must be an end to state-sanctioned violence and attacks by settlers as well as ensuring those responsible are held to account and providing full reparations to affected people.
Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for Save the Children in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said:
“What we are seeing on the ground is a worrying attack on children’s right to education. The Israeli authorities and settlers are ending any sense of safety that previously existed for the three million Palestinians currently living in West Bank. No child should be denied the right to education, too scared to walk to school or be faced with violence while travelling to school.
Students and teachers across the occupied Palestinian territory have been killed, maimed, arrested, and detained. In Gaza, we’re at risk of seeing a lost generation emerge as children are now in their third year of missing school, they need to get back to the classroom not only for their own individual development but for the future of Palestinian society.
We demand that all children throughout the occupied Palestinian territory have access to schools and places of learning, these must be safe spaces for children and educational staff. Palestinian children are entitled to the opportunity to go to school to learn and play, to grow up, and to have a future.”
Save the Children has been responding in West Bank since 1953. We are supporting students with educational and play kits, including stationary, working with partners to help provide quality education, protection for children, early childhood development support, and employment opportunities for young people. We are working throughout the West Bank distributing essential items and livelihood assistance such as sheep milkers, solar panels, and pools for washing livestock.
Iran is responding to US sezures with its own, 22nd April 2026:
India-bound tanker among 2 seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Story by Reported by Subham Tiwari
• 26m
An India-bound ship was among two vessels seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, amid looming uncertainty about the US-Iran ceasefire and proposed peace talks.
In total, three container ships, including the one which was headed to India, were attacked by Iran’s security forces in the Strait.
All three containers crossed the Strait of Hormuz from the Persian Gulf, and two of them did not relay information about their location, destination and port of origin while crossing the waterway, ship-tracking data suggests.
Iran’s state media and the BBC identified the three container ships as Liberia-flagged Epaminondas, and Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and Euphoria.
Epaminondas declared India as its destination, according to AIS data available at ship-tracking service VesselFinder. Epaminondas was the first vessel to come under gunfire on Wednesday. As per the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre, a “gunboat” belonging to Iran’s elite paramilitary force, the IRGC, opened fire on the container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, causing heavy damage to the vessel’s bridge.
Tariff refunds are coming: Here’s who will get them first
Provided by Dow Jones Apr 20, 2026, 7:48:00 AM
By Victor Reklaitis
There could eventually be payouts to individuals due to lawsuits, but the refunds will first go almost exclusively to companies
Tariff refunds have been in the works for about two months following a Supreme Court decision.
Tariff refunds are getting closer to flowing into bank accounts, with the U.S. government slated to start processing refund claims on Monday.
The refunds have been in the works for about two months, since the Supreme Court knocked down the bulk of President Donald Trump’s tariffs in a Feb. 20 ruling.
A 6-3 majority of justices found that Trump exceeded his authority in using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to implement most of his tariffs. The president has responded with a new 10% global tariff, and his administration said on Tuesday that by the start of July, tariffs could be back at the levels in place before the ruling, as officials apply other authorities.
But for now, should you expect to see a refund in your bank account anytime soon? If you’re a typical U.S. consumer, probably not, although some individuals could receive one, and others may eventually benefit from class-action lawsuits.
In the vast majority of cases, companies have served as “importers of record” and will get refunds after submitting their claims.
Below are key points about the big commotion over getting money back.
Why individuals shouldn’t count on tariff refunds
A new government system for handling the tariff refunds is aimed at “importers of record,” which are the entities that paid duties at the border and brought in goods.
Those entities are “overwhelmingly commercial importers and their customs brokers,” Terence Lau, dean of Syracuse University’s law school and a former trade attorney for Ford (F), said in an email to MarketWatch.
“An individual consumer who bought a more expensive blender at Target (TGT) because the retailer passed along tariff costs has no standing in this process. There’s no legal mechanism connecting a specific retail price increase to a specific tariff payment,” Lau added.
Here is an extract from Phillips P. Obrien on his Substack, April 22, 2026
However, something pretty horrible is unfolding in front of us. The US government is being used as a tool to corruptly enrich certain people, to a tune of billions of $’s. And that means US service personnel and Iranian civilians (the people who are suffering the most in this war) are being sacrificed so that others who have enriched themselves through their loss can enrich themselves further.
……………..
Also, the blockade/negotiations dance continues with the same basic problem that we have seen since early March. Trump wants out, desperately needs a “deal” that he can say is better than the JCPOA, but the Iranian government is under less pressure to give him that. As such, escalation remains on the table. Finally, the oil markets are rather optimistic, worth noting.
The Most Corrupt War In US History
On April 17, a $760 million bet on falling oil prices was placed minutes before Iran’s foreign minister publicly announced that the Strait of Hormuz would be open to commercial vessels. The announcement triggered an immediate market reaction, with crude oil prices falling as much as 11 percent within minutes. The trader who put the massive bet made a huge financial windfall in just moments.
This was no accident it was almost certainly corruption. Indeed it was just the latest of series of obviously corrupt trades, using inside information that could only have come from the top of the US Government, to make illegal benefits on major market shifts that the “investor” knew were only minutes away. It fits a pattern of trade which has caused hundreds of millions of $’s (at least) of gains for those with the inside information—and losses for many honest investors.
And earlier, who else do you think benefited from massive UAE, Saudi and Qatari investment? Well that would be the President’s son in law, Jared Kushner, who is slated to be one of the two leading negotiators with the Iranians—if the next round of talks take place (see below). In this case we seem to be talking about at least $4 billion being handed over to Kushner to invest through his Affinity Partners investment fund. Again some details are:
Six months after Kushner left his role as a senior White House adviser in 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) committed $2 billion to Affinity Partners.
When you boil it down, the policies of the USA do not seem to be being developed or run by those who care about the USA at all, but instead policies seem to be vehicles to openly (and secretly) enrich those with close Trump ties
Blatant corruption, thanks to the blessing of the rigged Supreme Court:
February 2, 2026
How Trump Became the Biggest Crook in the History of Democracy
The penny-ante bribes of his first term have given way to billions in graft.
After SCOTUS presidential immunity ruling, Trump wields it broadly in push for powerThe broader impact of the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling on presidential immunity is coming i…Show more
Nearly two years after the Supreme Court’s monumental 2024 decision granting President Donald Trump sweeping immunity from prosecution, the ruling’s broader impact on American government is beginning to come into focus as Trump and his lawyers repeatedly invoke the case in an effort to get the justices to endorse expansive presidential power.
“That’s not a coincidence, it’s a strategy,” said James Sample, a constitutional scholar at Hofstra Law and ABC News legal contributor. “They’re not just invoking a precedent, they’re building an architecture.”
An ABC News review of the unprecedented 29 Trump emergency applications to the Supreme Court in his second term found that nearly a third directly cited Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion in the immunity case, Trump v. U.S.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts attends President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the Capitol, Feb. 24, 2026.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Trump attorneys reference portions of the court’s immunity decision at least 21 times to argue for “unrestricted” presidential power to fire executive branch employees; unreviewable control over “matters related to terrorism, trade and immigration;” and absolute authority as commander-in-chief to deploy troops to aid domestic law enforcement.
The Constitution “creates an ‘energetic, independent executive,’ not a subservient executive,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote the court, quoting Roberts, in a September request to allow Trump to remove Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.
“These aren’t random citations,” Sample said. “The White House Counsel’s Office has read that opinion very carefully, and they are using it methodically.”
The court is still crafting a decision in the Cook case but has generally embraced the administration’s broad view of presidential authority to remove federal employees and supervise agencies.
Since January 2025, however, the justices have not referenced Trump v. U.S. to justify any of its decisions in favor of the Trump administration, leading some court analysts to question why the conservative majority has avoided explicitly invoking its own precedent.
“We just don’t know yet what this case means, and it will be up to a future Supreme Court to define it,” said Sarah Isgur, SCOTUSblog editor and ABC News legal contributor.
Mark Zuckerberg’s entourage wore Meta’s smart glasses in court, which led to a judge warning that anyone recording proceedings could face contempt. This incident raised concerns about privacy and the implications of using recording devices in sensitive environments like courtrooms. Business Insider Gizmodo
Now, it seems, US Department of Homeland Security has a Smart Glasses Project for linking the viewer to National facial recognition databases.
Ken Klippenstein
Read distraction-free on Substack
Discover more from Ken Klippenstein
No-nonsense reporting on the U.S. national security state and politics.
And Jeff Bezos and selling facial recognition software:
Amazon Staff Demand Jeff Bezos Stop Selling Face-Scanning Tech to Police | Newsweek
By Jason Murdock
Amazon workers called on the firm’s CEO Jeff Bezos to stop selling powerful face recognition tech to U.S. law enforcement and cease providing infrastructure to government-linked software giant Palantir, and said they “refuse to contribute to tools that violate human rights.”
The letter circulated inside Amazon after it emerged that several tech companies had sold software tools to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency at the center of a controversial family separation practice this week. It followed a May ACLU report exposing how Amazon face-scanning tech called “AWS Rekognition” had been sold to police and government agencies.
The staffers noted Palantir, the big data analytics company founded by Trump-supporting Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel, takes full advantage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud technology to help “power its detention and deportation programs.” In 2014, Palantir was awarded an ICE contact worth $41 million to build an intelligence program that could allegedly aid deportations.
Over the weekend, Palantir released a 22-point summary of Karp’s 320-page book, “The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West,” that the billionaire tech CEO co-wrote and published in early 2025.
“Because we get asked a lot. The Technological Republic, in brief,” the company wrote on X.
The ideas reflect Karp’s long-held worldviews, including the view that the tech industry has been insufficiently supportive of US national security. Karp, who holds a Ph.D. in neoclassical social theory from Goethe University in Germany, has delighted in his view that AI will devalue humanities degrees and place greater emphasis on traditional trades work.
The summary points range widely in subject matter, from proclamations about the tech scene (“Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime”) to the relationship between the tech sector and the military (“If a U.S. Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software”), and even religion (“The pervasive intolerance of religious belief in certain circles must be resisted”).
Revealed: Peter Mandelson’s Russian Connections and Palantir Lobbying Links
The disgraced peer was appointed by Keir Starmer’s Government despite warnings about his role on the board of a Russian defence conglomerate linked to Moscow’s early-warning missile systems
eir Starmer approved the appointment of the disgraced peer Lord Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to the US, despite officials highlighting his financial links to a Russian defence technology company that produces radar and satellite communications for the country’s land-based missile early-warning system, new documents reveal
Mandelson’s appointment was “rushed” through, the documents reveal, despite a due diligence report by the Cabinet Office’s Proprietary and Ethics Team (PET) highlighting that he had served on the board of the Russian conglomerate Sistema.
The Russia connection was not the only warning put to senior figures in Number 10. The documents also raise questions about why Mandelson retained his shares in his lobbying outfit Global Counsel during his short term as Ambassador, despite officials insisting that he should divest them.
According to the PET report, Downing Street were warned that “the retained role and interest in Global Counsel would have to cease” if Mandelson was appointed as ambassador.
However, despite resigning as Director, the peer apparently retained significant shareholdings in Global Counsel at the same time as the company organised a meeting between the Prime Minister Keir Starmer and their client, Peter Thiel’s controversial data giant Palantir, in February 2025. Mandelson did not fully divest his shares until after resigning from the role.
The same due diligence pack, dated 11 December 2024, had flagged Lord Mandelson’s continuing shareholdings in technology companies and his paid roles across finance and investment, raising fresh questions about whether No 10 knowingly accepted a web of conflicts of interest at the heart of the UK’s most commercially and strategically sensitive diplomatic post.
Olly Robbins: Foreign Office under ‘constant pressure’ from No10 to sign off Peter Mandelson appointment
Sacked foreign office boss Robbins accused Downing Street of a ‘dismissive approach’ to vetting and creating an ‘atmosphere of pressure’ to install disgraced peer in Washington as quickly as possible
LONDON — Senior members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team attempted on more than one occasion to intervene in Keir Starmer’s decision in 2024 to remove Karen Pierce as ambassador and replace her with Peter Mandelson, according to a former Trump official and a serving U.K. official.
Trump’s aides told Starmer’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell and his then-Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney that they wanted Pierce to remain in post during a meeting in Palm Beach in early December 2024, the officials told POLITICO.
Later the same month, people working on the transition placed a call to Powell and told him they were unhappy at the treatment of Pierce and that they did not like that Mandelson had been picked, according to the same former Trump official.
Trump’s aides were particularly exercised that Mandelson could be made ambassador after he had madedisparaging public remarks about the president in the past, according to both officials.
The details aboutthe interaction between the two leaders’ teams have not previously been reported and underscore the disquiet within the president’s inner circle about one of Starmer’s first major foreign policy decisions on becoming prime minister — and a juncture at which his key aides could have urged Starmer to think again.
Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was among those wary of Mandelson, according to the former U.S. official already cited and a second official still serving in the administration, with one saying she saw him as “arrogant” and rude to staff.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “This is an inaccurate representation of this meeting and what was said.” Wiles had no comment.
Downing Street declined to comment.
Mandelson was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to Washington last September over his past friendship with the late convicted sex offender Epstein, but further revelations from documents released in the U.S. prompted a police investigation into his conduct, leading to his arrest in February.
The E-3 Sentry AWACS (airborne warning and control system) was more than a Boeing 707 converted into a flying radar station and command post. AWACS has become a meme, and its dome-shaped rotating antenna was the symbol of an eye in the sky that kept ceaseless vigil from 30,000 feet high.
Now, though, the AWACS may be going the way of the dodo, as the US military appears ready to discard big, expensive aerial early warning (AEW) aircraft in favor of a mixture of cheaper Cold War-era radar planes and cutting-edge space sensors. For the US military, this may just be a change in doctrine. For NATO, which has relied for years on the AWACS and planned to buy the now-cancelled E-7 Wedgetail, this could lead to a scramble to find a European-built replacement.
AEW aircraft have become the nerve centers for advanced air forces. The concept of flying radar stations dates back to the end of World War II, such as the US Navy’s Project Cadillac. An aerial platform offers longer range than ground-based radars, can detect low-flying aircraft, and enjoys the mobility to bring radar coverage to where it is needed.
By the 1960s, US Air Force EC-121 and carrier-based US Navy E-2 Hawkeyes (still in service today) were proving invaluable in the Vietnam War. Today, several nations have developed AEW aircraft, mostly derived from airliners, military cargo planes, or business-class jets. These include Russia’s A-50, China’s KJ-2000, Israel’s Oron and Sweden’s GlobalEye. Other nations — including Australia, India, Korea and Turkey — have rigged up their own AEW aircraft by mix-and-matching various aircraft with radars such as Israel’s Phalcon.
But the E-3 has special significance for NATO, both as an aircraft and a symbol of alliance unity. NATO currently operates 14 E-3s manned by multinational crews flying out of Geilenkirchen, Germany. In addition, France also has four E-3s, while Britain only recently retired its planes. It’s hard to imagine either
the US or NATO conducting any significant air campaign without these aircraft playing a key role as airborne sensors and command posts.
The E-3’s retirement was inevitable: the airframe and electronics are aging, maintenance is difficult, and spare parts are expensive and difficult to procure. It was also logical to assume that the E-3’s successor would be broadly similar to the original. AWACS 2.0 arrived in the form of the E-7, another converted Boeing 737 airliner, with a Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar that electronically aims multiple beams rather than the rotating antenna. Comparing the E-3 to an E-7 feels like comparing a 1970s TV set to a modern LED computer monitor.
In the Middle East one E3 was destroyed by an Iranian attack:
Images circulating online appear to show the destruction of a U.S. Air Force E-3G Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft following a reported Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
The aircraft, identified in open source reporting as belonging to the 552nd Air Control Wing, appears to have suffered severe damage concentrated around the rear fuselage, where the E-3’s radar dome and associated surveillance systems are housed. That section contains critical components of the aircraft’s AN/APY-2 radar, central to its airborne command and control role.
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