War breaking news. Israel court blocks funds to religious exempt from conscription. Abu Mazen approves new NPA government

The temporary port announced by the US to be built along the coast of the Gaza Strip for the purpose of providing additional aid to civilians could be ready and operational as early as April. This was announced by Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, quoting a US delegation. US President Joe Biden announced on 8 March the preparation of the floating dock off Gaza. The port will mainly consist of a temporary pier that will allow hundreds of truckloads of aid to reach the Strip every day, where there is no port deep enough for large merchant ships. Initially, the jetty, built by the US military, was to be ready on 1 May.

Russian troops launched new attacks in eastern Ukraine, with heavy fighting reported around the towns of Avdiivka and Bakhmut. In its daily report on the situation on the ground, the Ukrainian General Staff listed 11 partial Russian advances in the direction of four locations. Along the entire front line from the south to the east of Ukraine, a total of 48 battles broke out, according to the report. There were also Russian air and artillery attacks near Kharkiv.

The Israeli army killed Raad Thabat, head of supplies and personnel of the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, in the Shifa hospital in Gaza City. This was said by military spokesman Daniel Hagari, emphasising that Tabat "was in the top ten" of Hamas and "close to leader Yahya Sinwar" and "Brigades chief Mohammed Deif". Hagari also said that "there were 1,250 people in Shifa hospital, including 900 suspects, among whom we identified 513 terrorists".

The Supreme Court - in a strong move - issued an interim order preventing the government from funding the monthly salaries of a group of Orthodox Jews in religious schools after 1 April. The move - according to media reports - was justified on the grounds that the relevant legal framework no longer exists as Benyamin Netanyahu's government failed to agree on a comprehensive reform law on the exemption of Orthodox Jews from conscription. The decision creates strong tensions in the PM's government where there are two religious parties that have harshly attacked the Supreme Court's move.

"I spoke with US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and thanked him, both parties, the American people and President Biden for their support" for Ukraine. "I briefed Johnson on the situation on the battlefield, particularly the dramatic increase in Russian air terrorism" and "in this situation, the swift passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital. We recognise that there are divergent views in the House on how to proceed, but the key is to keep the issue of aid to Ukraine as a unifying factor". Volodymyr Zelensky reports in X

'Antonio Guterres look and shame on you'. This was said by Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on X, addressing the UN Secretary General, and posting the video of the interrogation - released by the army - in which an Islamic Jihad militiaman admits to raping an Israeli woman on 7 October in the kibbutz attack.

"Israel is preparing to enter Rafah". Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said this while meeting the families of soldiers who are among the Hamas hostages in Gaza. Netanyahu then reiterated that only military pressure will ensure the release of the kidnapped. Israel - he concluded after emphasising that the hostages are 'heroes' - 'will not leave anyone behind'.

"Hungary is a state under the rule of law, and the government does not interfere in any way with the competences of the judiciary," the Hungarian press office said. This was stated by the press office of the Hungarian foreign ministry, when asked about today's order on the domiciliaries denied to Ilaria Salis.

"I don't think he will, I doubt Putin wants world war because then he wouldn't win it, so I don't think it suits him". This is how Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani responded - as a guest tonight on Cinque Minuti - to a question from Bruno Vespa on the Russian president's latest threats about F-16s being "legitimate targets" even at Nato bases. 'To me it sounds like a lot of propaganda,' added Tajani, for whom 'unfortunately Russian security made a very bad impression on the occasion of the attack a few days ago. We Italians knew it too, it was on the Foreign Ministry website in Moscow: do not go to crowded places where there are demonstrations, because there would probably be an attack. It seems strange to me that none of the Russian security services were able to anticipate or stop the attack by jihadist terrorists. So he now tries to divert attention: blame Ukraine, then the Americans...'.

Antonio Tajani ministro degli esteri e vicepremier ospite di Bruno Vespa. (Mauro Scrobogna / LaPresse)

The International Court of Justice in The Hague has ordered Israel to 'ensure urgent humanitarian assistance' in Gaza, where 'famine has begun'. These are new provisional measures issued by the Court, which must decide on South Africa's genocide charges against the Jewish state.

The Russian military plane that crashed today near the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea (read ndr below), was allegedly shot down by the Russian army itself after taking off from Belbek airport. This was written by Ukrainian media citing the Crimean Wind Telegram channel. "In Sevastopol, Russian troops shot down their own plane that was taking off from Belbek airport," reads the social message, which, citing eyewitnesses, adds that the pilot managed to jump out of the aircraft before the crash.

Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov today accused Armenia of causing a 'collapse of relations with Russia'. The current situation 'does not induce optimism', Lavrov added in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper, reported by Tass, saying among other things that 'the EU mission in Armenia is turning into a NATO mission', with the deployment of military personnel 'from Norway, Canada and the US'. For some time now there has been an increase in tensions between Yerevan and Moscow, which until now had been close allies.

Il ministro degli Esteri russo, Serghei Lavrov. (Olga Maltseva /Pool Photo via AP)

A Russian military plane crashed today near the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea. This was said by the city's governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, adding that the pilot was rescued. This was reported by the Interfax news agency.

"The new PNA government must implement comprehensive and credible reforms". This was said by US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, commenting on the formation of a new Palestinian executive

"Blaming Ukraine, the US or whoever else suits the Kremlin narrative is pure propaganda". This was said by US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby in a briefing with a small group of journalists, reiterating that "the only one responsible for the attack on Moscow is Isis" and that the US had shared information about a possible attack with Russia.

The Russian Investigative Committee said that it had detained a person accused of being involved in financing the terrorists who attacked Crocus City Hall, with money that according to the same source came from Ukraine.The Russian Investigative Committee said that investigations into the massacre at Crocus City Hall revealed that the perpetrators of the attack received 'significant sums of money and cryptocurrency from Ukraine that were used to prepare the attack'.

The Russian Investigative Committee said today that the initial results of the investigation into the massacre at Crocus City Hall have revealed 'evidence' of a link between the perpetrators of the attack and 'Ukrainian nationalists'. This was reported by the Ria Novosti news agency.

The Israeli war cabinet will meet this evening. On the agenda are developments in the war in the Gaza Strip and the situation of the hostages still being held by Hamas. The Jerusalem Post writes.

Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen approved the new government, headed by Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa. According to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the 19th Palestinian government is expected to be sworn in by Abbas on Sunday. This renewal comes at a time when the international community is urging the president to undertake institutional reforms, in particular to prepare for the post-conflict period in the Gaza Strip

The Israeli government has asked the High Court for an extension of another two hours to say how it intends to resolve the tangled knot of the ultra-Orthodox draft. The issue has long been a thorn for Israel, but the war in Gaza has brought it up all the more forcefully now that it is secular soldiers who are dying in the Strip. The Court had ordered the government to respond by 24 March to petitions from those demanding conscription also for the ultra-Orthodox who study Torah in yeshiva, the religious schools. The government obtained a three-day postponement, then asked for a half-day extension and now another two hours. Meanwhile, the attorney general's office has pointed out that on 1 April there will be no legal mechanism for the exemption of the 'haredi', the 'God-fearing'. The issue threatens to bring down the government. The compromise proposed by PM Benyamin Netanyahu does not please anyone, neither the secularists who find it insufficient, nor the ultra-Orthodox. Meanwhile, Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef threatened that the haredi would leave Israel en masse if the exemption from military service was not renewed. Already in late 2018, the Netanyahu government fell over this issue, triggering a political crisis with five elections in less than four years. The exemption for the ultra-Orthodox was established with the birth of the state of Israel, but at the time it covered only 400 young Torah scholars. While today haredi are about 12% of the population and last year 66,000 were exempted from military service.

The US economy grew by 3.4% in the fourth quarter, up from 3.2% in the second GDP estimate.

The common will to "find an appropriate political horizon" to address the Palestinian issue on the basis of the two-state solution, "in accordance with recognised decisions of international legitimacy" was affirmed by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and British Foreign Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Tariq Ahmed in Cairo today. Minister Shoukri - his spokesperson reported - reiterated the need for 'the international community to take a different approach than before when it comes to addressing the future of the Palestinian issue, taking serious steps towards the recognition of the Palestinian state and its full membership in the United Nations'.

The meeting also discussed the need to facilitate aid to Gaza and the implementation of UN resolutions and to strive for "a permanent ceasefire that goes beyond the month of Ramadan" and allows for the provision of "full humanitarian assistance by addressing the urgent needs of Palestinians in Gaza", including those remaining in the north of the Strip. The talks also extended to current tensions in the region against the backdrop of the Gaza crisis, such as threats to the safety of shipping in the Red Sea and on the Lebanese side, the situation in Libya, Sudan and Yemen. Both sides, says the Egyptian spokesman, stressed the need to intensify international efforts to contain and prevent the spread of violence to other parts of the region in order to preserve international peace and security.

Five journalists working for independent media were arrested on the night between Wednesday and Thursday in Russia. Police handcuffed Ekaterina Anikievitch of SOTAvision and Konstantin Jarov of RusNews, reported the NGO Ovd-Info, which specialises in monitoring repression in Russia. According to a witness, Jarov was beaten and threatened with sexual violence by police officers. The others arrested are Antonina Favorskaya, Alexandra Astakhova and Anastassia Moussatova.

"They kicked me, put a foot on my head, twisted my fingers and laughed at me when I tried to get up," Jarov said, quoted by the RusNews news agency. And he said he suffered a head wound, abrasions, dislocated fingers and sprains. According to the journalist, the violence was provoked by the shooting near the home of another journalist, Antonina Favorskaya of SOTAvision, who was arrested on Wednesday evening immediately after being released from 10 days of administrative detention for disobeying the police. The journalist's flat was searched, as was that of her parents, her lawyer Mikhail Biriukov said, quoted by SOTAvision.

According to the same source, two other journalists, Alexandra Astakhova and Anastassia Moussatova, who had gone to meet their colleague on her release, were also arrested and taken away for questioning by investigators. According to the website Mediazona, which specialises in following judicial events, the case against Favorskaya is linked to the activities of the movement led by opposition activist Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February. His organisations are classified as 'extremist' by the Russian judiciary. Antonina Favorskaya has been following the trials involving Alexei Navalny for years. It was she who shot the last video showing the opponent still alive, on 15 February during a court hearing. She was arrested on 17 March, a few hours after laying flowers on the opponent's grave, according to Mediazona.

Donald Trump is attacking the New York judge and his daughter after the order issued prohibiting him from criticising witnesses and jurors in the trial that sees the former president accused of giving money to porn star Stormy Daniels. "Judge Juan Merchan has issued another illegal order in an attempt to continue to strip me of my rights and deprive me of my First Amendment rights to criticise the use of American justice as a weapon," Trump says on his Truth social.

The former president then attacks Judge Merchan's daughter, claiming that she used a photo of Trump behind bars on her X account. "I want to be clear. The judge's daughter can post a picture with her 'dream' of seeing me in jail, the New York prosecutor can tell any lie about me, the judge can violate the law and the constitution but I can't talk about the people attacking me," Trump notes.

The President of the Republic of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has dissolved the Legislative Assembly of the island of Madeira, due to an investigation into a corruption scandal that caused a crisis in the regional government, and called early elections for 26 May. The decision was taken after "the favourable opinion, with a majority of votes, for the dissolution" issued by the Council of State and after talks held by Rebelo de Sousa with the parties.

The dissolution decree signed by the president was 'immediately endorsed by the acting prime minister' Antonio Costa, a statement from the Portuguese presidency indicated. In January, an investigation into alleged corruption in irregular contracts had led to the fall of the centre-right regional government, the resignation of the governor Miguel Albuquerque, who is under investigation, and the arrest of Pedro Calado, former mayor of the capital Funchal, along with two prominent local businessmen, Avelino Farinha and Custo' dio Correia, who were later released.

The case had struck national public opinion not only because of the political crisis in the archipelago, a region with an autonomous statute, but also because of the way the investigation had been conducted, as the investigators in Lisbon had not used the local police force, but had sent judicial police officers from the capital. However, Albuquerque had not dissolved the regional legislative assembly, elected last September, because by law it could not call elections in the first half of its term.

In recent days, all parties consulted by the president of the republic have called for early elections, with the exception of the conservative Social Democratic Party (SDP), which has led the archipelago's government since 2015, and the Christian Democrat CDS, both of which are in the regional executive.

King Charles III does not hide his "great sadness" for the forfeit he is forced to make at today's solemn public rite of Maundy Thursday: a centuries-old tradition for British sovereigns in their capacity as heads of the Anglican Church, which he will not attend in person this year in the wake of the doctors' recommendations not to attend crowded events during the treatment he is undergoing following the cancer diagnosis announced at the beginning of February. He confessed this himself, in his own voice, in the message broadcast also by video - after the anticipations of the text circulated by Buckingham Palace - to the faithful invited to today's royal liturgy, celebrated in the historic medieval cathedral of Worcester, not far from Birmingham, in central England.

A video centred on a heartfelt plea to 'serve, help and extend a hand' in 'times of need' and recorded in mid-March, in which the 75-year-old sovereign - dressed in blue and seated at his desk - appears to the viewer in generally good condition. Meanwhile, Queen Camilla, 76 years old and carried with remarkable ease, arrived in Worcester, once again representing her consort and the entire monarchy at a major appointment.

While the absence from the scene of the heir to the throne William also persists, following the recent public revelation of the cancer that has also affected his wife Kate, 42-year-old Princess of Wales, who has been undergoing heavy preventive chemotherapy in recent weeks. In the meantime, Camilla is entrusted with the ritual custom of Maundy money (or Royal Maundy), the royal offering symbolically handed over today to the poor and needy during the Maundy Thursday mass commemorating the Last Supper. While Charles, according to assurances from the Palace days ago, is expected in person at least at the Easter mass on Sunday morning, in St. George's chapel at Windsor Castle: a public, but essentially family event, which he is evidently allowed to attend directly because of the limited number of people present.

The event that Joe Biden will attend along with Barack Obama and Bill Clinton in New York will raise $25 million, boosting the president's coffers in his challenge against Donald Trump. The event is in the evening at Radio City Music Hall and has been organised by Anna Wintour of Condé Nast. The event - which will see its main moment in the dialogue between the president and two of his Democratic predecessors moderated by Stephen Colbert - will also be attended by stars such as Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele. Ticket prices for the prestigious event range from $225 to $500,000.

"International institutions must firmly prevent Israel's war crimes against the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank". This was stated by the speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, as reported by Iranian state TV, during a meeting with the head of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, who has been in Tehran since Tuesday, where he also met with the president, Ebrahim Raisi, and the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. "Resistance is the only solution to get rid of the vicious actions of the Israeli regime," Haniyeh said, praising the Islamic Republic's support for the Palestinians.

We will respond quickly and decisively to any Israeli attack and continue our confrontation with Israel to defend Lebanon and support Gaza, a senior Hezbollah representative, Shaykh Ali Daghmush, deputy chairman of the executive council of the Lebanese armed movement allied with Iran and Hamas, said today. Speaking during the public funeral for a fighter killed by Israel, Daghmush said Hezbollah will continue its "confrontation" with Israel "to defend Lebanon and support Gaza". His words come just hours after bloody Israeli raids in southern Lebanon, both against fighters from Hezbollah and allied armed groups, as well as civilians. "We will respond quickly and decisively to each Israeli attack," Daghmush said. This morning, Hezbollah claimed the launching of a dozen rockets against two Israeli military targets in the Upper Galilee.

"France and Germany should take the initiative. It is obvious that the war cannot end with the total defeat of one side or the other,' says former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in an interview with the Dpa news agency, describing as 'rubbish' the speculation about a Russian nuclear attack or an invasion by a NATO country on its eastern flank. Precisely in order to nip in the bud an escalation to such scenarios, serious thought must be given to a solution to the conflict in addition to support for Ukraine, Schroeder stressed as Dpa summarises.

A building housing several media outlets in Gaza City - including Sky News in Arabic - was hit today in a bombing raid and collapsed. There are currently no reports of casualties. This was reported by the Shehab News agency. The building, local sources point out, is located a short distance from Unknown Soldier Square and the parliament building, which has been in a state of disrepair for months.

The talks between Russia and the United States on the prisoner exchange ''must take place in absolute silence''. This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov during the daily briefing. ''Breaking this pattern only creates further problems and prevents the achievement of any results,'' Peskov added.

"Putin is trying to hide the serious blow he suffered with the attack by diverting the attention of Russian public opinion". Thus Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, responding to reporters' questions on Vladimir Putin's statements against Kiev.

"If the Italian site of the Foreign Ministry knows, all the more reason for the Russian police and secret services to know, who had already made arrests but had evidently let something slip," was the comment of the deputy prime minister, who then reiterated how: "Certain threats certainly do not facilitate the reduction of tension, while we must always work in the Red Sea, Gaza and Ukraine, to a de-escalation. Finally, on the ceasefire called for by the UN, the Forza Italia secretary said: "We continue to work so that there is no attack on Gaza", also recalling that: "We have a new project that is Food for Gaza" to bring food to the Strip.

Aminchon Islomov, accused in the case of the terrorist attack on Crocus town hall, did not admit his guilt in court and appealed the decision on his arrest. "Aminchon Islomov's appeal has been registered with the court," a court representative told Tass.

Easter of war in the Holy Land, without pilgrims and with few faithful, with the hope that the UN resolution will be immediately implemented with a concrete and lasting ceasefire. In an interview with Adnkronos, Father Ibrahim Faltas, Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, recounts the drama being experienced in the Gaza Strip amidst hunger, death and destruction, with the hope that a path to true pacification can be started. "I am in constant contact with the parish of the Holy Family that hosts about 700 Christians from Gaza, but I also receive news from others, especially from the families of the children who have arrived in Italian hospitals for treatment. The news and images that arrive are terrible. I am so shocked by the stories of the children who remember every detail of the war, who are traumatised by what has been happening for six months in Gaza and in the Holy Land," says the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land. Humanitarian aid arrives with difficulty in Gaza, the population is starving: an increasingly dramatic situation. "The war has brought and continues to bring death, suffering and destruction. The impossibility of being able to help is another aspect of the inhumanity that the population of Gaza is facing. We have seen scenes of death while trying to get the few supplies that have arrived. Men," recounts Father Faltas, "who found death for a piece of bread or to retrieve aid from the sea that had arrived from the sky. To see these people starving, with food in the trucks at a short distance from them but unreachable, I think it is truly a defeat for humanity'.

The 'Napoleons' who are now threatening to 'send troops to the East' should not 'forget the lessons of history', particularly when Russian troops entered Paris after defeating the real Napoleon. This was said by Moscow Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as the 210th anniversary of the surrender of the French capital on 31 March 1814 approaches.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in an interview with the BBC that Israel bears significant responsibility for the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and that there is a 'plausible' case that Israel is using hunger as a weapon of war in Gaza. Türk stated that if the intent were proven, this would amount to a war crime.

More than 10,000 households in the Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk region have been without electricity 'for weeks'. This was reported by the Ukrainian National Resistance Centre, as reported by the Kiev Independent. 'Due to the war, many energy workers have left the temporarily occupied territories,' the centre, run by the Ukrainian special forces, said in a report. According to the centre, the energy supply situation is most difficult in the city of Horlivka and in some districts of Donetsk, the regional capital.

Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder stands as a mediator for the end of the war in Ukraine, highlighting his friendship with Vladimir Putin. "We have worked together reasonably for many years. Maybe this could still help in finding a negotiated solution, I don't see any other way," said the former chancellor, who is controversial in Germany and the SPD for his relations with Russian energy companies. "It is wrong to forget all the positive things that have taken place between Germany and Russia in politics in the past. It's not my style and I don't do that," he added.

According to the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), at least 10 rockets were fired from Lebanon at the Shlomi community on the border. Nine of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system, the Israeli army reported. There were no reports of injuries or damage. The IDF said that troops are bombarding the launching sites with artillery.

Russian forces launched a barrage of missiles and drones over Ukraine last night, but almost all of the enemy unmanned aircraft were shot down by the country's air defences, the Kiev Air Force announced on Telegram, pointing out however that the missiles - five in all - managed to evade the defensive systems. Russia launched a total of 28 Shahed-136/131 type kamikaze drones from the Kursk region and Cape Chauda in annexed Crimea, 26 of which were intercepted and shot down over the Odessa, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Three Kh-22 cruise missiles, a Kh-31P anti-radar missile (from the Black Sea) and an S-300 anti-aircraft missile (from the occupied territory of Donetsk) were also launched during the night.

Netanyahu revises his intentions and reschedules the Israeli delegation's visit to the US to talk about Rafah. Five months after the 7 October attacks, the Hamas military chief in Gaza makes himself heard again: in an audio, Deif calls on the Arab world to fight for Palestine and to march on Jerusalem.

Putin says that F-16s that were used by Ukraine against Russia would be hit even if they were at NATO airfields. The Russian president calls it 'utter nonsense' that Moscow wants to invade Europe. Biden goes back to calling Putin a 'butcher' and the Pentagon reiterates that the US 'stands ready to defend NATO territory'. Meanwhile, scepticism seeps out among some of the tsar's loyalists about the Ukrainian track for the attack on Moscow. The Kremlin has known about the plans for the attack for over a month but chose to do nothing, according to Kiev's military intelligence service.

Russian drone attack overnight in Zaporizhzhia. This was reported by the head of the regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov, adding that several houses were hit in the attack and two women were injured. According to initial reports, fires also broke out in some residential buildings as a result of the attack and rescuers quickly intervened to extinguish the flames. This was reported by Ukrainska pravda.

The Gaza Strip was the scene tonight of air raids and fierce clashes between the Israeli army and Palestinian Hamas fighters, just as Benjamin Netanyahu's government reopened the door to talks with its US ally on a possible operation at Rafah. The Hamas-run Health Ministry reported at least 66 deaths in the Palestinian enclave overnight, with shelling and fighting reported near the Gaza city of Khan Younis. The Palestinian news agency Wafa, on the other hand, reported clashes during the night in several locations in the occupied West Bank.