New shelling in Israel and the Gaza Strip

1 The Gaza Strip. Continued shelling

The ’Hamas’ movement announced the launch of a rocket at the Israeli airport Ramon, in the south of the country. More than 100 rockets were fired at Israeli cities. It was noted that the new strikes were a response from the ’Hamas’ to the recent destruction of the civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip by Israel, and for the deaths of the ’HAMAS’ fighters. On Thursday, the IDF launched a series of air strikes against the ’Hamas’ facilities in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli mass media reported that the ’Hamas’ internal security HQs, the bank of the movement, and the home of one of the top commanders were destroyed. Earlier Israel attacked the top military command of the ’Hamas’. The local mass media reported that the Israeli military is developing plans for a ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

2 Russia. Dialogue between Israel and Palestine

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shukri, discussed in a telephone call the efforts to restore the dialogue between Israel and Palestine. «The ministers expressed their deep concern about the dangerous escalation of the tensions in the Palestinian territories, and called for an early end to the violence that will lead to the further escalations» — the Russian Foreign Ministry stated. It was noted that «the disposition of Moscow and Cairo to continue their close coordination of the efforts with the aim of restarting the direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, including the involvement of the certain four Middle East mediators, was confirmed».

3 The Gaza Strip. Egyptian mediation

The delegation of Egyptian mediators have arrived in the Gaza Strip to negotiate a ceasefire with Israel with the leadership of the ’Hamas’ movement that controls the coastal enclave — the TASS news agency reported with a link to their source. Cairo traditionally acts as a mediator between Palestinians and Israelis. It was planned that 2 delegations of the Egyptian intelligence service will go to Gaza and Tel Aviv. On Wednesday, the ’Al Arabiya’ TV reported while citing their sources, that Israel had notified the Egyptian mediators that they abandon the short-term truce with the ’Hamas’. Israel refuses to cease fire until the completion of a large-scale operation against the Hamas.

4.Armenia. Border with Azerbaijan

The Armenian Defense Ministry reported that Azerbaijani troops tried to move on the border in the Vardenis and Sisian regions. As a result of the actions of the Armenian troops, that advance was stopped. Azerbaijan was demanded to immediately leave the territory, and return to their original positions. On Wednesday, the Armenian Defense Ministry reported that early in the morning, the Azerbaijani troops tried to carry out some activity in one of the border regions of Syunik in order to, supposedly, correct the border. The Armenian troops took counter-measures as a result of which the Azerbaijani troops ceased their actions. Negotiations are underway to resolve the situation. The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the incident «an invasion on the territory of Armenia». According to him, the Azerbaijani troops crossed the state border of Armenia for 3.5 km.

5 The USA — the US Armed Forces deployment

«The Pentagon is searching for options to counter the terrorists after pulling the US troops from Afghanistan» — the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Security in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, David Helvey, stated. He announced that the Pentagon is studying the options to deploy the US troops at the bases in countries around Afghanistan. The Pentagon expects to «retain the ability to fly over the territory of Afghanistan». David Helvey noted that there are no agreements with the countries of the region on the deployment of the US aircraft so far. ’The Wall Street Journal’ reported that the USA are considering a possibility of deployment of the US troops, pulled from Afghanistan, in the countries of Central Asia, in particular — Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

6. Russia. Meeting of Putin and Biden

The Press Secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, stated that there are no agreements on a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden. According to him, the topic of the Russian-American summit «is still at the stage of discussion and analysis». On 13th of April, during a telephone conversation, Joe Biden suggested to Vladimir Putin to hold a personal meeting in a third country. Later he explained that he had offered to meet in Europe, in this summer. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS.