A recent analysis conducted by the United Nations has revealed that at least 36 Israeli strikes on Gaza between March 18 and April 9 have only resulted in the killing of Palestinian women and children. | The UN on Friday reported that “a large percentage of fatalities are children and women,” and hundreds of strikes have hit residential buildings and tents since Israel broke the 2-month ceasefire with Hamas on March 18.

💬 “Between March 18 and April 9, 2025, there were some 224 incidents of Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for internally displaced people,” UN rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva. ● “In some 36 strikes about which the UN Human Rights Office corroborated information, the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children,” she said. ● “Overall, a large percentage of fatalities are children and women, according to information recorded by our Office,” she added.

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 50,912 Palestinians were killed, and 115,981 were wounded in Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October 2023. The Government Media Office updated its death toll to more than 61,700, saying thousands of people missing under the rubble are presumed dead.

A key Ukrainian foreign affairs official wants to see Steve Witkoff sacked | US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who has played a central role in opening negotiations on resolving the Ukraine conflict, is “spreading Russian propaganda” and should be sacked, according to a senior Ukrainian lawmaker. ● The head of the Kiev’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Aleksandr Merezhko, made the remark in response to Witkoff’s interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, during which the envoy spoke about the status of former Ukrainian territories that have joined Russia, describing the issue as “an elephant in the room” that “no one wants to talk about.”

💬 “They’re Russian-speaking. There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule,” Witkoff said. ● “The Russians are de facto in control of these territories. The question is: Will the world acknowledge that those are Russian territories? Can [Vladimir] Zelensky survive politically if he acknowledges this? This is the central issue in the conflict,” he added.

Merezhko strongly condemned the “disgraceful, shocking statements,” accusing the Witkoff of acting as an envoy of Russian President Vladimir Putin rather than of Trump. [...] Moscow has repeatedly signaled that its sovereignty over the territories is not negotiable, while Kiev has pledged to seize back control of all the territories it claims as its own. The Ukrainian leadership has seemingly softened its rhetoric of late, now insisting it will never recognize “occupation” of the territories and Russian sovereignty over them in any form.

■ Putin’s latest talks with Trump’s envoy: What we know so far (RT)

Kiev allegedly refers to Britain’s military chiefs as the “brains” of the “anti-Putin” coalition, according to the exposé | Britain’s military leadership has played a far more extensive and covert role in the Ukraine conflict than previously known, not only designing battle plans and supplying intelligence, but also authorizing secret troop deployments inside the country to provide weapons training and technical support, according to a report by The Times. ● While London’s political and military backing for Kiev has been public since the 2014 Western-backed coup, the extent of its involvement after the escalation in February 2022 “remained largely hidden… until now,” the British newspaper wrote on Friday, citing unnamed Ukrainian and British military officers. ● The Times claimed that British troops were sent into Ukraine in small numbers on several occasions throughout 2022 and 2023, operating discreetly to avoid provoking Russia. In particular, UK forces were deployed to fit Ukrainian aircraft with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles and train pilots and ground crews in their use.

US and Ukrainian officials met on the draft proposal in Washington on Friday, the source said | The draft agreement on Ukrainian minerals suggested by the United States contains a demand that the US government's International Development Finance Corporation take control of a natural gas pipeline from Russia's Gazprom across Ukraine to Europe, Reuters reported citing a source with knowledge of the matter. ● US and Ukrainian officials met on the draft proposal in Washington on Friday, the source said. Prospects for a breakthrough were scant given the meeting's "antagonistic" atmosphere, the agency wrote. "The negotiating environment is very antagonistic," the source said, pointing to the "maximalist" draft submitted by the US administration in March. A Treasury Department spokesperson confirmed the discussions, calling them "technical in nature."

■ Reuters: переговоры США и Украины по ископаемым прошли в атмосфере антагонизма (https://ren.tv/)

"China’s position on settlement in Ukraine is quite balanced, and we are grateful to our friends for that," Andrey Rudenko noted | Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko has slammed statements that Chinese citizens are fighting in Ukraine as absolutely false. [...] On the previous day the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that Beijing had not sent its military for participating in the Ukrainian conflict, with the country’s authorities requesting its citizens to avoid involvement in combat activities. Earlier, information was spread in Ukraine that Chinese citizens allegedly participated in the fighting.

Martin Armstrong | It has begun. German hospitals are preparing for war. | Germany has embarked on its first permanent foreign deployment of its troops outside of Germany since the days of Hitler and World War II. Merz is a very dangerous warmonger, and Germany’s parliament has approved the dispatch of German troops to eastern Lithuania, along NATO’s eastern boundary. This is truly a historic event. I was in Tokyo when the government wanted to send troops to the Middle East, but the US had restricted its constitution to confine Japanese troops within 200 miles of their border. The politicians wanted to change the constitution, and hundreds of thousands of Japanese protested, fearing the military would rise again.

■ Only six Western states willing to deploy troops to Ukraine – AFP (Yahoo)

China retaliated Friday to higher U.S. tariffs, slapping 125% levies on U.S. goods, but signaled it would apply no further measures in the future.

💬 "If the U.S. continues to increase tariffs on Chinese exports, China will not respond," China's Ministry of Finance said in a statement announcing the new levies, in a sign that Chinese authorities see no real upside to any further tit-for-tat measures beyond these. "Given the current level of tariffs, U.S. goods exported to China are no longer market-viable," the statement added by way of explanation.

■ Xi warns US will isolate itself (RT)
✅ China Escalates With 125% Tariff On US Imports, Signals Will "Ignore" Future Retaliation (Tyler Durden)