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Added on the 18/04/2024 16:19:49 - Copyright : AFPTV - First images
The United States says it still opposes a major Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date was set. With some 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, "We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians and that it would ultimately hurt Israel security," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tells reporters. SOUNDBITE
Images show Maidan square in Kyiv, Ukraine, on the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion. A virtual summit of G7 leaders is due to take place at Kyiv's Saint Sophia Cathedral with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending. IMAGES
The United States warns Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo at the UN that they "must walk back from the brink of war" as tensions between the neighbors ratchet up. "Regional diplomatic efforts, not military conflict, are the only path to a negotiated solution and sustainable peace," says American envoy to the UN Robert Wood during a UNSC emergency meeting. SOUNDBITE
The United States says it does not consider Israel's deadly hostage rescue operation in Rafah to be a full-scale operation and still opposes an offensive without a plan to protect civilians. "Without such a plan that is credible, and that they can execute, we do not support a full-scale military operation," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tells reporters. SOUNDBITE
With the war in Gaza entering its fifth month, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns that if Israel pressed into the southern city of Rafah, as it reportedly plans to do, it "would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences." "It is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and the unconditional release of all hostages", he adds at the top of a speech to the General Assembly presenting his 2024 priorities. SOUNDBITE
U.S. President Barack Obama attends an outdoor arrival ceremony in heavy rain, as the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).