Israele

(Reuters) Israel allows trucks from newly reopened Erez crossing into Gaza after U.S. pressure

• Israel reopened the sole crossing on the northern edge of the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, allowing aid trucks to pass through the Erez checkpoint following U.S. demands to do more to address the growing humanitarian crisis.
   
• Reopening the Erez crossing has been one of the main pleas of international aid agencies for months, to alleviate hunger which is believed to be most severe among the hundreds of thousands of civilians in the enclave's northern sector.
   
• The Erez crossing, primarily used for foot traffic, had remained closed since it was destroyed during the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 that precipitated the war.

Ucraina

(New York Times) Deadly Russian Strikes Hit Civilian Center and Other Targets in Odesa

• A Ukrainian official said early Wednesday that a Russian missile attack overnight had killed three people and injured three others in Odesa, a southern Ukrainian city that has been a regular target of Russian missiles and drones trying to destroy its port infrastructure.
   
• The attack followed a Russian airstrike on Monday evening that killed five people and wounded about 30 others, Ukrainian officials said.

(Kyiv Independent)Latvian FM: Some countries have provided Ukraine weapons with no restrictions on strikes in Russia

• Some of Ukraine's allies have sent weapons to Kyiv with no restrictions on strikes inside Russia, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braze said in an interview with European Pravda published on May 1.
   
• Ukraine has continued to press its Western allies for longer-range weapons, but partners have hesitated about delivering arms that could potentially be used to strike within Russian territory.
   
• President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Kyiv will not use weapons supplied by foreign partners to hit targets outside of the country’s borders. Such restrictions do not apply to domestically produced arms, some of which are reportedly capable of striking deep into Russia.
   
• When asked whether the approach to the ban on foreign-made weapons strikes on Russian territory could change, Braze answered that "there are countries that have already provided Ukraine with weapons without such restrictions."
   
• "Not everything is announced publicly, and it is even better not to say it out loud until a certain time. The main thing is the impact on the battlefield. Because there is a choice here — either to speak loudly about something or just to do what is necessary," the minister said.

Europa

(New York Times)A Proposed Law Targeting ‘Foreign Interests’ in Georgia Riles the Opposition

• For the past month, the Georgian capital of Tbilisi has been engulfed in turmoil. Protesters have taken to the streets of the city night after night. A fistfight broke out between legislators in the country’s Parliament. And over the weekend, there were clashes between police and protesters at a large demonstration in the center of the city.
   
• The trigger for the unrest was a decision early this month by the governing party, Georgian Dream, to push a bill through Parliament that the pro-Western opposition believes could be used to crack down on dissent and hamper the country’s efforts to join the European Union.
   
• The draft law would require nongovernmental groups and media outlets that receive more than 20 percent of their funding from foreign sources to register as organizations “carrying the interests of a foreign power” and provide annual financial statements about their activities. Violations would incur fines equivalent to more than $9,000.

Politica internazionale

Nord America

(Washington Post)Police breach occupied building at Columbia as campus unrest escalates

• Tensions flared on college campuses overnight as New York police arrested people at Columbia University, breached an occupied campus building there and moved to clear an encampment at a nearby City University of New York school.
   
• Over the past few weeks, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have popped up at hundreds of U.S. campuses, with students calling on their schools to divest from Israeli-linked companies and funds amid the war in Gaza. More than 1,300 people have been arrested in the United States, according to a Washington Post tally.
   
• On Tuesday, the situation intensified at Columbia, where protesters started an encampment last month. Dozens of police officers in ko riot gear entered Columbia’s campus and cleared Hamilton Hall, where protesters had barricaded themselves inside. University spokesman Ben Chang said in a news release that Columbia officials asked police to enter the campus and were “left with no choice” after learning Hamilton Hall had been “occupied, vandalized, and blockaded.”

America Latina

(Reuters)Colombia President Petro says will break diplomatic relations with Israel

• Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Wednesday he will break diplomatic relations with Israel over its actions in Gaza.

• Petro has already heavily criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and requested to join South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

• "Here in front of you, the government of change, of the president of the republic announces that tomorrow we will break diplomatic relations with the state of Israel...for having a government, for having a president who is genocidal," Petro told cheering crowds in Bogota, who marched to mark International Worker's Day and back Petro's social and economic reforms. Countries cannot be passive in the face of events in Gaza, he added.

Medio Oriente

(Al Jazeera) Turkey seeks to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at ICJ

• Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says Turkey will join in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
   
• “Upon completion of the legal text of our work, we will submit the declaration of official intervention before the ICJ with the objective of implementing this political decision,” Fidan said on Wednesday at a joint news conference with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
   
• “Turkey will continue to support the Palestinian people in all circumstances,” he said.
   
• The ICJ has ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians after South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.