April 01, 2024

Five Things to Watch, April 1, 2024

By The American Legion
News
Five Things to Watch, April 1, 2024
(U.S. Marine Corps photo)

Israel withdraws from Gaza hospital after two-week raid, no WWII veterans attend Iwo Jima remembrance, Russian cruise missile strike on Ukraine infrastructure kills two.

1.   Israel’s military withdrew from Gaza’s largest hospital early Monday after a two-week raid, in which it said it killed some 200 militants and detained hundreds more. Palestinian residents said the troops left behind several bodies and a vast swath of destruction. The military has described the raid on Shifa Hospital as one of the most successful of the nearly six-month war. But it came at a time of mounting frustration in Israel, with tens of thousands protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday and demanding he do more to bring home dozens of hostages held in Gaza. It was the largest anti-government demonstration since the start of the war.

2.   U.S. Marines and Japanese soldiers marched side-by-side over the weekend on Iwo Jima, where their predecessors fought one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. The troops, along with family members of those who fought on Iwo Jima and officials from both nations, visited the remote island Saturday for the 79th Reunion of Honor commemorating the pivotal 36-day battle. Around 170 people took part in the ceremony, but no U.S. World War II veterans came this year to the island now known as Iwo To in Japan, a spokesman for III Marine Expeditionary Force, 2nd Lt. Owen Hitchcock, said in an email Monday.

3.   A Russian cruise missile strike on infrastructure in Ukraine’s western Lviv region killed one man, while another man died in an attack in the northeast officials said Sunday. The attack in Lviv destroyed a building and sparked a fire, Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi wrote on social media app Telegram. He said that rescue operations were being conducted.

4.   Nearly 60 years after U.S. scientists began secretly investigating the effects of Soviet microwaves on American diplomats in Moscow, Washington officials are still reluctant to blame Russia for wounding scores of CIA, FBI, State Department and other U.S. and Canadian officials with a weapon that causes a debilitating malady popularly known as Havana Syndrome. But a collaborative project by 60 Minutes and other news outlets seems close to outing the Kremlin. At least they’ve found officials willing to go on the record that a weapon is involved.

5.   A deadly attack in Moscow on March 22, 2024, exposed the vulnerability of the Russian capital to the threat of the Islamic State group and its affiliate ISIS-K. But it also displayed the reach of the network, leading some terror experts to ponder: Could a U.S. city be next?

  • News