Rockets Hit Baghdad Green Zone, No Casualties

One of the entrances to Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on November 24, 2018. (Getty Images)
One of the entrances to Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on November 24, 2018. (Getty Images)
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Rockets Hit Baghdad Green Zone, No Casualties

One of the entrances to Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on November 24, 2018. (Getty Images)
One of the entrances to Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on November 24, 2018. (Getty Images)

At least two rockets hit Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone early on Thursday but caused no casualties, Iraqi security sources said.

One senior Iraqi security official said the rockets were launched from a neighborhood in eastern Baghdad and initial investigations indicate the rockets were targeting the US embassy, but fell short.

One rocket landed in a parking lot inside the Green Zone and a second one hit a nearby empty area, said the sources.

Thursday’s attack comes two days after US President Joe Biden and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi sealed an agreement formally ending the US combat mission in Iraq by the end of 2021.

Kadhimi has been facing increasing pressure from Iran-aligned parties and paramilitary groups who oppose the US military role in the country.

US diplomats and troops in Iraq and Syria were targeted in three rocket and drone attacks earlier this month, including one in which at least 14 rockets hit an Iraqi air base hosting US forces. Two US service members were wounded.

While there were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks - part of a wave targeting US troops or areas where they are based in Iraq and Syria - analysts believed they were part of a campaign by Iranian-backed militias.

The Green Zone hosts foreign embassies and government buildings and is regularly the target of rockets fired by groups that US and Iraqi officials say are backed by Iran.



Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organizations warned Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.

"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."

"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."

Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.