Israel is under increasing pressure to shelve its plans for a ground offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza. US President Joe Biden warned Israel on Friday in clear terms: He firmly believes that there must be “a temporary ceasefire” to free the hostages. Biden said at the White House that he expected “that the Israelis will not carry out a massive ground offensive in the meantime.”
Israel’s army will soon submit a detailed plan for the operation in Rafah to the war cabinet, the Times of Israel reported. UN organizations have received reports that some Palestinians have already left Rafah for the center of Gaza out of fear of Israel’s attacks.
Report: USA is preparing to deliver more arms to Israel
Despite calls for a ceasefire, the US is preparing to deliver more bombs and weapons to Israel, according to a media report. As the “Wall Street Journal” reported on Saturday night, citing current and former US officials, the plans are currently being examined within the government of US President Joe Biden and could change in detail before they are presented to the US. submitted to Congress for approval. The Israeli government has asked for “rapid procurement of these items to defend Israel against ongoing and new regional threats.” The new proposed arms shipment includes precision weapons, according to the report. The US is urging Israel to shift from massive bombing to more precise strikes.
Report: Israel’s president meets Qatar’s head of government
In the war that has been going on for over four months, Israel is preparing for an offensive in the city that borders Egypt. The army is said to be drawing up plans that would involve evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians who are seeking protection in confined spaces. At the same time, difficult negotiations are underway under high pressure under the leadership of mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the USA regarding a temporary ceasefire. It is intended to ensure that the more than 130 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas are gradually exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel’s President Izchak Herzog met secretly with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, as the news site “Axios” reported, citing informed circles. The unusual meeting between the two politicians makes it clear how urgent the situation is.
Biden hopes for a quick hostage deal
According to information from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the negotiators are working to ensure that a ceasefire coincides with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins on March 10th. Biden said he hoped there would be a quick deal with Hamas to free the hostages. He spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu every day last week, for almost an hour each time.
Biden’s blunt words showed that Rafah’s fate was a potential tipping point in relations between Washington and Jerusalem, the Financial Times reported. US officials, including Biden, have consistently supported Israel since the start of the war, but their tolerance for Netanyahu’s actions and the worsening humanitarian crisis “is rapidly waning,” the newspaper wrote.
UN court rejects appeal against Rafah offensive
Meanwhile, the United Nations International Court of Justice rejected an urgent request from South Africa to review the legality of Israel’s planned military offensive in Rafah. The dangerous situation in the place full of refugees requires “the immediate and effective implementation of the court’s requests”, which it issued at the end of January, the court announced at its headquarters in The Hague. These requests would apply to the entire Gaza Strip, including Rafah. “It is not necessary to adopt additional measures,” the court stated. Israel’s allies such as the USA and Germany firmly advise Israel against large-scale military action in Rafah. The United Nations has warned of a massive humanitarian catastrophe in the event of such an offensive.
Riots over trucks carrying aid deliveries in Rafah
Dozens of people tried to storm a truck carrying aid supplies at the Rafah border crossing. Police intervened and dispersed the crowd, the Hamas-controlled authority said. Video footage shared on social media showed people entering the border crossing’s processing area. Shots can be heard and black smoke can be seen. Eyewitnesses reported that Hamas police fired into the crowd and killed a youth. The authority initially did not want to confirm this.
In Rafah, right on the Egyptian border, 1.3 million people are crowded together in a very small space. Most of them have fled other parts of the Gaza Strip to seek protection from the war. They live in huge tent camps or on the streets. Aid organizations can hardly guarantee supplies of the essentials. The aid deliveries arrive in the sealed-off coastal area via the border crossing with Egypt after Israel has checked them.
Israel’s army continues to operate in the hospital in Khan Yunis
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in Israel on October 7th. They murdered 1,200 people. Israel’s counterattacks in the Gaza Strip have so far killed 28,775 people, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority’s figures on Friday. The information cannot currently be independently verified.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army’s operation at the Nasser Hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis continued on Friday. The military said soldiers have so far arrested 20 suspects who were involved in the Hamas massacre. Israeli soldiers also found Hamas weapons in the hospital and Hamas grenades in the area of the clinic. Boxes of medication with the names of Israeli hostages were also found. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority, four patients in the intensive care unit died due to a power outage during the Israeli operation. Her oxygen supply was interrupted.
What is important today
The security conference continues in Munich. Around 50 heads of state and government and around 100 ministers are expected at the world’s most important meeting of politicians and experts on security policy, including Israel’s President Herzog and Foreign Minister Israel Katz as well as high-ranking representatives of the Palestinian Authority and the Arab countries of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan. The main topics will be the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. At the same time, international mediators are continuing to negotiate a new ceasefire and the release of hostages in the Gaza war.
