Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he remains determined to carry out a Rafah ground offensive, despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s misgivings. Netanyahu told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that he would wait to hear proposals from the U.S. “out of respect to the president” about ways to protect the civilian population in Rafah before ordering the operation.
Here’s the latest:
Quick Read
- Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is committed to a ground offensive in Rafah, despite U.S. President Biden’s concerns.
- The conflict in Gaza has resulted in at least 31,819 Palestinian deaths, with a UN food agency warning of imminent famine in northern Gaza.
- Netanyahu, reaffirming his stance, aims to eliminate Hamas battalions in Rafah, despite potential U.S. diplomatic efforts for alternative solutions.
- Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is scheduled to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington to discuss hostage release, humanitarian aid, and civilian protection in Rafah.
- U.S. and Israeli officials are arranging Gallant’s visit, possibly linked to discussions on Rafah and the humanitarian crisis.
- Surgeon warns that an offensive in Rafah could lead to an “apocalyptic” death toll due to limited hospital capacity and the area’s high concentration of displaced persons.
- U.N. humanitarian efforts in northern Gaza are hampered, with less than half of planned aid missions facilitated by Israel this month.
- The U.N. refugee agency head claims Israel barred his entry into Gaza, challenging COGAT’s claim of application errors.
The Associated Press has the story:
Netanyahu remains set on Rafah ground invasion despite US misgivings
Newslooks- JERUSALEM — (AP)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he remains determined to carry out a Rafah ground offensive, despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s misgivings.
Netanyahu told a parliamentary committee Tuesday that he would wait to hear proposals from the U.S. “out of respect to the president” about ways to protect the civilian population in Rafah before ordering the operation.
But he said he does not see any alternative to a ground offensive if Israel is to carry out its goal of destroying the Hamas militant group’s remaining battalions in Rafah.
“We have a debate with the Americans over the need to enter Rafah, not over the need to eliminate Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “We are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah, and there is no way to do this without a ground incursion.”
Israel says that Rafah, located on the Egyptian border, is Hamas’ last major stronghold in Gaza. An estimated 1.5 million Palestinians, over half of Gaza’s population, are now huddled in Rafah after fleeing fighting elsewhere in the territory.
U.S. officials say they will not support a Rafah operation without the Israelis presenting a credible plan to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians. Israel has yet to present such a plan, according to White House officials.
On Monday, Netanyahu agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss a prospective Rafah operation with the U.S. The decision took place during Netanyahu and Biden’s first conversation in over a month.
US AND ISRAEL DEFENSE LEADERS TO MEET NEXT WEEK IN WASHINGTON, OFFICIAL SAYS
WASHINGTON — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin next week in Washington, a U.S. defense official confirmed Tuesday.
The official, who spoke under condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public, said Austin and Gallant plan to discuss securing the release of Hamas-held hostages, humanitarian aid to Gaza and protecting those in Rafah. Over a million displaced people have sought shelter in the southern Gaza city, where Israel has said it plans to stage a ground offensive.
ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER POTENTIALLY WILL VISIT WASHINGTON, US OFFICIAL SAYS
WASHINGTON — U.S. and Israeli officials are working to arrange a visit by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to Washington, according to a U.S. official.
Details of a potential visit are still being worked out, and it’s unclear if the visit would occur in conjunction with or separate from U.S.-Israeli talks on a prospective Israeli military operation in Rafah, according to the official, who was not authorized to comment and requested anonymity.
It would be Gallant’s first visit to Washington since Hamas launched the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the war.
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed in a phone call on Monday to hold a meeting between U.S. and Israeli officials in Washington to discuss the U.S. administration’s concerns about Israel’s plans for an operation in the southern Gaza city, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have sheltered, as well as the growing humanitarian crisis in the territory.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday that the high-level meeting — which is expected to include military, intelligence and humanitarian officials from both countries — will likely take place early next week.
An Israeli Ministry of Defense spokesperson did not return immediately requests for comment regarding Gallant’s possible trip to the U.S.
SURGEON SAYS ISRAELI MILITARY OFFENSIVE IN RAFAH WOULD DEBILITATE GAZA HOSPITALS
UNITED NATIONS – A British surgeon who has been going to Gaza for 15 years is warning that an Israeli military offensive in Rafah will be “apocalyptic” in terms of deaths because there is nowhere safe for the 1.3 million displaced people in the southern city to go.
Professor Nick Maynard, a cancer surgeon who has taught and carried out surgery in Gaza, most recently in January, told a U.N. press conference Tuesday that a cease-fire is urgent because the few hospitals, with a total of 200 beds, can’t cope with the current violence — and “it will be inevitably worse if there is an invasion of Rafah.”
Dr. Zaher Sahlouf, a critical care specialist and president of the humanitarian NGO MedGlobal who was in Gaza in late January, stressed that “there is no place for this population to leave.”
“That means if there is any offensive, they’re going to have a bloodbath, they’re going to have massacres after massacres,” he said.
Sahlouf said with the deterioration and collapse of the health system, pregnant women will die from bleeding, babies will die from lack of care, and patients with diarrhea will die from dehydration.
He pointed to some estimates that 250,000 people will die directly and indirectly if the Israel-Hamas war escalates, “and that is a biblical number.”
“We hope that it will not happen,” he said.
Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American emergency medicine physician from Christ Medical Center outside Chicago who was also in Gaza in late January as part of a U.N. World Health Organization medical team, said hospitals have been targeted and “the health care system has essentially collapsed.”
The three doctors and Dr. Amber Alayyan, a Texas pediatrician who heads Doctors Without Borders’ Palestinian medical program, are heading to Washington to meet U.S. government officials and members of Congress.
“We need the bombs to stop dropping, hopefully through a cease-fire,” Ahmad said, and the “humanitarian catastrophe” that’s taking place to end.
UN SAYS ISRAEL FACILITATED LESS THAN HALF OF ITS PLANNED AID MISSIONS TO NORTHERN GAZA THIS MONTH
UNITED NATIONS – U.N. humanitarian officials report that during the first half of March, Israeli authorities facilitated less than half of its planned humanitarian aid missions to northern Gaza, where a new report says famine is imminent.
U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters Tuesday that only 11 of 24 aid convoys the U.N. wanted to send took place, with the rest either denied or postponed.
He said day-to-day approvals from Israeli authorities are required for aid deliveries, and “truck convoys are frequently turned back, even after long waits at the Wadi Gaza checkpoint.” Convoys also run the risk of looting by desperately hungry people, he said.
The report issued Monday by the international community’s authority on determining the severity of hunger crises said 70% of people in northern Gaza are experiencing catastrophic hunger and warned that escalation of the war could push half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population to the brink of starvation.
Haq said the only way to prevent looting and starvation is to ensure that adequate food and other assistance can be delivered on a regular and reliable basis.
The U.N. World Food Program estimates “that simply addressing basic food needs will require at least 300 trucks to enter Gaza every day and distribute food, especially in the north,” he said.
The U.N. humanitarian office has repeatedly called for the Israeli military “to guarantee safe, sustained and unhindered access across Gaza — and to open up all possible entry points into Gaza,” Haq said.
U.N. officials have also repeatedly stressed that the only way to deliver aid on a large scale, which is required to avert imminent famine, is by road, the U.N. spokesperson stressed.
UNRWA HEAD SAYS ISRAEL BARRED HIS ENTRY INTO GAZA
JERUSALEM — The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says Israel singled him out by refusing his entry into the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to journalists, UNRWA commissioner Philippe Lazzarini challenged Israel’s claim that he was barred entry due to mistakes on his entry application.
Lazzarini, who has been to Gaza numerous times, says he was the only member of his delegation to be blocked by the Israeli defense body COGAT from entering on Monday.
“I hear COGAT saying that … I did not fill the right form, that was the public explanation, but be re-assured that all members of my delegation were authorized to enter except the commissioner-general,” he said.
Israel has repeatedly accused UNRWA, the largest aid organization in Gaza, of providing cover for Hamas and has also alleged at least 12 UNRWA workers participated in the Oct.7 attack.
COGAT did not respond to a request for comment.
Currently:
— Incoming Palestinian prime minister lays out plans for reform but faces major obstacles.
— Israelis evacuated from the Lebanese border wonder if they’ll ever return.
— Netanyahu agrees to send Israeli officials to Washington to discuss a prospective Rafah operation.
— Israel urges a top United Nations court to reject South Africa’s request for more emergency orders in a genocide case.
— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
