The international community is pressuring Israel not to launch a large-scale attack on Rafah

The international community, led by the USA, continues today to call on his government Israel not to launch a full-scale attack on Rafah; on the closed border with Egyptwhere approximately 1.5 million Palestinians have fled.

After more than four months of war between Israel and Hamas, hostilities are now centered in the southern part of the besieged and largely leveled Gaza Stripfrom Khan Yunis, where the Israeli army announced yesterday, Thursday, that it had conducted a “targeted operation” at Nasser Hospital, a reception center for thousands of internally displaced people as far as Rafah.

US President Joe Biden reiterated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their telephone conversation that he opposes launching a military operation in Rafah “without a credible and workable plan that will guarantee the safety and support of civilians there,” according to his White House services.

Mr. Netanyahu has announced a “robust” operation in Rafah, to give what he says is a free shot to Hamas, which has been in power in the Gaza Strip since 2007. He assures, however, that his army will first allow civilians to “leave the war zones”, without having explained in which direction.

Some 1.4 million Palestinians, in other words “more than half the population of the Gaza Strip,” have flocked to the city it and its surroundings, after being forcibly displaced – many more than once – from other areas of the enclave, to escape the bombings and fighting. All this world is crammed into “less than 20%” of the enclave's surface, as the UN summarizes.

Rafah, moreover, is the main gateway for humanitarian aid, which reaches the Gaza Strip through Egypt, the amount of which is a drop in the ocean of needs of the population, now threatened by famine and epidemics, in the middle of winter.

“For the Hostages”

During their conversation, Joe Biden also reiterated to Benjamin Netanyahu to “work tirelessly” for the hostages, to guarantee the release of all of them “as soon as possible.”

According to Israeli sources, more than 130 Israeli hostages remain in the hands of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, a military spokesman said last week that at least 31 of them were believed to be dead, out of the approximately 250 abducted on October 7. A week-long truce in November allowed the release of more than 105 of them and in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. On both sides, it was mostly women and children.

Negotiations for a truce that would allow further releases of Hamas hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israel continued today, for the final day, according to reports, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the US.

The Israeli military justified its operation at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis by citing “reliable information” from special services that Hamas was holding hostages there and “bodies of hostages” may still be there.

The Health Ministry of Hamas said today that it fears for the lives of six patients in the intensive care unit and three newborns in the nursery: they have no oxygen, since the generators stopped.

The ministry said “112 people were killed” overnight Thursday to Friday across the enclave in Israeli shelling.

US hopes for deal before Ramadan

After his discussion with Mr Biden, Mr Netanyahu yesterday rejected any international recognition of a Palestinian state outside the context of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, arguing that any such initiative would “offer a huge reward to terrorism”, apparently reacting to publication of the American newspaper Washington Post.

Any such recognition, after the massacre of October 7, would offer a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace agreement.”Mr. Netanyahu emphasized in Hebrew via X (the former Twitter).

The US newspaper reported that the US, Israel's main ally, and Arab countries close to Washington are drawing up a comprehensive plan for lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians after the Israel/Hamas war ends.

The plan refers to a ceasefire “expected to last at least six weeks”, the release of hostages and a timetable for the establishment of a Palestinian state, a prospect rejected by the Netanyahu government.

The newspaper cited US and Arab officials as saying they hoped a deal would be reached before March 10, the day Ramadan begins. The plan may be discussed at the Munich security conference, which starts today.

The war broke out on October 7 when members of the Palestinian Islamist movement's military wing Hamas launched an unprecedented raid from the Gaza Strip against southern sectors of the Israeli territory, killing more than 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to a count of AFP based on official data from the Israeli authorities.

In retaliation, Israel, whose politico-military leadership vows to “eliminate” Hamas and release “all” hostagesis conducting large-scale military operations in the Palestinian enclave that have so far killed at least 28,663 people, the vast majority of them women and children, according to the latest casualty count released by Hamas' health ministry.

Source: News Beast

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