Even Joe Biden admits that Israel’s conduct in Gaza is “over the top,” while the Israeli army has continued to intensify its attacks following Netanyahu’s rejection of Hamas’s most recent ceasefire proposal.
Casualties
- 27,947+ Palestinians killed in Gaza, including at least 12,000 children.
- 67,459+ Palestinians injured.
Key Developments
- U.S. announces that it will not support an “unplanned” ground operation in Rafah.
- U.S. President Joe Biden criticizes Israel’s actions in Gaza as “over the top.”
- Israeli military intensifies attacks on Rafah, despite warnings.
- Israeli snipers murdered at least 17 people outside of Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
- UN: 500,000 children out of school in Gaza.
- ActionAid: Food in Gaza is becoming so rare that people are eating grass.
- Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollah travels to Beirut to meet with “senior Lebanese officials and resistance group leaders.”
- Eleven Palestinians arrested in raids in West Bank.
- Saudi Arabia hosts top Arab diplomats, calling for immediate ceasefire and recognition of a Palestinian state.
- U.S. army intelligence officers says Israel has killed one-third of Hamas fighters.
- U.S. opposes ‘unplanned’ military operation in Rafah
The United States has warned that it will not support an “unplanned” military operation in Rafah without due consideration for displaced Palestinians who are sheltering there. “We haven’t seen any plans that would convince us that they [the Israeli military] is about to, or imminently going to conduct any major operations in Rafah,” said U.S. national security spokesperson John Kirby, addressing a White House Press Conference on Thursday. “More than one million Palestinians are sheltering in and around Rafah,” he continued. “The Israeli military has a special obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else to make sure that they’re factoring in protection for innocent civilian life.”
Israel’s Genocide War in Gaza Continues
Israeli forces carried out deadly air strikes on Gaza, hours after US President Joe Biden described the military response to the October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian territory’s ruling Hamas movement as “over the top”.
Biden says Gaza fighting ‘over the top,’ pushing for a pause. U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday suggested that Israel’s military response in Gaza has been “over the top” and said he is seeking a “sustained pause in the fighting” to help ailing Palestinian civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders the military to evacuate the city of Rafah in southern Gaza ahead of an expected invasion. Israel bombed targets in overcrowded Rafah early Friday, hours after U.S. officials and aid agencies warned Israel against expanding its Gaza ground offensive to the southern city where more than half of the territory’s 2.3 million people have sought refuge.
Israel bombed targets in Rafah today, hours after Biden administration officials warned Israel against expanding its Gaza ground offensive into the southern city. Airstrikes hit two residential buildings in Rafah, while two other sites were bombed, killing twenty-two people, according to AP journalists who saw bodies arriving at hospitals. Najib Jobain, Wafaa Shurafa, and Bassem Mroue report for AP News.
As a Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt yesterday for further talks on ending the war in Gaza, Israeli officials indicated their government was still open to negotiation, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strong public rejection of Hamas’s counter-proposal this week. “There is agreement among members of the governing coalition, and particularly among individual members of the government, that we do have to get the hostages back and to make a deal. But not at any price. Stopping the war, they won’t agree to,” Miki Zohar, an Israeli government minister, said yesterday. Patrick Kingsley and Adam Rasgon report for the New York Times.
At least 27,949 people have died in Gaza since Israel began its military campaign, the Hamas-run health ministry said today. A further 67,459 people have been injured, with just over100 people killed in the past 24 hours. Mithil Aggarwal reports for NBC News.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said yesterday that “The IDF are reportedly destroying all buildings within the Gaza Strip that are within a kilometer of the Israel-Gaza fence, clearing the area with the objective of creating a ‘buffer zone’,” warning that “destructions carried out to create a ‘buffer zone’ for general security purposes do not appear consistent with the narrow ‘military operations’ exception set out in international humanitarian law.”
U.S. RESPONSE
President Biden said yesterday that Israel’s operation to go after Hamas had been “over the top,” one of his sharpest rebukes yet of Israel’s military conduct in Gaza.“I’m of the view…that the conduct of the response in Gaza – in the Gaza Strip – has been over the top,” Biden told reporters at the White House. Kevin Liptak reports for CNN.
The Biden administration said yesterday it would not at this point support Israeli plans for a military operation in Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s total population has sought shelter. “Given the circumstances and the conditions there that we see right now, we think a military operation at this time would be a disaster for those people,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. “With so many Palestinians sheltering in Rafah,” Kirby said, “the Israeli military has a special obligation as they conduct operations, there or anywhere else, to make sure that they’re factoring in protection for innocent civilian life.” Farnaz Fassihi and Alan Yuhas report for the New York Times.
“The civilian death toll in Gaza has been far too high” and “there continue to be steps, we believe, that can be taken that are a moral and strategic imperative to minimize the impact on civilians,” State Department Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said yesterday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Middle East yesterday with public divisions between the United States and Israel at perhaps their worst level since the start of the war in Gaza. Netanyahu’s public dismissal of a Hamas ceasefire plan that the U.S. says has merit, at least as a starting point for further negotiation, highlighted the divide.Matthew Lee reports for AP News.
U.S. intelligence officials told Congress members this week in a closed-door briefing that Israel had degraded Hamas’s fighting capabilities but was not close to eliminating the group. Julian E. Barnes and Edward Wong report for the New York Times.
The Minneapolis City Council overrode a mayoral veto yesterday and approved a resolution calling for a ceasefire and an end to U.S. military funding to Israel. AP News reports.
Israeli Military Mobilizes in Rafah Despite Cairo Ceasefire Talks.
The Israeli military prepares for intervention in Rafah, Gaza, despite ongoing talks in Cairo for a ceasefire with Hamas. This decision follows Hamas’ rejection of a ceasefire proposal, despite reassurances from the US State Department about the potential for an agreement. Israeli airstrikes targeted the border area between Egypt and Gaza, causing casualties among displaced individuals. The severity of the strikes sparked horrific panic among the displaced population. Egyptian military helicopters patrolled the Philadelphia axis area in response to the airstrikes. The Egyptian military reinforced concrete walls and installed barbed wire to prevent Palestinian migration toward North Sinai.
Israeli Army Neutralizes Hamas Fighters and Uncovers Hostage Site in Gaza Clashes.
The Israeli army successfully neutralized more than 20 Hamas fighters during violent clashes and discovered various combat equipment, including RPG launchers and ammunition. Commando units, paratroopers, the Nahal Brigade, and Unit 414 contributed to these operations, aiming to dismantle Hamas’ military infrastructure. Additionally, the army uncovered a hostage-taking site within a large Hamas tunnel in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. The tunnel was used to detain 12 hostages at different times, three of whom have returned to Israel. The operation, led by elite combat engineering units “Yahalom” and other special forces, revealed a complex tunnel network extending approximately one kilometer, including facilities for guarding the hostages such as a bathroom and rest area.
Israeli Plan Echoes Arafat’s 1982 Exile Amid Hamas Demands for Gaza.
Israeli leaders are considering the possibility of exiling Yahya Al-Sanwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, and other key figures from the group, as part of a plan to achieve stability in the region. This proposal, reminiscent of Yasser Arafat’s exile in 1982, is contingent upon the release of all detained hostages and aims to replace Hamas’s governance with a more moderate regime. Meanwhile, Hamas is pressing for various demands, including the withdrawal of IDF forces from Gaza, the release of prisoners, and halting Jewish visits to the Temple Mount. Additionally, they seek significant humanitarian aid, infrastructure repair, and the establishment of shelter camps for civilians.
Hezbollah Commander Killed, Israeli Soldiers Injured.
A Hezbollah commander was killed, and Israeli soldiers were injured in clashes. The Israeli army reported that an officer and two soldiers sustained injuries, one of them serious, following a missile attack launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah. In response, an Israeli drone strike targeted and killed Hezbollah’s military commander, Abbas Al-Debs, in Nabatieh, southern Lebanon. Subsequently, the Israeli army retaliated by targeting Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in the Khiam area, following the launch of anti-tank missiles from Lebanon.
IRAN-BACKED MILITANTS
An Israeli airstrike targeted a commander of Hezbollah’s Radwan unit in southern Lebanon yesterday, the latest sign that Israel is shifting toward a strategy of surgical strikes inside Lebanon. The Israeli army said the commander had been involved in rocket launches toward northern Israel earlier yesterday and that the targeted strike was in response to those attacks. The commander was injured but survived the attack, according to a senior Lebanese security official. Euan Ward reports for the New York Times.
Israel at war: Hezbollah launched a new salvo of attacks against northern Israel in response to a drone strike that targeted a vehicle reportedly belonging to a senior member of the group in southern Lebanon. Here’s what a Hezbollah spokesperson told Newsweek
MILITARY CONFLICT WITH HOUTHIS. The U.S. Central Command forces yesterday conducted seven “self-defense” strikes against four Houthi unmanned surface vessels and seven mobile anti-ship cruise missiles that were prepared to be launched against ships in the Red Sea, the U.S. military said. Kanishka Singh reports for Reuters.
How to End America’s Hypocrisy on Gaza. The Biden Administration Must Assess Israel’s Conduct—and Hold It to Account. “The Biden admin has decried the atrocities committed by the governments of countries such as Russia and Syria but has then pretended that it does not adjudicate—and bankroll—those committed by the government of Israel.” Read the full story here
Over one hundred days into the war, Israel destroying Gaza’s food system and weaponizing food, say UN human rights experts. “Gazans now make up 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide, marking an unparalleled humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s continued bombardment and siege, according to UN human rights experts.” Read the full story here
Will Arab-Israeli normalization survive the Gaza war? No new Arab states are likely to join the Abraham Accords anytime soon, but will the Gaza war impact existing normalization deals? Read the full story here
Blinken’s Make-or-Break Tour of the Middle East Whether Washington can de-escalate tensions will determine the future of its regional authority.
“Great transformations begin with small steps. If Biden can orchestrate two deals—one that frees hostages for a humanitarian pause that ratchets down the Gaza war’s intensity, plus an understanding between Israel and Hezbollah—he’ll have made huge strides.”
“Blinken’s goal is to keep the conflict essentially contained to Gaza, wind it down, and construct a more stable Middle East on the bedrock of Israeli-Saudi relations and Palestinian statehood. But he’ll will have a hard time selling that to the Israelis.”
Read the full article here
US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has found a hardened political landscape as he tours the Middle East for the fifth time since the Gaza war erupted.
Raising the stakes, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu this week left Mr. Blinken seemingly empty-handed by rejecting as “crazy” a Hamas proposal for a prolonged ceasefire and a prisoner swap. The proposal was a response to a ceasefire plan drafted by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. Read the full text here
Scenarios of the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation and the War on Gaza.
The outcome of any war is uncertain. Thus, we cannot predict how the Israeli war launched on the Gaza Strip, following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation launched by Hamas on October 7, will end. This position paper explores the following potential scenarios, based on the evolving dynamics of the actors: Read the full text here
A Chicago Doctor Decries the Suffering of Medical Professionals and Patients in Gaza.
The dismantling of health care in the strip has left workers traumatized, hospitals in ruins and conditions ripe for outbreaks of disease.
“I am from Gaza and my family remains in Gaza; I am a doctor and I have a strong desire to work as a doctor in Gaza. And yet I can do nothing right now as people in my homeland are slaughtered. The disconnect — the desire to do more but not being able to, while watching Palestinian doctors working until their literal last breath — has caused me a lot of grief.” Read the full story here.
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