The US currently has no problem with Israel’s “limited” advance in Rafah. UN Secretary General Guterres, on the other hand, is horrified. The news at a glance.
As the Israeli army advances deeper into the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip, the US, its most important ally, is planning a new billion-dollar arms shipment to the Jewish state, according to media reports. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “horrified” by the Israeli military offensive.
“These developments further complicate humanitarian access and worsen an already dire situation. At the same time, Hamas continues to fire rockets indiscriminately,” said its spokesman Stéphane Dujarric.
Former general Benny Gantz, who sits in Israel’s war cabinet, called for more international pressure on Hamas. Gantz wrote on
Army spokesman: Reports of hostages in Rafah
Against the backdrop of increasing tensions over the Israeli army’s advance in Rafah, Sullivan plans to travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend, according to the news portal Axios. The USA, as its most important ally, had repeatedly warned Israel against a major ground offensive in the city that borders Egypt, particularly because of the feared consequences for the civilian population.
Israel wants to destroy the last Hamas battalions in Rafah. According to the military’s findings, there are also Israeli hostages in the area. Officers reported this to Israel’s Chief of General Staff Herzi Halevi during his visit to troops in the eastern part of Rafah, said army spokesman Daniel Hagari.
The US government expects Israel to actively participate in developing a “clear and concrete plan” for the future of the Gaza Strip. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Kiev that the US has been working intensively on this with Arab partners and others for months, but it is “imperative” that Israel also does this work and focuses on how this future will look after the end of Israel’s military operation against the Islamist Hamas.
The US government does not support an Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and will not do so in the future, Blinken said. But they are certainly not in favor of control by the Islamist Hamas, as in previous years. There should be no anarchy and no vacuum that would “probably be filled by chaos,” he warned. “So there has to be a clear, concrete plan. And we expect Israel to contribute its ideas.”
The US Secretary of State also addressed the Israeli military operation against Hamas in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The U.S. government is deeply concerned about the impact on the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians because two key border crossings in the south have been affected by the resulting conflict. He spoke of “negative effects”.
Israeli army moves deeper into Rafah
According to eyewitness reports, Israeli troops had advanced deeper into the city with tanks, which moved from the east to districts further west on Tuesday. Hagari did not respond to the reports. As the army announced on Wednesday morning, another 19-year-old soldier was killed in fighting. According to the Times of Israel, it was the first time that an army soldier was killed in Israel’s advance into Rafah. More than 35,100 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began more than seven months ago, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. The number, which is difficult to verify independently, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.
US President Biden threatened Israel last week that a major ground offensive in the city, which is crowded with internally displaced people from other parts of the Gaza Strip, could have consequences for US arms deliveries. But it doesn’t currently look like a major ground offensive, said a spokeswoman. According to US media, the US government is now planning a new arms delivery to Israel worth more than a billion US dollars (around 924 million euros). It contained tank ammunition, tactical vehicles and mortar shells, it said, citing unnamed sources. The US government initiated the approval process in Congress.
Israel calls for evacuations in the north of the Gaza Strip
The Israeli military on Wednesday called on other Palestinians in the north of the Gaza Strip to seek safety before a major military operation against the Islamist Hamas. An army spokesman published a map on the X platform showing the areas of the city of Jalabia that had to be left immediately. In these areas, Hamas and other terrorist groups fired rockets at Israeli cities, it said. Residents should seek refuge from the upcoming military operations in shelters in the west of Gaza city.
An army spokesman had spoken in the morning of an intensification of military operations in the Jabalia area since Tuesday night. There were, among other things, air strikes against targets from which the southern Israeli city of Sderot was shelled on Tuesday. Also on Wednesday morning, rockets from the Jalabia area were reportedly intercepted before they could reach Israeli targets.
UN: Deadly shots at UN car probably from Israeli tank
Meanwhile, following the death of an Indian employee, the United Nations assumes that his car was shot at by an Israeli tank. This was announced by UN spokesman Farhan Haq in New York. “We are in discussions with Israel to find out exactly how this incident occurred,” Haq said. Another injured Jordanian woman is being treated in a hospital.
Until last week, around a million people had sought protection from fighting in the rest of the Gaza Strip in Rafah. According to UN estimates, almost 450,000 people have now left the city, which borders Egypt, within a week.
Army: Air strike on Hamas command center in school
The Israeli military meanwhile reported the killing of more than ten Hamas members in a targeted airstrike on the Islamist organization’s command center in a school. The premises were used by Hamas’ military wing to plan attacks on the Israeli military in the Gaza Strip, an army spokesman said.
Hamas set up the “war room” in the middle of a school run by the UN Palestinian Relief Agency (UNRWA). The attack killed 15 internally displaced people, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority. None of the information could initially be independently verified.
More international pressure on Hamas is absolutely needed, Israeli Minister Gantz wrote on eliminate,” he wrote. According to the mediating state of Qatar, efforts to reach a ceasefire have almost come to a “standstill”. There are fundamental disagreements between Hamas and Israel, said Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Tuesday in Doha.
Israel’s army: Hezbollah commander killed in southern Lebanon
The Israeli army said it killed a senior Hezbollah militia commander in an airstrike in southern Lebanon on Tuesday evening. The pro-Iranian militia confirmed the death of one of its fighters, but did not name his rank. According to the Israeli military, the man is said to have been responsible for planning and carrying out numerous terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and Israeli territory. Lebanon’s state news agency NNA reported that a car was hit in an Israeli drone strike on Tuesday evening. Two people were killed.
Hezbollah in Lebanon fired around 60 projectiles into northern Israel on Wednesday, according to the Israeli military. The militia itself said it had fired dozens of rockets at the headquarters of the air surveillance unit near Meron. The attack was a response to the “assassination by the Israeli enemy” on Tuesday evening. The pro-Iranian Shiite militia also announced that it had attacked other Israeli army locations.
Ireland wants to recognize Palestine as a state this month
The Irish government wants to recognize Palestine as a separate state in May. Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin said this in an interview on Irish radio station Newstalk. The exact date has not yet been set, said Martin, because they still want to coordinate with other countries. But it will definitely happen before the end of the month. Ireland recently held talks with Spain, among others, about joint recognition of Palestine as a state. Germany does not recognize Palestine as a state.
Martin justified the planned step with Dublin’s support for a two-state solution. According to the conservative politician, this is the only solution through which Israelis and Palestinians can live peacefully side by side. However, the Islamist Hamas, which still controls parts of the Gaza Strip, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reject a two-state solution.
Netanyahu rejects UN General Assembly resolution
The Israeli government unanimously rejects the recommendation of full Palestinian membership in the body adopted by the UN General Assembly last week. “We will not reward the terrible massacre of October 7th,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after his cabinet’s decision to reject the resolution. “We will not allow them to create a terrorist state from which they can attack us.”
Neither the UN General Assembly nor any other organization will stop Israel from exercising its right to self-defense, he added.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
