More than a million displaced Palestinians are trapped in Rafah.
Palestinian territories:
Israel vowed on Wednesday to take “strong” action in war-torn Gazarafa, despite growing calls for it to stop sending troops to the region’s overcrowded southern cities.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week ordered Israeli forces to prepare for an invasion of Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are trapped.
Netanyahu is under increasing pressure not to launch a major ground attack on Rafah, but he insists the city’s Hamas camp must be eliminated.
“We will fight until complete victory, which includes taking strong action in Rafah once we allow civilians to leave the war zone,” he said in a statement.
His pledge came on a second day of talks to suspend Israel’s war with Hamas, while deadly cross-border fighting between Israel and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement raised fears of a wider conflict.
Agence France-Presse, based on official Israeli statistics, Netanyahu vowed to crack down on Hamas in response to the Islamist group’s attack on Israel on October 7, which killed about 1,160 people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry of the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory.
Gaza militants took about 250 hostages during the Oct. 7 attack, and during a week-long truce in November they released dozens of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo hope to reach a ceasefire that would lead to the release of more of the approximately 130 hostages still in Gaza in another exchange.
A Hamas source told AFP that a delegation traveled to Cairo to meet with Egyptian and Qatari mediators, a day after Israeli negotiators held talks with mediators.
– Cross-border firepower –
CIA Director William Burns participated in Tuesday’s talks with Israel’s Mossad intelligence chief David Bania, which Egyptian media described as mostly “positive.”
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called the talks “constructive and moving in the right direction.”
Netanyahu said Israel would push for the release of the hostages through “strong military pressure and very firm negotiations.”
“Yes, I insist that Hamas give up their delusional demands, and when they give up those demands, we can move on,” he said.
With tensions high in the region, the Israeli army said a rocket from Lebanon killed an Israeli soldier, while Lebanese state media and security sources said Israeli strikes killed six civilians, including three women and two children, and a Hezbollah fighter in southern Lebanon.
Since the war between Israel and Hamas began, Hezbollah has been fighting almost daily with Israeli forces, displacing tens of thousands of people on both sides.
More than 240 people have been killed in Lebanon, mostly from Hezbollah but also including more than 30 civilians. The Israeli military said 10 soldiers and six civilians had been killed.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, warned that “the latest escalation is truly dangerous and should be halted.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller called for a “diplomatic approach” to resolve border tensions between Israel and Lebanon.
-“Pending”-
The potential for massive civilian casualties in Rafah prompted urgent calls, including from close allies, for Israel to hold off on sending troops to the last major population center they have yet to enter in the conflict.
Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are trapped, is also the main entry point for urgently needed relief supplies.
Terrified civilians desperately sought safety.
“My three children are injured, where can I go?” asked Dana Abu Chaaban at an Egyptian border crossing hoping to cross with her bandaged sons.
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge in makeshift camps on the Egyptian border, where they face disease outbreaks and shortages of food and water.
The International Committee of the Red Cross warned that “a new phase in the conflict is unfolding” and called for the protection of civilian lives.
Fabrizio Carboni, ICRC regional director for Rafah, said: “In view of the military operations in densely populated Rafah, we once again call on all parties to the conflict and all those who have influence over them to protect civilian lives. and infrastructure from harm.” Near and Middle East.
“More action is urgently needed now. Countless lives hang in the balance.”
Israeli forces continue to bombard Gaza, attacking Rafah and the southern city of Khan Younis.
-“Crimes against humanity”-
Concerns are also growing at Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza, where a nurse said snipers are killing people, sewage has flooded the emergency room and drinking water has been exhausted.
Mohammed al-Astal, 39, said the facility had been “under siege” for a month.
“Three displaced people were killed during the night when tanks opened fire on the hospital and snipers opened fire on the roofs of buildings surrounding the Nasser hospital,” he said.
The Israeli military said its troops had received “comprehensive instructions” to protect civilians and medical facilities.
Some Gazans in Rafah are packing their bags and preparing to move, but others have vowed to stay put, fearing greater pain and hunger in the bombed-out hometowns they fled.
Ahlam Abu Assi said she would “rather die in Rafah” than return to the famine-like conditions faced by relatives who remained in Gaza City.
“My son and his children had nothing to eat. They cooked a handful of rice and saved it for the next day,” she said. “My grandson is so hungry that he cries.”
Two Argentine-Israeli hostages rescued during a raid in Rafah on Monday have been discharged from hospital, a doctor said.
About 100 representatives of the remaining hostages flew to The Hague on Wednesday to file charges of “crimes against humanity” against Hamas leaders at the International Criminal Court.
Spain and Ireland have asked the EU to “urgently” review whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza under a deal linking rights to trade relations.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
