CIA chief in Egypt as Rafah attacks intensify
- CIA chief William Burns is in Cairo for the latest round of discussions on a truce that would temporarily halt fighting in exchange for the release of captives and Palestinian prisoners.
- Jordan’s King Abdullah II tells US President Joe Biden the world “cannot afford” Israel’s planned ground invasion on Rafah, where more than 1.4 million people are sheltering.
‘Nowhere is safe here’: Women in Gaza on being displaced multiple times
Aziza al-Harazin, 65, has been displaced four times since the war began.
Yet, like many other people in Gaza, she will not leave her homeland to reach safety.
“We are not ready to leave our land; I was born here, many of my ancestors were born [here], and I am not ready to give it up,” she said.
Another woman, who was not identified, said she has been displaced more than eight times sine the war began, and has to move with three grandchildren under the age of one year.
“Rafah has been bombed more than ten times near where we took refuge. Nowhere is safe here,” the woman said.
“We yearn for a ceasefire, for the peace that has become a dream for us,” she added.
Israeli forces arrest 7 Palestinians in Jenin
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, Israeli soldiers raided Jenin in today’s pre-dawn hours, detaining the seven men, four of whom are brothers.
The detentions took place in the village of Sir, south of Jenin, village of Beit Qad, in the east, and Kufr Dan, west of Jenin, according to the organisation’s Muntaser Samour.
In Sir, Israeli soldiers raided at least three houses, according to Saed Ershaid, the uncle of the four brothers who were detained. “Forces shelled the houses, engulfing them into flames, and rendering them unlivable.”
No ‘option for safety’ in Rafah as Israel prepares attack
Israeli bombardment is now concentrated in the central area of Gaza – giving no option for people seeking safety.
Hundreds of Palestinians have started to flee Rafah city for the central area. They’re looking for refuge after heavy bombardment in overnight attacks. More residential homes are being attacked and destroyed. People are being squeezed into small parts of the Gaza Strip, turned largely into refugee camps.
In southern Khan Younis, for the 17th day in a row, Nasser Hospital is under military siege. There are snipers in the vicinity shooting at everything that moves. The hospital announced it ran completely out of fuel and is now experiencing a total power blackout.
Sewage is flooding in certain areas of the hospital and there are no generators to drain it so this is causing another health risk.
UNGA president warns ‘another phase of this humanitarian catastrophe is at our doorstep’
The president of the United Nations General Assembly, Dennis Francis, has said that he is “deeply distressed” by Israel’s escalating military operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.
“Another phase of this humanitarian catastrophe is at our doorstep. This is not a path to sustainable peace,” he wrote on X.
His comments join a chorus of condemnation and concern over Israel’s looming ground operations in Rafah, an area once declared a “safe zone” and where 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge from fighting.
US envoy accuses UN special rapporteur of being ‘anti-Semitic’
Michele Taylor, the US permanent representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council, accused the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, of having a “history of using anti-Semitic tropes”.
“Her most recent statements justifying, dismissing, & denying the anti-Semitic undertones of Hamas’ October 7 attack are unacceptable & anti-Semitic. We expect more of independent UN experts and condemn all forms of antisemitism,” she wrote on X.
Albanese has been a vocal critic of the Israeli government in her role at the UN. On Monday she was banned from the country for saying the October 7 attacks were a “response to Israel’s oppression”.
WATCH: Dutch government appeals against ruling on delivery of F-35 parts to Israel
The Dutch government is appealing to the Dutch Supreme Court about The Hague Court of Appeal’s decision regarding the delivery of US F-35 warplane parts to Israel.
The court had ordered the Netherlands to halt distribution within seven days of Monday’s ruling.
China urges Israel to stop Rafah offensive ‘as soon as possible’
China urged Israel to stop its military operation in Rafah “as soon as possible”, warning of a “serious humanitarian disaster” as 1.4 million people take refuge in the city once described by Israel as a “safe zone”.
“We call on Israel to stop military operations as soon as possible, do everything possible to avoid casualties among innocent civilians and prevent a more devastating humanitarian disaster in Rafah,” a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
It added China “opposes and condemns” actions that harm civilians and violate international law.
‘Cannot look away’ from Gaza attack: Pakistani FM
Pakistani Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani calls Israel’s bombing of Rafah a “deplorable and a grave violation of international law and human rights”.
He said on X: “Pakistan condemns these acts of violence against innocent Palestinians and calls for an immediate ceasefire. The world cannot afford to look away.”
Israeli forces have extended steadily southwards in Gaza, making Rafah the last key city that troops have yet to enter.
Israel says it’s determined to extend its ground operation there despite international alarm over the potential for mass carnage in the city.
‘Kids are dying’: US senator accuses Israel of ‘textbook war crimes’
Speaking on the US Senate floor, Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat representing the state of Maryland, accused Israel of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
“Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals.”
“So now the question is what will the United States do?” he asks. “What will we do? What will President Biden do? President Biden must take action in response to what is happening.”
Van Hollen said “first and foremost the president must demand that the Netanyahu government” allow more aid into Gaza, and until that happens, Biden must cut off aid to Israel.
Genocide think-tank condemns attacks on Rafah, UNRWA funding cuts
The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, a legal think-tank, “strongly condemned” Israel’s planned military operation in overcrowded Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.
In an “SOS Alert” statement, the institute said the attacks on Rafah combined with the recent suspension of funding for UNRWA, the largest humanitarian agency in Gaza, have “worsened the already horrific humanitarian situation”.
The combined punishments are “imposing acute anxiety on the residents who are scared for their uncertain future”.
It is the fifth SOS Alert issued on the situation in Gaza since October by the institute, which is named after the Jewish-Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin who coined the term genocide in the 1940s and helped make it an international crime.
Israeli troops kill Palestinian man in Qalqilya
A Palestinian man has been killed by Israeli soldiers after being shot in the chest, shoulders and head in the occupied West Bank city of Qalqilya, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
In a statement on Telegram, the ministry said the victim was identified as Muhammad Sharif Hassan Salmi, 20.
Israel-based rights groups call for Gaza ceasefire
Israel-based civil society and human rights organisations released a statement calling for a cessation in fighting and demanding the immediate release of captives held in the besieged coastal enclave.
“An immediate ceasefire will prevent further loss of civilian lives and facilitate access to vital aid for Gaza to address the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe there,” wrote the groups, which include Amnesty International Israel and The Association for Civil Rights Israel.
The groups called on Israel to allow unfettered entry and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza as directed by the International Court of Justice.
“We call on the international community to uphold its legal obligation to restore respect for international humanitarian law and protect civilians,” the organisations said.
WATCH: Jordan’s King Abdullah urges lasting Gaza ceasefire after meeting Biden
In a meeting at the White House, US President Joe Biden and King Abdullah II of Jordan discussed strategies to end Israel’s war on Gaza.
Disagreements arose on the approach, with King Abdullah emphasising the need for an immediate and lasting ceasefire, while President Biden focused on a captive deal for a six-week pause in the fighting.
Israeli bombs strike Nuseirat and Rafah; Nasser Hospital under siege
At least five people died in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, while four more were killed by an Israeli bomb in the Brazil neighbourhood of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The Wafa news agency reports seven Palestinians were killed and 14 medical staff and displaced people injured by Israeli sniper fire in the courtyard of the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Israeli bombardment also cut the electricity supply to the besieged medical facility.
Ten-year old girl dies in power outage at Nasser Hospital
Hala Mekdad, a 10-year-old girl, has died in the intensive care room of Nasser Hospital after electricity at the hospital was cut off overnight, according to a video shared on social media by a doctor at the hospital and verified by Al Jazeera.
Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip has been under siege with Ashraf al-Qudra, the spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza, saying that Israeli snipers have fired at and killed people in the hospital’s yard.
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If you’re just joining us
It’s nearly 7am (05:00 GMT) in the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel.
Here are some of the main developments overnight:
- At least five people were killed in an Israeli bombing of a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues report.
- Israeli settlers shot two Palestinians during an attack on the village of Asira al-Qabliya, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, Wafa reports.
- The bodies of several people killed near Nasser Hospital have reportedly been lying on the ground for several days as it is too unsafe to reach them, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA says.
- Most UN Security Council members support a draft ceasefire resolution put forward by Algeria, but the United States says it has “red lines”, reports Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo.
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