Concerns about ground offensive in Rafah growing – The night at a glance
Published: Friday, Feb 16th 2024, 05:41
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Israel's planned military offensive on the town of Rafah in the south of the sealed-off Gaza Strip, which is overcrowded with Palestinians, is meeting with increasing international criticism. According to a media report, Egypt is now building a massive reception camp for tens of thousands of people in the desert, enclosed by high concrete walls, out of concern about a mass exodus from the neighboring coastal strip. In a telephone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden once again called for the protection of the more than one million civilians in Rafah. He reiterated "that a military operation should not take place without a credible and viable plan to ensure the safety and support of the civilian population in Rafah", the White House announced on Friday night. Earlier, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also called for protective corridors to the north during a visit to Israel.
Report: Camp in Egypt could accommodate more than 100,000 people
For weeks, Egypt has been trying to increase security along the border with the Gaza Strip with soldiers, fences and armored vehicles to prevent a rush of desperate Palestinians to the Sinai Peninsula. According to the "Wall Street Journal", Egypt has allegedly even threatened to terminate its peace treaty with Israel if this were to happen. As the US newspaper reported on Thursday, citing Egyptian officials and security analysts, Egypt is now building a reception camp in the desert near the border on an area of 20 square kilometers that could accommodate more than 100,000 people. That is equivalent to the population of Cottbus. The planned camp is located far away from Egyptian settlements, according to the report.
Should Israel decide to go on the offensive, the Israeli military would attempt to relocate the civilian population of Rafah to the north - out of the combat zone but within the Gaza Strip, the newspaper quoted a senior representative of the Israeli military as saying. Netanyahu had recently ordered the military to present plans for an offensive on Rafah and for the evacuation of civilians there. The aim is to destroy the last fighting units of the Islamist Hamas. According to the UN, there are currently around 1.3 million people in Rafah. Most of them fled the war there from other parts of the Gaza Strip, in some cases on the orders of the Israeli military.
Israeli army begins operation in a clinic
Meanwhile, Israel's army said it began an operation on Thursday in a clinic in Chan Junis, which, like Rafah, is located in southern Gaza. Soldiers entered the Nasser Hospital to recover the bodies of hostages, the military announced. Dozens of suspects had been arrested, said Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari on Thursday evening. Some had been involved in the massacre in Israel. From interrogations with the suspects and thanks to statements from the released hostages, the army was able to confirm that people kidnapped from Israel had been held at the clinic. There was also information that the bodies of hostages had been found there.
The United Nations Human Rights Office raised accusations against Israel after the operation. "The operation appears to be part of a pattern: Israeli forces attacking vital civilian infrastructure, especially hospitals," said UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani in Geneva on Thursday evening. Israeli army spokesperson Hagari emphasized that the military had acted in accordance with international law in all operations in hospitals in the Gaza Strip and would continue to do so. "We have no intention of disrupting the operation of the hospital," he said.
Netanyahu: Israel will not be forced into two-state solution
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his rejection of a two-state solution after the phone call with Biden. "Israel categorically rejects the international diktat regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians," Netanyahu wrote on X on Friday night. Such a settlement could only be reached through direct negotiations between the parties and without preconditions. Israel would also oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. This would "reward terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement", he wrote.
According to the Israeli newspaper "Maariv", Israel is concerned that the USA could recognize a Palestinian state without Israel's consent as part of efforts to achieve a two-state solution. A two-state solution refers to an independent Palestinian state that exists peacefully side by side with Israel. The Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, which seized sole power in the Gaza Strip by force one year after its election victory in 2007, also rejects this.
Sunak also warns of the consequences of an offensive in Rafah
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak joined the international warnings about the consequences of a military operation in Rafah. Sunak spoke to Netanyahu on the phone on Thursday, the government in London announced. Sunak explained that the UK was deeply concerned about the loss of life in Gaza and the "potentially devastating humanitarian consequences of military intervention in Rafah". Negotiating a humanitarian pause to allow the release of hostages and significantly increased aid deliveries to Gaza was a priority, he said. Sunak also called on Israel to fully open the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
Israel calls on UN to increase aid distribution
Meanwhile, Israel has called on the United Nations to improve the distribution of aid for the people in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of truckloads of humanitarian aid have not been picked up at the Kerem Shalom border crossing for days, the Israeli Cogat authority responsible for contacts with the Palestinians and humanitarian aid wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. Aid organizations accuse Israel of blocking the distribution of aid. The Cogat authority denies this. Israel controls more trucks than are ultimately dispatched and forwarded by the United Nations. On Thursday in Israel, Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock spoke out in favor of significantly more aid deliveries - specifically 500 trucks per day. This is the number of trucks carrying humanitarian goods that were driving into the sealed-off coastal area every day before the war began. Baerbock also called for the opening of more border crossings in Israel.
What will be important on Friday
While the fighting in the Gaza Strip continues, efforts to achieve a ceasefire and release the hostages are ongoing. So far, however, there has been no breakthrough.
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