The EU is "extremely concerned" about the situation in Rafah
The European Union is “extremely concerned” about the situation in Rafah, the bloc’s most senior diplomat, Josep Borrell, told reporters on Monday. “The situation with Egypt is very tense and we are extraordinarily concerned about what can happen there," he said.
His comments come as EU ministers meet to discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict, as well as accusations against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the UN's main agency working with Palestinians.
Remember: In January, Israel accused some of UNRWA’s staff members of involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terror attacks, though few details to support these allegations have been released.
“Allegations [have] to be verified,” the diplomat said. “The presumption of innocence is valid for everyone, at any time, even for UNRWA.” “It is not a secret that the Israeli government wants to get rid of UNRWA,” Borrell continued. “Let’s wait for the investigation to take place.” Borrell said that “many” EU ministers have written to him, urging him to ask Israel to stop preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.
Israel urges UN agencies to help evacuate civilians from Gaza war zones
Israel has called on UN relief agencies to help with its efforts to evacuate civilians from Gaza war zones before its planned ground sweep of Rafah, a town on the enclave’s border with Egypt which is crowded with displaced Palestinians.
“We urge UN agencies to cooperate,” government spokesperson Eylon Levy said in a briefing. “Don’t say it can’t be done. Work with us to find a way.”
Dutch court orders government to ban export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel
The Netherlands must stop the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days, a Dutch court ruled on Monday, citing concerns that they could be used to violate international law as part of the Israeli campaign in Gaza. “The court finds that there is a clear risk that Israel’s F-35 fighter jets might be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law,” The Hague Court of Appeal said in a statement. “This means that the export of F-35 parts from the Netherlands to Israel has to be stopped.”
Three non-governmental organizations — Oxfam Novib, Pax for Peace, and The Rights Forum — appealed a previous Dutch court decision that allowed the continued export of F-35 parts to Israel. On Monday, The Hague Court of Appeal said that under several international regulations that the Netherlands is a party to, the country must prevent the export of military equipment if there is a “clear risk of serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
The court said that Israel does not take “take sufficient account of the consequences of its attacks for the civilian population,” adding that its attacks on Gaza have resulted in a “disproportionate number of civilian casualties.”
Israel should think before it takes further action in Rafah: UK foreign secretary
Palestinians walk at the site of an Israeli strike on a house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12
David Cameron has called on Israel to halt its current military strategy following its overnight attacks on Rafah as he re-iterated calls for a pause in the fighting that could lead to a permanent ceasefire. “We think it is impossible to see how you can fight a war amongst these people. There’s nowhere for them to go,” the British foreign secretary told reporters.
“We are very concerned about the situation, and we want Israel to stop and think very seriously before it takes any further action. But above all, what we want is an immediate pause in the fighting, and we want that pause to lead to a ceasefire,” he said.
Rescuing captives is a ‘moral obligation’: Israeli military spokesperson
Daniel Hagari has issued a statement in which he said the overnight rescue mission “underscores the importance of our ground operation in Gaza, including Rafah, when conditions allow”. He added that the Israeli military has a “moral obligation” to bring all the captives home, an obligation it will continue to do everything in its power to fulfil.
Israeli protesters block Gaza-bound humanitarian aid
Dozens of protesters are blocking trucks carrying vital humanitarian aid from entering Israel from Egypt at the Nitzana border crossing, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported. In recent weeks, there have been regular protests to block aid to the Gaza Strip, in particular at the Karam Abu Salem border crossing, known as Kerem Shalom in Israel. Protesters often include family members of captives being held by Hamas who demand that their release should come before any more humanitarian aid can cross.
Israeli snipers kill seven in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis: Ministry
The spokesman for the Ministry of Health in Gaza says Israeli snipers have killed seven people inside Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis, where heavy fighting has been reported in recent days. “No one can move in the yards of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis,” Ashraf al-Qudra said in a statement on Telegram.
“Israeli snipers killed seven citizens and wounded 14 staff and displaced people inside the yard [of the hospital],” he added. He said that ceilings in the dormitory and operations departments collapsed as a result of the explosions around the hospital. “We need the protection of the technical staff to move in the yard of the hospital to repair the sewage network,” al-Qudra said.
Israeli military kills at least 15 in bombing in Deir el-Balah
Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues are reporting that an Israeli bomb has killed at least 15 people in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
Israeli forces arrest 35 Palestinians: Advocacy group
Israeli soldiers have carried out waves of raids and detentions of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem on Monday morning, injuring several people, according to the Wafa news agency.
Israeli security forces have arrested at least 35 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since Sunday night, including a wounded minor and a former prisoner, according to an advocacy group. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said on Telegram that the arrests were mostly in the city of Hebron, while others were made in the cities of Nablus, Ramallah, Jenin and Qalqilya, as well as in East Jerusalem.
Boy killed by Israeli forces in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem
A teenager has died after being shot by the Israeli forces in the occupied Old City of Jerusalem. Local sources speaking to the Wafa news agency said that the boy, 15-year-old Muhammad Tariq Abu Sneina from the town of al-Eizariya, died due to his wounds after being shot by Israeli troops.
He was targeted allegedly for “attempting to carry out a stabbing attack” on al-Wad Street in the Old City, according to Israeli media. Wafa quoted witnesses as saying that Israeli forces stationed on the street opened fire on Abu Sneina, wounding him and leaving him bleeding for a period of time. According to witness accounts, he was then arrested and taken away in an Israeli ambulance.
What we know about the Israeli strikes on Rafah
- The Israeli bombing has killed 67 Palestinians and wounded dozens, according to Ashraf al-Qudra, Gaza’s Health Ministry spokesperson.
- Shaboura’s ar-Rahma mosque and al-Huda mosque in the Yabna camp, where dozens of people were sheltering, were hit.
- There have been reports of heavy shelling in the areas around the Kuwaiti Hospital.
- Israel’s military says it rescued two captives from a house in Rafah’s Shaboura neighbourhood at about 1am on Monday (23:00 GMT on Sunday).
- Hamas says the strikes are “a continuation of the genocidal war” waged by Israel on the Palestinian people.
Mourners react next to the bodies of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes at Abu Youssef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah
Palestinians recount Israeli operation that killed dozens in Rafah
As jubilation has taken over in Israel over the release of the two captives overnight, Palestinians in Rafah recount a night of horror and devastation.
Forty-day-old Majed al-Afifi is among about 100 people killed by Israeli forces overnight in Rafah, according to the health ministry in Gaza. His uncle recounts the devastating night. “We heard the bombing without warning,” Said al-Hams, 26, told the AFP news agency in Rafah refugee camp. His nephew, a twin, “was born exactly 40 days ago and was killed”, while their mother was wounded.
Dozens of Israeli strikes pounded Rafah, where some 1.4 million people have sought refuge during four months of Israel’s war on Gaza. “The situation was hell,” said Abu Suhaib, who was sleeping dozens of metres from where Israeli forces struck. “We heard the sound of explosions, like hell falling down on civilians,” he told AFP.
The 28-year-old said he heard warplanes firing, shooting and a helicopter landing. The aerial bombardment also left five vast craters, at least 10 metres wide and five metres deep, an AFP journalist said.
“I can’t tell you how we survived the night,” said Abu Abdullah al-Qadi, who was woken by the sound of shooting. “They killed my cousin, they killed a lot of people with strikes,” he told AFP, as dozens gathered by the destroyed buildings. “They stormed this building and it appears that they freed prisoners – and then they bombed it,” said Qadi. “They bombed all the houses next to it,” he added.
So their [IDF] idea of sparing civilians with more targeted operations turn out to be even more deadly...
Health Ministry: 28,340 killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed 28,340 Palestinians and wounded 67,984 since October 7, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. In the last 24 hours, Israeli forces killed 164 people and injured 200 in Gaza, a ministry statement on Telegram said.
