UN says it ‘won’t be party’ to forced displacement in Rafah
A spokesperson for United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has said that the international body “will not be party” to any forced displacement of Palestinian civilians in Rafah, as Israel prepares for an assault on the city where Israeli forces previously instructed displaced Palestinians to seek shelter.
“We will not be party to forced displacement of people,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. “As it is, there is no place that is currently safe in Gaza.” “You can’t send people back to areas that are littered with unexploded ordnance, not to mention a lack of shelter,” Dujarric said, referring to parts of the northern and central Gaza Strip.
Palestinian children wounded in an Israeli strike rest as they receive treatment at a hospital in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 12
Two orphaned teens got their seven siblings to Rafah; now they live in fear
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/2/12/two-orphaned-teens-got-their-seven-siblings-to-rafah-now-they-live-in-fear
Fifteen-year-old Nagham al-Yaziji and her 14-year-old brother Mohammad have lost both their parents over the past four months as Israeli forces laid siege to the Gaza Strip. They have been caring for their seven younger siblings, bringing them south to Rafah, setting up a tent, and struggling through every day as best they can.
“I queue for water and aid and bread every morning. I start a wood fire and heat up the water to prepare formula for my baby sister,” Mohammad says. Nagham, as the eldest, frets about her siblings daily. “Life without a father and mother would be excruciating in normal circumstances, let alone such dire circumstances,” she says.
That's "Grave of the fireflies" type horror.
‘Anyone who intends to invade Rafah intends to commit a war crime’: Ahmad Tibi
The Knesset member, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, is urging the international community to “stop this war”, as “[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu threatens to invade Rafah, where Israel has sent 1.5 million people”. “Maybe you can try to prevent the war crime that threatens civilians, women and children before it happens,” he says.
EU perpetuating Israeli war in Gaza: Greek economist
Yanis Varoufakis says European countries share responsibility for the atrocities being committed in Gaza.
“We Europeans created the problem. … We are playing a vicious role in its perpetuation,” Varoufakis told Al Jazeera.
The former finance minister accused EU foreign policy chief Borrell of hypocrisy for saying not enough pressure was being applied on Israel, asserting that the EU was “collectively arming” Israel. “As we speak, Germany, France, Italy are sending the armaments that are being used in Rafah to kill people,” Varoufakis added.
He said that while the official EU position was to support a two-state solution, European countries are “completely” in support of the Netanyahu government, “whose life’s work has been the destruction of any prospect of a Palestinian state”.
‘Israel’s denying me entry is not news’: UN special rapporteur
Francesca Albanese says Israel has banned all special rapporteurs from the occupied Palestinian territories since 2008. Israeli authorities recently said they banned Albanese from entering the country. “This must not become a distraction from Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, which are taking a new level of horror with the bombing of people in ‘safe areas’ in Rafah,” Albanese said.
Top US official meets virtually with American hostage families frustrated about "pace of negotiations"
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan virtually met Monday with the families of the six Americans believed to be held hostage in Gaza, sources familiar with the meeting said. The conversation came a day ahead of CIA Director Bill Burns's expected travel to Egypt for further hostage release talks, two sources familiar with the plans told CNN.
In a statement, the families said they “expressed our gratitude for the Administration’s continued efforts to bring our loved ones home but made clear our frustration with the pace of negotiations.” “With more than 20 percent of the hostages reported murdered, there is no time to waste,“ the families said. “Another week cannot go by without a deal. We need an agreement now to bring the hostages home.”
The hostage families participating in the call included Jonathan Dekel-Chen and Gillian Kaye; Yael and Adi Alexander; Lee Siegel and Hanna Siegel; Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg; Ruby and Hagit Chen; and Ronen and Orna Neutra, a source said. Liz Hirsh Naftali, whose niece Abigail Edan was freed as part of the November hostage deal, also participated. Several of the families met with Sullivan in person at the White House two weeks ago and with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken while he was in Israel last week.
