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SvennoJ on 13 March 2024
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Report: US privately tells Israel it will accept small-scale Rafah offensive

A report from US news site Politico says that senior US officials have told their Israeli counterparts that the administration of President Biden will support the targeting of “high-value Hamas targets in and underneath Rafah”.

The report cites four unnamed US officials, who told Politico that the US wants Israel to avoid a large-scale invasion of the southern Gaza City, where some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltered after fleeing Israeli bombardment in other parts of the Strip.

“In private conversations, top administration officials have signaled to Israel that they could support a plan more akin to counterterrorism operations than all-out war, four US officials said”, the report says.

“That, the administration officials argue, would minimize civilian casualties, decimate Hamas’ ranks and avoid scenes that have led to souring public opinion on Israel’s campaign and Biden’s handling of the war.”

The US has long said that it would require a plan to protect civilians in Rafah before it supported Israel’s promised Rafah invasion. Today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that the US has yet to see such a plan.

Israeli military says it will push Rafah’s civilians to ‘humanitarian islands’

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari says that there are plans to push a significant amount of the more than one million displaced Palestinians in Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the centre of the Gaza Strip in advance of its planned offensive on the city. “We need to make sure that 1.4 million people or at least a significant amount of the 1.4 million will move. Where? To humanitarian islands that we will create with the international community,” Hagari told reporters at a briefing.

Hagari said those islands would provide temporary housing, food, water and other necessities to evacuated Palestinians. He did not say when Rafah’s evacuation would occur, nor when the Rafah offensive would begin, saying that Israel wanted the timing to be right operationally and to be coordinated with neighbouring Egypt, which has said it does not want an influx of displaced Palestinians crossing its border.

During its war on Gaza, Israel has frequently designated areas and corridors of movement for civilians as “safe zones” before bombing them, killing many.


Egypt’s el-Sisi warns again against Israel attack on Rafah

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi again warned Israel against going through with its plan for a ground invasion of southern Rafah city, where more than one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

Speaking at a news conference with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, el-Sisi said Israel bears the responsibility to protect the civilian population in accordance with international law. Rutte earlier met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who insisted the ground incursion is necessary to accomplish the war’s objectives of “eradicating Hamas”.



Israel’s defence minister hints to imminent Rafah ground operation

Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has hinted the Israeli army is imminently preparing to launch its ground operation in Rafah, according to media reports. Speaking during a visit to Israeli army officers in Gaza City, Gallant warned “those who think we are delaying [the invasion of Rafah] will soon see there is no place we cannot reach.”

The Jerusalem Post also quoted him as saying, “We will bring every single person involved in the October 7 massacre to justice, we will either kill them or try them in Israel.” “There is no safe space, not here, not outside Gaza, not across the entire Middle East,” Gallant added.

He also praised recent efforts to send more humanitarian aid to Gaza because it will “weaken Hamas while strengthening our grasp” on the strip.


Israel parliament approves 2024 budget that ‘guarantees continuation of war’

Israel’s parliament has given its final approval for an amended 2024 state budget to fund the country’s war against Hamas in Gaza, now in its sixth month. The amended budget adds tens of billions of extra spending on defence and compensation to households and businesses hurt by Hamas’s attack on October 7.

The Times of Israel reports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party welcomed the vote, noting it managed to pass “a budget that guarantees the continuation of the war until complete victory, and benefits the citizens of Israel and the state’s economy”.