Asked whether Washington gave a green light to Israel’s ongoing assault on Rafah, which saw Israeli forces seize the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: “It did not happen with our approval.”

On Tuesday, Miller said the offensive appears to be “limited” and warned Israel against expanding it, but Israeli forces have been intensifying their attacks on Rafah.


Is that an admission they approved all the previous war crimes?! Or are they just now waking up to Netanyahu not giving a damn about the US asking them not to violate international law. Or is the unsuccessful attempt to smear and squash the ongoing spread of student protests turning the heat up.

Rafah crossing takeover doesn’t violate peace treaty with Egypt: Israel

Biden administration says ‘absolutely critical’ to reopen Rafah crossing

‘We are reviewing other potential weapons systems’ to Israel: US

Israeli attacks kill, injure Palestinians across Gaza

The State Department says it will miss a “self-imposed deadline” for a report to Congress on whether Israel is complying with international humanitarian law, which is due today.

In February, the Biden administration issued a memorandum, dubbed NSM-20, requiring credible, written assurances from the recipients of American weapons that the arms are not being used in rights violations.  The report, which will be submitted to Congress, would assess if the Israeli assurances are credible.

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said there will be a “brief delay” in submitting the report without setting a new deadline for it.

Rights advocates say apparent Israeli violations of international humanitarian law run the gamut: accusations of targeting civilians, torture, extrajudicial executions, indiscriminate bombing and disproportionate attacks.

International humanitarian law is a set of rules meant to protect non-combatants in armed conflict. It consists of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and subsequent international treaties aimed at limiting civilian suffering during war.

I guess the report was too damning, got to change it first

‘No to Rafah’: Protesters take to the streets of Tel Aviv

Several legislators have slammed the Biden administration over its decision to pause one arms shipment to Israel.

“The Biden Administration says their commitment to Israel is ‘ironclad’. If they mean it, then it’s time to stop bending to pressure from campus communists and give our ally the time, space, and support it needs to destroy the terrorists threatening Israelis and Palestinians, alike,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a social media post.

Biden has been a staunch Israel supporter throughout his decades-long political career, and last month he approved $14bn in additional military support to the US ally.

But the administration suspended the shipment to convey its opposition to the Israeli offensive in Rafah. Still, US officials have reaffirmed that the US commitment to Israel’s security remains strong.

J Street, a US Jewish group that describes itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace, welcomed the pause on one weapons shipment to Israel that the Biden administration said it halted in opposition to the Rafah offensive.

“J Street supports the Biden Administration’s decision to halt the transfer of certain munitions to Israel to signal deep concerns over the potential of a full-scale Israeli assault on the city of Rafah,” the group said in a statement, calling the move a “measured step”.

“The United States has made clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that it cannot support such military action without a credible and executable evacuation plan for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians sheltering in the area.”

Unlike with military aid to Ukraine, the US does not detail its arms transfers to Israel, so the significance of pausing one shipment relative to the broader assistance remains unclear.

US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell sent a letter to President Biden expressing “alarm” and concern about the decision “to pause” a weapons shipment to Israel. They asked for clarification by the end of the week.

BREAKING: Speaker Johnson and Senate minority leader McConnell send a letter to President Biden expressing alarm about the decision to pause a weapons shipment to Israel and ask for clarification by the end of the week pic.twitter.com/OLd7agcEf1

— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 8, 2024

The US president says the bombs that Washington has supplied to Israel and has now paused sending have been used to kill Palestinian civilians.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” he said in an interview with US news outlet CNN, when asked about 2,000-pound bombs sent to Israel.

“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet – if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem.”

We now have more news lines from the US president’s interview with CNN. Biden said the United States is still committed to Israel’s defence and would supply Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive weaponry.

But if Israel goes into Rafah, “we’re not going to supply the weapons and artillery shells used”.

An editorial in the Haaretz newspaper today accused Benny Gantz, who is supposed to be the moderate in the Israeli war cabinet, of lying to the Israeli people when he says, “We are attacking Rafah to save the captives” – because he is lying. Netanyahu is lying. War cabinet minister Gadi Eisenkot is lying.

They are lying when they say we do not accept a prisoner deal in order to save the captives. Israel’s policy towards its own captives has been criminal.

Hamas accepted the deal, provided to it by the United States, by William Burns, director of the CIA. The fact that we are going back again to the cycle of diplomacy – as if nothing happened two days ago – tells me there’s a problem in Washington, not just in Tel Aviv. Why is Burns being stabbed in the back by his own administration?

When he reached the deal, it was on the basis that the Egyptians, the Israelis, the Qataris, and Hamas are on board. Burns brought them a deal that is excellent for everyone and brings the captives back and releases Palestinian prisoners, and ends the unfolding genocide in Gaza.

Israel rejected it and the US administration didn’t stand behind its CIA director.

Aviv Kochavi was quoted by Israeli media as saying “total victory” in Gaza will take “years” to achieve. “I don’t think there is a way to bring back the hostages without halting for the time being the war,” Kochavi said in remarks aired by Channel 12.

Kochavi’s term ended early in 2023, months before the outbreak of the war on Gaza.

The grandson of Israeli captive Oded Lifshitz, 84, says his family has not heard anything about the condition of his grandfather in six months.

“It’s unimaginable that my grandfather is the only great grandfather held hostage in the world. That’s a horrible title to have,” Daniel Lifshitz told Al Jazeera. “Every day we are losing them. I don’t know the real number [of captives] there, but I’m sure many of them are not alive any more.”

He added the negotiations for the release of those taken are “under fire”.

“It’s impossible that we are even speaking seven months after about the release of old people. It’s against humanity … I prefer there will be no more suffering for civilians on the Palestinian side and our side and there’s an agreement to end that.”

While some Israelis are calling for no ground invasion of Rafah, others are demanding the government and military to press ahead.

“We applaud the Israeli government and the [Israeli military] for going into Rafah,” said Mirit Hoffman, a spokesperson for Mothers of IDF Soldiers, a group representing families of serving military personnel, which wants an uncompromising line to pressure Hamas to surrender.

“We think that this is how negotiations are done in the Middle East.”

The opposing pressures mirror divisions in Israel’s war cabinet between centrist ministers concerned at alienating Washington – Israel’s most vital ally and supplier of arms – and religious nationalist hardliners determined to clear Hamas out of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli army says the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing, which has been key to Gaza aid operations, was again targeted by rocket fire that “lightly injured” one soldier.

“Eight launches were identified crossing from the area of Rafah into the area of Kerem Shalom,” a military statement read, adding that “as a result of the launches, an [Israeli army] soldier was lightly injured”.

Last week, Israel closed the crossing point for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza after rockets were fired at a military base in southern Israel near the site, killing three soldiers.

Head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called for the “removal of all obstacles” in Gaza in order to provide residents with humanitarian aid.

“A ceasefire is needed urgently for the sake of humanity,” he posted on X.

Hospital records show at least 25 people were wounded after Israeli artillery fire struck a part of central Rafah, an area Israel did not call on Palestinians to evacuate ahead of its incursion.

“We are living in Rafah in extreme fear and endless anxiety,” said Muhanad Ahmad Qishta, 29. Israel’s military campaign has been one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history, reducing large parts of Gaza to rubble.

President Biden has repeatedly warned Prime Minister Netanyahu against launching an invasion of Rafah. But Netanyahu has ignored the statements.

Dutch riot police have broken up a pro-Palestinian protest at the University of Amsterdam after demonstrators had vowed to stay put until the institution severed all ties with Israel. Protesters on barricades made of desks, fences, wooden pallets and bricks used fire extinguishers to keep the police at bay, images on the local TV station AT5 showed.

Police hit protesters with batons and used a shovel to knock down the barricades, breaking through in a matter of minutes.

Hundreds of protesters on the narrow streets outside shouted “Shame on you!” as the police pushed them away from the campus site and dragged many protesters away.

The police had detained 169 people early on Tuesday after sometimes violent clashes as they cleared out a similar protest at another site at the university.

Protests at college campuses around the world have exploded in recent weeks as pro-Palestinian students and faculty members rally against Israel’s war on Gaza, in which more than 34,800 people have been killed.


_{Protesters set up a barricade on May 7, 2024, as students and employees of the University of Amsterdam protest against the war in Gaza and the university leadership after police broke up a student protest camp overnight}

Dutch university students demonstrate in support of Palestine

Inmiddels aangekomen. Demonstranten gaan nu een pand van de universiteit in en geven aan “het pand te bezetten.” pic.twitter.com/eLbVfhdLZl

— Willem Spork (@WillemSpork) May 8, 2024

Ohio attorney general warns students in masks could face felony charges

The co-founder of Health Workers 4 Palestine says hospital staff are being tortured and disappeared in Gaza, and there is an urgent need to protect them.

“There’s over 200 cases of disappearances or abductions essentially of healthcare workers, many of whom we don’t know if they’re still alive or dead,” Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan told Al Jazeera. “We’ve taken testimonies from a number of healthcare workers … one of whom was captured for 62 days. He was talking of daily torture.”

Abdel-Mannan, a pediatric neurologist, urged the international medical community to highlight the plight of health workers in Gaza. “I think it’s important for them to start speaking up. Medical institutions like the Royal College of the UK and the British Medical Association need to start making statements about the sanctity of healthcare, and the fact it is completely unacceptable to be attacking [and] killing healthcare workers.”

The Israeli military has carried out arrests across the occupied West Bank tonight, including in Hebron, where the Wafa news agency reports that one man has been detained during the storming of the city.

Israeli forces have also raided the town of Halhul and re-arrested a Palestinian man that had been released from an Israeli prison two weeks ago, according to Wafa.

The Israeli military has also stormed the town of Qabatiya and a village south of Jenin where they arrested a Palestinian man. Footage reportedly from the raid in Qabatiya shows an Israeli bulldozer being struck with an explosive device.

Raids have also been reported in other locations across the occupied West Bank, including:

• The cities of Ramallah and el-Bireh
• The town of Beit Ummar, west of Hebron
• The town of Barta’a, west of Jenin
• The town of Urif and the village of Tal, south of Nablus

UN rapporteur: Palestinians have endured ‘half a century of rapacious military dictatorship’