• It is the 131st day of the war: over 28,600 people killed in Gaza. In Israel, 1,200 died in the October 7 attack.
• Israel: «Two-State Option? This is no time for gifts for the Palestinians.”
• The Houthis claim attack on a British ship
• OK from the Knesset for the bill against UNRWA in Israel
• Blinken: «A hostage deal is possible»
05.16 am – Media, six dead in Israeli bombing in Rafah
Six people were killed by Israeli shelling near Rafah. The Jerusalem Post reports this, citing Arab media.
04.53 am – Israel, media: hundreds of Palestinians work on the wall with Gaza
Hundreds of Palestinian workers from the West Bank are working in Israel to help build a new barrier along the border with the Gaza Strip, despite the Israeli Security Cabinet banning them from doing so, the Ynet news site reports, citing eyewitness accounts. of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers deployed in the area. Ynet says Palestinian workers are engaged in engineering work on breaches in the fence, which was damaged in dozens of places at the start of the war against Hamas. The Israeli Ministry of Defense responded to the rumors by stating that only four Palestinians are working on the project, specifying that it hires contractors “in accordance with safety guidelines, classification and sensitivity of the work” and that the workers come from a group of Palestinian workers “approved to work on essential projects” for Israel.
03.13 am – Biden to Netanyahu, no Rafah offensive without civilian protection
American President Joe Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reiterated the United States‘ opposition to an attack on Rafah “without protection for Palestinian civilians”. The White House reported this in a statement. Biden, we read in the US statement, “reaffirmed that the military operation cannot proceed without a credible and executable plan to guarantee security and support for civilians in Rafah”. The American president and Netanyahu also discussed the ongoing negotiations for the release of the Israeli hostages still in the hands of Hamas, the White House adds.
02.05 am – Gaza, Guterres condemns Israeli raid on Khan Yunis hospital
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned yesterday’s Israeli raid on the Khan Yunis hospital complex. «We reiterate once again that hospitals must be kept out of combat, they must not be subjected to any type of military action. Any type of military action against a hospital must be condemned”, said spokesman Stephane Dujarric quoted by international media.
01.55 am – Gaza, 12 dead in Israeli raid on Nuseirat refugee camp
At least 12 people died yesterday following an Israeli air strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of the Gaza Strip. This was announced by a spokesperson for the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ hospital, quoted by the international media. Ten of the victims were women and children, the source specifies.
01.52 am – WHO, conditions in Gaza are hellish
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in an interview with CNN that the health situation in Gaza has worsened “beyond words”. Ghebreyesus repeated his call for a permanent ceasefire and said conditions in Gaza were ‘hellish’. “I reiterated our grave concern about a potential large-scale assault on Rafah, which would cause unimaginable suffering,” he added.
01.17 am – Netanyahu, Israel rejects diktat on Palestinian state
After speaking with US President Joe Biden, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement in the middle of the night, insisting that Israel would not be pressured to accept a Palestinian state. The Israeli media reported it. «My positions can be summarized in the following two sentences: Israel categorically rejects international dictates regarding a permanent agreement with the Palestinians. This agreement will be reached only through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions,” Netanyahu said in a post on X. Furthermore, the prime minister explained, “Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. Such recognition, in the wake of the October 7 massacre, would give enormous reward to unprecedented terrorism and impede any future peace agreement.”
00:39 – «WSJ»: «Egypt builds fence for displaced people from Gaza»
Egypt is building a sort of high-walled mega-fence in the Sinai desert near the border in case there is an exodus of displaced Palestinians. Egyptian officials revealed this to the “Wall Street Journal”, specifying that in the case of a large influx of Palestinians from Gaza, Egypt would try to limit the number of refugees well below the area’s capacity to around 50,000-60,000 people. The Egyptian authorities, however, deny that they are building the project.
For weeks, Egypt has tried to strengthen security along the border to keep the Palestinians away, deploying soldiers and tanks. More than 100,000 people could be accommodated in the new camp, surrounded by concrete walls, Egyptian officials said, adding that a large number of tents, not yet erected, had also been delivered to the site. Cairo has been trying for weeks to prevent a wave of refugees from pouring across Egypt’s borders, even threatening to withdraw from the ten-year peace treaty with Israel if this were to occur following its offensive against Hamas.
The fact that Cairo is now proceeding with contingency plans signals that Egyptian officials see this danger as ever closer. The governor of North Sinai has denied reports of the construction of a refugee camp for Palestinians, saying that the activity in the area is part of a project to inventory houses destroyed during the Egyptian military campaign against Islamic State extremists in the area.
00.34 am – Gaza, media: 8 dead in Israeli raid on Rafah and Jabalia
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that at least six people died and several others were injured in an Israeli shelling that hit a house in the Al-Nasr neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in the early hours of today. Two more people lost their lives in a raid launched late yesterday evening by Israeli forces against two houses east of Jabalia, in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
In the previous hours, at least three people were killed and several others injured following another Israeli bombing against a vehicle and a group of individuals in the city of Gaza, according to Wafa. The total death toll in the Gaza Strip since October 7 is at least 28,663 dead and 68,395 injured, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.
00.34 am – Gaza, media: 8 dead in Israeli raid on Rafah and Jabalia
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that at least six people died and several others were injured in an Israeli shelling that hit a house in the Al-Nasr neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip in the early hours of today. Two more people lost their lives in a raid launched late yesterday evening by Israeli forces against two houses east of Jabalia, in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
In the previous hours, at least three people were killed and several others injured following another Israeli bombing against a vehicle and a group of individuals in the city of Gaza, according to Wafa. The total death toll in the Gaza Strip since October 7 is at least 28,663 dead and 68,395 injured, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian Ministry of Health.