War between Israel and Gaza, live | Hamas warns that casualties among Israeli hostages “have increased”

EL PAÍS offers the last hour of the Arab-Israeli conflict for free.

If you want to support our journalism,

subscribe.

Hamas warned this Friday that casualties among Israeli hostages “have increased” and that those who are still alive do so in “extremely difficult conditions.”

Israel has said that about a hundred hostages remain detained in Gaza after acknowledging the deaths of 31 of them on Tuesday.

A gunman has opened fire at a bus stop in central Israel, killing two people and wounding four others.

The attacker, whom the police consider a “terrorist”, has been killed.

Israel has no plans to deport the Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said this Friday, adding that it would coordinate its plans for hundreds of thousands of refugees in the city of Rafah with neighboring Egypt.

The Egyptian authorities are carrying out works that, according to an NGO, are intended to establish a high security zone a short distance from the Palestinian enclave in preparation for an eventual reception of Gazan refugees.

In Rafah, in the extreme south of Gaza, more than a million people are crowded together, displaced from other areas of the Strip by the war.

00:57

Egypt builds an area next to Gaza in which it could house displaced Palestinians

Go to start

New posts

The country

A group burns tires and tries to prevent the passage of humanitarian aid around the Rafah crossing

This Friday, a group of people burned tires this Friday on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, bordering Egypt, an official from the Crossing and Border Authority of the Palestinian enclave, controlled by Hamas, reported on condition of anonymity.

After this action, they opened the gate on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, and attacked the trucks transporting humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

This information has been confirmed by the Egyptian channel Al Qahera News, close to Egyptian intelligence, which has added that agents of the Palestinian police (controlled by Hamas in the enclave) have gone to the pass to try to control the situation. 

However, and contrary to what the rumors that have circulated on social networks stated, the attackers have not entered the step itself. 

There is no information about the identity of the group.

However, in recent weeks Israeli ultranationalists, backed by sectors of the Government, have concentrated on the border crossings towards the Gaza Strip to try to prevent the passage of aid to what they consider enemies of Israel.

This situation occurs at a time of high tension in the extreme south of the Palestinian enclave due to the possibility of an offensive being unleashed in that area that borders Egypt.

(Efe)

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 18:51

The country

Hamas warns that casualties among Israeli hostages “have increased”

Hamas warned this Friday that casualties among Israeli hostages “have increased” and that those who are still alive do so in “extremely difficult conditions.”

Israel has said that about a hundred hostages remain detained in Gaza after acknowledging the deaths of 31 of them on Tuesday. 

“We have warned [Israel] dozens of times about the dangers to which its hostages are exposed,” said the spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, Abu Obeida, in an audio message.

“For months, we have tried to protect and care for the lives of these hostages, as our main humanitarian objective is to free our own prisoners and realize the legitimate rights of our people.”

“We did not want the situation to reach this point, but the [Israeli] leaders ignored us,” he accused.

(Reuters)

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 16:58

The country

Expansion |

Israel says it has no plans to deport Palestinians from Gaza

Israel has no plans to deport the Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said this Friday, adding that it would coordinate its plans for hundreds of thousands of refugees in the city of Rafah with neighboring Egypt.

The deep concern that Palestinians could be expelled from the Gaza Strip has loomed large for both Palestinians and their Arab neighbors since Israel launched its attack in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas.

Israel is ready to attack Rafah, and several sources have said that contingency plans are being drawn up in Egypt to accommodate the Palestinians if the situation became critical.

Satellite images have revealed that Cairo is preparing spaces on the border that NGOs say could be used to host refugees if necessary.

Katz said Israel had no choice but to enter Rafah, as fighters from the Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas were using the city as cover.

“We have no intention of deporting any Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip,” Katz said.

“Israel does not want to harm any Palestinian civilians;

That is why we move them to safe areas while Hamas tries to prevent it.

“We have no intention of governing civilian life in Gaza after the war.”

This position is not shared by the entire Israeli Government, whose most ultra sectors have proposed the mass expulsion of Palestinians from the enclave and the reconstruction of the Israeli colonies abandoned in 2006. 

Asked where the city's hundreds of thousands of Palestinians would go, Katz has suggested that once Khan Younis, Gaza's second city, was “liberated” from Hamas militants, they could return there or to the west of the enclave. .

Most of Israel's allies, the UN and several NGOs have warned that the expulsion of refugees to Egypt would be a catastrophe.

Katz has downplayed that option and has assured that Israel was discussing how to evacuate the refugees with the United States, but that it would also coordinate with Egypt.

"We will deal with Rafah after talking to Egypt about it. We will coordinate it, have a peace agreement with them and find a place that will not harm the Egyptians," Katz promised.

"We will coordinate everything and will not harm their interests."

(Reuters)

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 16:09

The country

Hezbollah vows that Israel will respond “with blood” to attacks in southern Lebanon

The leader of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah, promised this Friday that Israel will respond “with blood at the price of shedding blood” after the bombings on Wednesday in southern Lebanon in which, according to the Islamist organization, three of its leaders and 10 other civilians.

Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire along the Lebanon-Israel border since the Gaza war broke out in October, in their deadliest clash in nearly 20 years.

“The response to the massacre should be to continue and intensify the resistance work on the front,” he stated in a televised speech.

“The price of shedding the blood of our women and children, murdered these days, will be paid by the enemy with blood.”

(Reuters)

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 15:40

The country

Israel affirms that it will “coordinate” with Egypt to define the future of the Rafah refugees

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, assured this Friday that his country “will coordinate” with Egypt to guarantee that Cairo's interests are not harmed.

Egypt, which has had a peace agreement with Israel since 1978, has strongly opposed any movement of Palestinian refugees to its territory. 

Just yesterday, the second vice president of Parliament, Mohamed Abu El-Enein, declared that Cairo's patience "has its limits" and that it could end if "the red lines are crossed."

Today, Friday, satellite images were made public showing Egypt preparing a patch of land right on its border with the Gaza Strip that, according to an NGO, could be used to accommodate Palestinian refugees expelled from the enclave.

However, Katz, attending the Munich Security Conference (Germany), has insisted that the offensive against Rafah, where more than a million Palestinian refugees are gathered, is going to be carried out.

“The State of Israel will have to deal with Rafah because we cannot leave Hamas there,” he said.

The minister has suggested that those displaced from Rafah return to Khan Younis, eight kilometers to the north and bombed relentlessly by Israeli forces.

(Reuters)

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 14:56

The country

Two of those injured in the attack at a bus stop in central Israel die

Two of those injured in the attack by an armed man against people waiting at a bus stop in central Israel have died, according to the hospital to which they had been transferred, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Previously, the Israeli ambulance service, Magen David Adom (the Red Star of David) had reported six injuries, one of them in critical condition and two others in serious condition.

The Israeli Police have stressed in a message on their account on the social network X that "a terrorist has arrived at the bus stop, apparently in a vehicle, and has shot several people before being neutralized by a civilian who was there." .

The authorities have confirmed that the perpetrator of the attack has died. 

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 14:35

The country

Macron makes explicit his rejection of an Israeli offensive in Gaza: “It would lead to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster”

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, made explicit this Friday his rejection of an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, the town in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians displaced from other parts of the Strip by the war take refuge.

In a joint press conference with Jordan's King Abdullah, Macron said such an operation "would only lead to an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in this conflict."

“I share the fears of Jordan and Egypt about a forced and massive displacement of the population,” he said, in reference to a possible flight of Gazans from the Strip towards Egypt or other places, if Israel finally carries out the offensive in Rafah.

For King Abdullah, this exodus would have “catastrophic consequences.”

Once again, Macron has stated that “the absolute priority is a ceasefire for the immediate release of the hostages [kidnapped by Hamas in Israel on October 7]” and has described as “intolerable” the number of Palestinian civilians killed in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli offensive, which has now reached 28,775, to which we must add 68,552 wounded.

(Reuters)

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 13:44

The country

At least six injured in a shooting at a bus stop in central Israel

At least people have been injured after being shot by an individual at a bus stop in central Israel, according to the Israeli ambulance service.

According to the police, the attacker has been “neutralized.”

Police spokesman Eli Levy told army radio that a suspect opened fire on people at the bus stop at the Masmiya intersection, wounding several.

He added that the attacker has been “neutralized”, without giving further details, and that the police director had gone to the scene to determine the type of incident.

According to the Israeli ambulance service, which speaks of a “terrorist attack”, six people have been evacuated to hospitals, a 20-year-old man in critical condition and two men aged 16 and 65 in serious condition.

According to information collected by the Israeli public broadcaster, Kan, the attacker opened fire from a vehicle and subsequently died after being shot by a soldier who was in the area, without the Israeli authorities having commented for now.

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 13:06

The country

Tents of displaced Palestinians next to the border fence between Gaza and Egypt in Rafah.

/ IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA / REUTERS

What has happened in the last few hours

This is the latest news on the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza at 12:45 this Friday, February 16:

- Egypt is building an area next to Gaza in which it could house displaced Palestinians

.

Egyptian authorities are building a concrete wall in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula near Gaza's southern border that begins to surround a large perimeter of land that is being leveled, satellite images released Thursday show.

The works are intended to establish a high security zone a short distance from the Palestinian enclave in preparation for an eventual reception of Gazan refugees in the event of a mass exodus to Egyptian territory, as reported by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, a local organization, citing two local contractors.

Egypt has not commented.

- Israel says it has detained 20 Hamas militiamen who participated in the October 7 attacks at Al Naser Hospital

.

The Israeli Army claimed this Friday to have detained “dozens” of people inside the Al Naser hospital, in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.

Among them, Israel claims, are 20 “terrorists” who participated in the attacks carried out on October 7 by Hamas.

- Four patients died at the Naser hospital after the Israeli army raid

.

The recent incursion of the Israeli army into the Naser hospital, the most important in the southern Gaza Strip, caused a total power outage that caused the death of at least four patients in intensive care and put the lives of others at risk, including three babies, as reported this Friday by the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian enclave.

- Netanyahu rejects “international dictates to impose a Palestinian State on Israel

. ”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected “international dictates” on a definitive peace agreement with the Palestinians that includes a Palestinian state, ensuring that it depends exclusively on Israel.

He assures that “Israel will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian State” because after the attacks of October 7 it would be a “reward” to terrorism. 

- Biden insists Netanyahu not attack Rafah without a plan to protect civilians

.

US President Joe Biden has once again insisted to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that, if he really plans to launch a military ground operation in Rafah, he must put on the table a “credible and executable” plan to protect to civilians.

In Rafah, in the extreme south of Gaza, more than a million people are crowded together, displaced from other areas of the Strip by the war.

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 12:45

The country

Israel says it has detained 20 Hamas militants who participated in the October 7 attacks at Al Naser Hospital

The Israeli Army claimed this Friday to have detained “dozens” of people inside the Al Naser hospital, in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza.

Among them, Israel claims, are 20 "terrorists" who participated in the attacks carried out on October 7 by Hamas.

"So far, during the operation, more than 20 terrorists who participated in the October 7 massacre have been arrested and dozens of suspects have been transferred for interrogation," the Israeli army said in a statement.

The operation, which is still underway, was triggered on Thursday based on intelligence information that Hamas was hiding hostages kidnapped on October 7 or the bodies of some of them there, in addition to harboring "terrorists."

“During inspections in the hospital area, the military located mortars, grenades and other weapons that belong to the Hamas terrorist organization,” the army says, again accusing the Palestinian group of acting “systematically from hospitals and civilian infrastructure.”

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 12:29

The country

Four patients died at Naser hospital after the Israeli army raid

The recent incursion of the Israeli army into the Naser hospital, the most important in the southern Gaza Strip, caused a total power outage that caused the death of at least four patients in intensive care and put the lives of others at risk, including three babies, as reported this Friday by the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian enclave.

As a result of the Israeli military operation in the hospital, which began on Thursday after a 25-day siege, “the power supply was completely cut off in the Naser Medical Complex”, which caused “the death of four patients at dawn today”, reports a statement from the ministry, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas.

Health assures that “at any moment” other patients in intensive care could die, as well as three babies who need an uninterrupted supply of oxygen, and denounced that two women gave birth “in inhumane conditions, without electricity, without water, without food and without heating.”

(Efe)

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 11:49

The country

Satellite images of the city of Rafah before and after the arrival of Palestinians displaced by Israeli bombings.

/ Google / Maxar Technologies

Satellite images showing overcrowding of more than a million displaced Palestinians

The company Maxar Technologies has published satellite images in which you can see the overcrowding of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have moved to the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt, fleeing Israeli bombings.

In the first image, from 2024, you can see the area of ​​the city near the border before the refugees arrived (image on the right, published this Friday by Maxar). 

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, estimated in the first days of February that around two-thirds of the 1.7 million displaced people in the Strip were overcrowded in the Rafah governorate, more than one million of people.

The humanitarian situation in the area is marked by an acute shortage of drinking water, food, medicine and shelter, which has pushed thousands of Gazans to settle in tents erected a few meters from the border fence with Egypt.

Despite the fragile humanitarian situation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Saturday that he had ordered planning an assault on Rafah, but so far no plan has been detailed to evacuate those trapped there. 

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 10:46

Marc SpanishCairo (EGYPT)

Egypt builds an area next to Gaza in which it could house displaced Palestinians

Egyptian authorities are building a concrete wall in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula near Gaza's southern border that begins to surround a large perimeter of land that is being leveled, satellite images released Thursday show.

The works are intended to establish a high security zone a short distance from the Palestinian enclave in preparation for an eventual reception of Gazan refugees in the event of a mass exodus to Egyptian territory, as reported by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, a local organization, citing two local contractors.

Egypt has not commented.

The work began on Monday, and coincides with the Israeli threat to assault Rafah, the only city in Gaza that has not yet been attacked by Israeli ground troops and in which more than half of the population of the Strip is crowded, more of a million people.

In satellite images you can see an area of ​​land being flattened, with a wall being erected around it.

The perimeter is located in a buffer zone established by Egyptian authorities in the last decade between Gaza and the Sinai.

In parallel to these works, Cairo has rushed in the last two weeks to reinforce the physical border that separates its territory from Gaza, which consists of two concrete walls and an iron and steel fence, and has ordered a greater deployment military in the area, in an attempt to strengthen its position and try to avoid a mass expulsion of Palestinians.

ACT.16 FEB 2024 - 10:45