As of: February 17, 2024, 6:21 p.m
Comments
Press
Split
Israel is preparing for an offensive in the city of Rafah, which borders Egypt.
© Fatima Shbair/AP/dpa
Concerns about an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah are growing.
The US President is now speaking clearly.
Is Israel giving in?
The developments at a glance:
Tel Aviv/Gaza/Washington - According to Palestinian information, numerous deaths have occurred in Israeli attacks in the central section of the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that several houses were bombed by fighter jets, including in Deir al-Balah.
Eight people were killed and dozens more were injured or buried.
Paramedics even spoke of 40 people having been killed.
Many injured people were taken to a hospital.
When asked, an Israeli army spokesman said they were checking the reports.
Israel is currently under increasing pressure to shelve its plans for a ground offensive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
US President Joe Biden warned Israel in clear terms: He is firmly convinced that there must be “a temporary ceasefire” to free the hostages.
Biden said at the White House that he expected “the Israelis will not carry out a massive ground offensive in the meantime.”
Israel's army will soon submit a detailed plan for the operation in Rafah to the war cabinet, the Times of Israel reported.
UN organizations have received reports that some Palestinians have already left Rafah for the center of Gaza out of fear of Israel's attacks.
Scholz calls on Israel to comply with international law
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has made an unusually clear call on Israel to comply with international humanitarian law in view of a planned ground offensive against the Islamist Hamas in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“We do not just comply with international law and rules because we have signed some agreements around the world.
“This is something that arises from our view of humanity and how we want to be and how we want to see ourselves,” said the SPD politician at the Munich Security Conference.
At the same time, the Chancellor emphasized the call for a two-state solution.
This means an independent Palestinian state that exists peacefully side by side with Israel.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also pushing for a two-state solution as a way out of the vicious circle of violence between Israel and Palestinians.
My news
29 mins ago
Zelensky warns in Munich of global “catastrophe” caused by Putin – Europe “challenged” in NATO read
2 hours ago
New survey: AfD is still in free fall – worst result since mid-2023read
“Putin can destroy the Baltic states” – the head of government breaks her patience on the Siko stage
Ukrainians proudly demonstrate Leopard 1 tanks to ZDF - but there's a lot missing from it
“If you don’t want us as Bavaria …”: Söder threatens to leave the Federal Republic of Germany – and calls for compulsory military service
Navalny's death report: Explosive theory is said to be circulating on Munich Siko
Report: USA is preparing to deliver more arms to Israel
Despite calls for a ceasefire, the US is preparing to deliver more bombs and weapons to Israel, according to a media report.
As the “Wall Street Journal” reported on Saturday night, citing current and former US officials, the plans are currently being examined within the administration of US President Joe Biden and could change in detail before they are presented to the US submitted to Congress for approval.
The Israeli government has asked for “rapid procurement of these items to defend Israel against ongoing and new regional threats.”
The new proposed arms shipment includes precision weapons, according to the report.
The US is urging Israel to shift from massive bombing to more precise strikes.
Biden hopes for a quick hostage deal
According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, negotiators are working to ensure that a ceasefire coincides with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins on March 10th.
Biden said he hoped there would be a quick deal with Hamas to free the hostages.
He spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu every day last week, for almost an hour each time.
Biden's blunt words showed that Rafah's fate was a potential tipping point in relations between Washington and Jerusalem, the Financial Times reported.
US officials, including Biden, have consistently supported Israel since the start of the war, but their tolerance for Netanyahu's actions and the worsening humanitarian crisis "is rapidly waning," the newspaper wrote.
UN court rejects appeal against Rafah offensive
Meanwhile, the United Nations International Court of Justice rejected an urgent request from South Africa to review the legality of Israel's planned military offensive in Rafah.
The dangerous situation in the place full of refugees requires “the immediate and effective implementation of the court's requests,” which it issued at the end of January, the court announced at its headquarters in The Hague.
These requests would apply to the entire Gaza Strip, including Rafah.
“It is not necessary to adopt additional measures,” the court stated.
Israel's allies such as the USA and Germany firmly advise Israel against large-scale military action in Rafah.
The United Nations has warned of a massive humanitarian catastrophe in the event of such an offensive.
Tens of thousands protest for Palestinians in London
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in London in a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
According to police estimates, around 30,000 people took part.
The protest was supposed to lead to the Israeli embassy.
About a dozen people were temporarily arrested, including a man with an anti-Semitic poster, the Metropolitan Police said.
When officers wanted to arrest him, they were attacked, the police said on the platform X (formerly Twitter).
This led to six further arrests.
People have also been arrested for, for example, refusing to remove their face coverings.
The organization Palestine Solidarity Campaign called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with the protest march in the British capital.
Riots over trucks carrying aid deliveries in Rafah
Dozens of people tried to storm a truck carrying aid supplies at the Rafah border crossing.
Police intervened and dispersed the crowd, the Hamas-controlled authority said.
Video footage shared on social media showed people entering the border crossing's processing area.
Shots can be heard and black smoke can be seen.
Eyewitnesses reported that Hamas police fired into the crowd and killed a youth.
The authority initially did not want to confirm this.
In Rafah, right on the Egyptian border, 1.3 million people are crowded together in a very small space.
Most of them have fled other parts of the Gaza Strip to seek protection from the war.
They live in huge tent camps or on the streets.
Aid organizations can hardly guarantee supplies of the essentials.
The aid deliveries arrive in the sealed-off coastal area via the border crossing with Egypt after Israel has checked them.
Israel's army continues to operate in the hospital in Khan Yunis
Meanwhile, the Israeli army has so far arrested around 100 people in an operation at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
The military said they were “individuals suspected of being involved in terrorist activities.”
According to the army, Israeli special forces “continued their operation against the terrorist organization Hamas within the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis.”
This is based on intelligence information that Hamas operated from the clinic.
Terrorists were also killed in the area around the clinic.
dpa