Summary of the day so far:
It has just gone 5.20pm in Rafah, Tel Aviv and Beirut, and 6.20pm in Damascus. Here is a recap of the latest developments:
An exodus of Palestinians into Egypt must be “avoided at all costs”, and could be the “nail in the coffin” of a future peace process, the UN’s high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi said on Friday. “The position of Egypt has been very clear. People should not go across the border. I think Egypt has very valid reasons,” Filippo Grandi told BBC television from the Munich Security Conference. He also said a spillover of refugees from Gaza into Egypt ‘would be a disaster for the future of peace’. When asked whether Egyptian authorities had contacted the UNHCR about possible contingency plans he said: “The Egyptians said that people should be assisted inside Gaza and we are working on that.”
Egypt is preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources told news agency Reuters, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo. Egypt, which denied making any such preparations, has repeatedly raised the alarm over the possibility that Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive could displace Palestinians into Sinai – something Cairo says would be completely unacceptable – echoing warnings from Arab states such as Jordan. The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an Egyptian non-governmental organisation, also published images on Monday that it said showed construction trucks and cranes working in the Egyptian area near the Gaza border.
Israel will coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees and will find a way to not harm Egypt’s interests, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said on Friday at the Munich Security Conference. When asked where refugees in Rafah would go, he suggested Gaza’s second city Khan Younis.
Western leaders are hoping a round of meetings at the Munich Security Conference will put overwhelming pressure on Israel not to press ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah. Almost all the key figures, save the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, were present in Munich on Friday, including foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan.
Negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza appear to have stalled, with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday pushing back hard against the US vision for after the war – particularly its calls for the creation of a Palestinian state. After speaking overnight with president Joe Biden, Netanyahu wrote on X that Israel will not accept “international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians”, saying that if other countries unilaterally recognised a Palestinian state, it would give a “reward to terrorism”.
US president Joe Biden again cautioned Netanyahu against moving forward with a military operation in Rafah before coming up with a “credible and executable plan” to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians, in a phone call between the leaders on Thursday evening, the White House said.
Five patients in intensive care died after their oxygen cut off when Israeli forces raided Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, health officials said. A witness at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which was raided by Israeli forces on Thursday, told AFP that the army had shot “at anyone who moved inside the hospital”. Hospital officials also said that two Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight killed at least 12 people, including nine members of the same family.
Two people were killed and four were wounded in what Israeli police said was a shooting attack near a junction in southern Israel on Friday. Authorities in the district said the suspected shooter was killed by an armed civilian.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry raised fears over the fate of six other patients in the intensive care unit at Nasser hospital and three children, saying it held Israel “responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control”. A doctor at the hospital in Khan Younis, told Al Jazeera that the situation there is “catastrophic”. Dr Nahed Abu Taima, who is a director at medical complex, said electric power was cut off from the entire medical complex and that “many patients” in ICUs, those on oxygen supply and also those on dialysis were “left fighting for their lives”.
More than “20 terrorists” suspected to have been involved in the 7 October attack were arrested at Nasser hospital, said the Israeli military on Friday. On Thursday IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari had said there was “credible intelligence” to suggest hostages had been held at the hospital, and that bodies of some of the captives may still be inside, but the military said later it had “not yet found any evidence of this”, although forces had found “weapons, grenades and mortar bombs” at the hospital complex.
The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached “unprecedented levels, as people run out of even animal feed to eat” said development charity ActionAid on Friday. The charity warned that “as grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse” if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, said that eight of his relatives who were sheltering in the southern Gaza town of Rafah were killed in an Israeli strike. Zomlot also identified a girl in a distressing photo that has been widely shared online as his wife’s seven-year-old cousin Sidra Hassouna.
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday “the recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France,” at a joint press conference in Paris with King Abdullah II of Jordan. Macron also repeated a warning against Israel attacking the city of Rafah, saying it “could only bring about an unprecedented humanitarian disaster”.
Russia has invited Hamas and other Palestinian factions including Fatah to Moscow for talks on the Israel-Hamas war and other issues in the Middle East from 29 February, the state-run Tass news agency reported, citing deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
112 Palestinians have been killed and 157 were injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, said the Gaza health ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
Israeli strikes on targets in south Lebanon killed five fighters from Hezbollah and the allied Amal movement, the groups said on Friday. A strike on one house in Al-Qantara village killed three members of the Amal movement, the group said. Hezbollah separately announced the death of two of its fighters, bringing to 12 the number killed since Wednesday.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Friday that Israeli forces had released two of its doctors that were arrested a week ago during a raid on the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, however 12 others from its teams remained under arrest, the PRCS said, including seven who were arrested at the same hospital.
Palestinian solidarity groups Palestine Speaks and Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East filed criminal charges against Volker Beck, a former member of parliament and the head of the German-Israeli Society, for suspected incitement of hate and denial of war crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian activists have filed criminal charges against a German politician for suspected incitement of hate and denial of war crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza, they said on Friday.
According to Reuters, the charges against Volker Beck, a former member of parliament and the head of the German-Israeli Society, were brought by Palestinian solidarity groups Palestine Speaks and Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East.
“This is the first step in holding public figures who publicly make genocidal statements legally accountable,” the group wrote on its Instagram.
The charges, filed at five prosecutor offices across Germany, cite Beck’s statements on social media, in opinion pieces and media interviews in which he expressed support for Israel’s military operation in Gaza, calling for making humanitarian aid conditional on Hamas freeing Israeli hostages.
Beck rejected the claims as “nonsense”. “There is no genocide in Gaza and I do not advocate genocide,” he told Reuters, adding that he had filed complaints against the groups for defamation. “These people have a disturbed relationship with the rule of law if they believe that many complaints lead to more investigations.”
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa.
Emmanuel Macron says recognising a Palestinian state 'not a taboo’ for France and warns Israel against attacking Rafah
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was “not a taboo for France” in his first such comments since the start of the war in Gaza, reports AFP.
“The recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France,” he said at a joint press conference in Paris with King Abdullah II of Jordan.
His comments come after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan for international recognition of such a state, after reports of such an initiative were published in The Washington Post.
The US newspaper reported that US president Joe Biden’s administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians. It included a firm timeline for the establishment of a Palestinian state, the report said.
Macron also repeated a warning against Israel attacking the city of Rafah, the southernmost point in the besieged and bombarded Palestinian territory of Gaza.
“An Israeli offensive in Rafah could only bring about an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in this conflict,” he said.
“I share the fears of Jordan and Egypt of mass forced displacement of the population,” Macron added. “It would be a new grave violation of international law and present a major risk of escalation for the region,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal has reported Egypt is building a walled camp in the Sinai peninsula to receive Palestinians displaced from the Gaza Strip.
Macron on Wednesday told Netanyahu that the Gaza death toll was “intolerable” and Israel’s “operations” there “must cease”, his office said.
He stressed that a ceasefire agreement should be reached “without further delay”, adding such a deal should “guarantee the protection of all civilians and the massive inflow of emergency aid”. Macron said peace could only be achieved through the “creation of a Palestinian state”.
Two people killed and four injured in shooting attack in southern Israel, medics and police say
A bit more information on the shooting attack in southern Israel has come in via Reuters.
Two people were killed and four were wounded in what Israeli police said was a shooting attack near the southern town of Kiryat Malakhi in southern Israel on Friday, reports Reuters. Authorities in the district said the suspected shooter was killed by an armed civilian.
Tension has been surging in the region as Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip more than four months after Hamas attacked its towns.
Israel’s police commissioner Kobi Shabtai declined to respond to questions on the identity of the shooter, who was also killed, saying an investigation of the incident was still in preliminary stages.
Central district commander Avi Biton said an assailant had opened fire at a bus station near a junction in southern Israel early on Friday afternoon, injuring six people.
He said an armed civilian who was on site shot the suspect and police forces were searching the area to rule out the possibility of additional perpetrators.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said two of the casualties had died and four others were transferred to hospitals for treatment with moderate to serious wounds.
National security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said the incident “proves again that weapons save lives”. He pledged to increase the distribution of firearms to civilians in the wake of the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel that has prompted Israelis to arm themselves in record numbers.
Updated
Earlier it was reported that four patients had died after their oxygen cut off when Israeli forces raided Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on Thursday. The latest report from AP, shows the number has been revised, with health officials saying it was actually five patients.
Hospital officials have also said that two Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight killed at least 12 people, including nine members of the same family, says AP.
An exodus of Palestinians into Egypt must be 'avoided at all costs, says UN high commissioner
An exodus of Palestinians into Egypt must be “avoided at all costs”, and could be the “nail in the coffin” of a future peace process, the UN’s high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi said on Friday, reports AFP.
Nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians – more than half of Gaza’s population – are trapped in Rafah, seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egyptian border.
“The position of Egypt has been very clear. People should not go across the border. I think Egypt has very valid reasons,” Filippo Grandi told BBC television from the Munich Security Conference.
“It would be catastrophic for Palestinians … to be displaced again. It would be catastrophic for Egypt from all points of view, and more important than anything else, a further refugee crisis would be almost the nail in the coffin of a future peace process already,” he said
Like many observers, says AFP, the UN’s high commissioner for refugees believes that once Palestinians leave Gaza they will no longer be able to return – as happened in 1948 – something which would ruin the possibility of a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians.
The war accompanying the creation of Israel in 1948 saw 760,000 Palestinians flee or forced from their homes. Millions of their descendants continue to live as refugees in neighbouring countries.
“The old 1948 refugee crisis is an unresolved problem; if you add a dimension to that, you can say goodbye to a meaningful peace process,” said Grandi. “It has to be avoided at all costs.” He added that it could only be avoided if humanitarian aid was able to enter Gaza in significant quantities, and “more important, if hostilities cease”.
Grandi said his Geneva-based UNHCR agency was not involved in any preparations that Egypt might be making for if people cross the border.
Grandi said the plight of displaced people in Rafah was “absolutely dramatic”. “So I hope that the appeals by the entire international community for a ceasefire and access of humanitarian aid and the liberation of hostages are heeded by the parties; by Israel, by Hamas.”
Israel will coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees, says foreign minister
Israel will coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees and will find a way to not harm Egypt’s interests, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said on Friday.
“The state of Israel will have to deal with Rafah because we can’t just leave Hamas there,” Katz said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, reports Reuters.
When asked where refugees in Rafah would go, he suggested Gaza’s second city Khan Younis, but said that Israel would coordinate with Egypt to ensure Cairo’s interests were not harmed. “We will coordinate with Egypt,” he said.
Here are the latest photos coming across the wires from Rafah and Jerusalem:
Updated
Two people were killed in Israel when a gunman opened fire on a crowded bus stop near the southern town of Kiryat Malakhi on Friday, a hospital and police said.
Two people who were brought to Kaplan Medical Centre had been declared dead, a spokesperson for the facility told AFP. Four others were injured in the shooting, Israeli police said.
“We have raised a national level alert,” Israel’s police chief Kobi Shabtai told reporters at the site, without providing details on the attacker.
An AFP photographer at the scene reported the gunman had been killed and his body was still at the site of the attack. Police said he had been “neutralised” by a civilian at the scene.
On Sunday evening there were two stabbing attacks – one against police in annexed East Jerusalem and the other against troops at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank. The attackers in both incidents were killed while there were no casualties among security forces.
Kiryat Malakhi is located about 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of the Gaza Strip, where Israel’s war with Hamas militants has raged for more than four months.
Updated
Israeli strikes in south Lebanon killed five fighters from Hezbollah and allied Amal movement, say groups
Israeli strikes on targets in south Lebanon killed five fighters from Hezbollah and the allied Amal movement, the groups said on Friday, adding to an uptick in violence causing international alarm reports AFP.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) said Israeli warplanes hit five villages in southern Lebanon overnight on Thursday.
A strike on one house in Al-Qantara village killed three members of the Amal movement led by parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, the group said. Hezbollah separately announced the death of two of its fighters, bringing to 12 the number killed since Wednesday.
Hamas ally Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on 7 October.
But the UN secretary general’s spokesperson called on Wednesday for a halt to dangerous “recent escalation”, which also sparked concern from the US.
Wednesday was the bloodiest day in more than four months of cross-border exchanges, with 10 civilians and five Hezbollah members including a commander killed. Hezbollah said it retaliated on Thursday by firing dozens of rockets into northern Israel.
The Israeli army said it carried out Wednesday’s strikes after rocket fire from Lebanon killed a soldier.
The cross-border exchanges have killed at least 268 people on the Lebanese side, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also 40 civilians, according to an AFP tally. On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and six civilians have been killed, according to the Israeli army.
Russia has invited Hamas and other Palestinian factions to Moscow for talks, says official
Russia has invited Hamas and other Palestinian factions including Fatah to Moscow for talks on the Israel-Hamas war and other issues in the Middle East, an official said on Friday reports AFP.
Russia has invited around a dozen Palestinian groups to Moscow for “inter-Palestinian” talks from 29 February, the state-run Tass news agency reported, citing deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Moscow, which for years tried to court good relations with all major players in the region, has grown increasingly critical of Israel and its western backers amid the ongoing war in Gaza.
“We invited all Palestinian representatives – all political forces that have their positions in different countries, including Syria, Lebanon and other countries in the region,” said Bogdanov, who is Russian president Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for the Middle East.
The representatives include Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, alongside representatives of Fatah and the broader Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Putin has called for a ceasefire and Moscow has repeatedly criticised Israel’s conduct in the Gaza Strip since the 7 October Hamas attack.
The public statements, combined with Russia’s partnerships with Iran and Hamas, have soured Russian-Israeli relations since the conflict broke out, say AFP.
Palestinian ambassador to UK says eight relatives killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah
My colleague, Emine Sinmaz in Jerusalem has written the following news story on Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, who said eight of his relatives were killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah. Zomlot also identified a girl in a distressing photo that has been widely shared online as his wife’s seven-year-old cousin Sidra Hassouna:
The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has said that eight of his relatives who were sheltering in the southern Gaza town of Rafah have been killed in an Israeli strike.
Husam Zomlot identified a girl in a distressing photo that has been widely shared online as his wife’s seven-year-old cousin Sidra Hassouna. In the image that has been posted on social media, Sidra’s body can be seen dangling from the ruins of a building after the attacks on Rafah on Monday.
Sharing a blurred version of the image, alongside pictures of his other relatives, Zomlot posted on X on Wednesday: “This is seven-year-old Sidra, the cousin of my wife. The impact of the Israeli missile was so powerful it flung her out, leaving her mutilated body dangling from the ruins of the destroyed building in Rafah 48 hours ago.”
He said that Sidra’s twin, Suzan, had also been killed, as had their 15-month-old sibling, Malik; their parents, Karam and Amouna; their grandparents, Suzan and Fouzy; and uncle, Muhammad.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images from the newswires:
The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Friday that Israeli forces had released two of its doctors that were arrested a week ago during a raid on the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
In a post to its X account, the PRCS said doctors Jamal Ayad and Nafith Al-Qarm had been released on Friday morning, but 12 others from its teams remained under arrest, including seven who were arrested at al-Amal hospital.
This morning, the occupation forces released doctors Jamal Ayad and Nafith Al-Qarm from the PRCD Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis. They were arrested 7 days ago during the occupation's raid on the hospital, while 12 others from our teams remain under arrest, including 7 who were…
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 16, 2024
A spillover of refugees from Gaza into Egypt 'would be a disaster for the future of peace', says UN high commissioner
The UN’s high commissioner for refugees said on Friday that a spillover of refugees from Gaza’s Rafah into Egypt’s Sinai would be a disaster and that Egyptian authorities had made clear that Palestinians should be assisted in the enclave.
“It would be a disaster for the Palestinians … a disaster for Egypt and a disaster for the future of peace,” Filippo Grandi told news agency Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering in the southern German city.
When asked whether Egyptian authorities had contacted the UNHCR about possible contingency plans he said: “The Egyptians said that people should be assisted inside Gaza and we are working on that.”
Updated
More than '20 terrorists' suspected to have been involved in 7 October attack arrested at Nasser hospital, says Israeli military
Israeli forces said on Friday it had taken into custody more than “20 terrorists” suspected of involvement in the 7 October Hamas attack, during its raid of Nasser hospital yesterday, reports news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP).
On Thursday IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari said there was “credible intelligence” to suggest hostages seized by Hamas in the 7 October attack had been held at the hospital, and that bodies of some of the captives may still be inside.
But the military said later it had “not yet found any evidence of this”, although forces had found “weapons, grenades and mortar bombs” at the hospital complex.
A witness who declined to be named out of fear for their safety told AFP the army had shot “at anyone who moved inside the hospital”.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry also raised fears over the fate of six other patients in the intensive care unit and three children, saying it held Israel “responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control”.
112 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, says health ministry
The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 112 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 157 were injured in the past 24 hours.
According to the statement, at least 28,775 Palestinians have been killed and 68,552 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
A doctor at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which was raided by Israeli forces on Thursday, told Al Jazeera that the situation there is “catastrophic”.
Dr Nahed Abu Taima, who is a director at medical complex, said Israeli forces rounded up patients and civilians taking shelter in the hospital. Abu Taima said:
We were forced to transfer all the patients and the wounded to the hospital’s old building … electric power was cut off from the entire medical complex. Many patients in ICUs and those on oxygen supply and also those on dialysis are left fighting for their lives since 3am [2am GMT].
We stand helpless, unable to provide any form of medical assistance to the patients inside the hospital or the victims flooding into the hospital every single minute.”
Updated
Hunger crisis in Gaza has reached 'unprecedented levels', says development charity
The hunger crisis in Gaza has reached “unprecedented levels, as people run out of even animal feed to eat” said development charity ActionAid on Friday.
“An unprecedented and totally avoidable hunger crisis” has led to “every single person in the territory now experiencing extreme levels of hunger”, it said, warning that “as grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse” if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah.
1)🚨An update on Gaza's hunger crisis:@RihamJafari @AAPalestine “As grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah, which is the main centre of aid distribution for the entire strip. Aid…
— ActionAid UK (@ActionAidUK) February 16, 2024
“It is appalling to watch the world standing by as the people of Gaza slowly starve in what is a completely avoidable catastrophe,” said Riham Jafari, advocacy and communications coordinator at ActionAid Palestine. She said the recent International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling “clearly stated that the supply of humanitarian aid into Gaza must be facilitated yet instead, people have grown hungrier by the day”.
Jafari said the situation is most bleak in the north of Gaza, where about 300,000 people are almost completely cut off from humanitarian assistance: “People who were so desperate that they were resorting to grinding up animal feed to use as flour are now finding that even this poor substitute is completely running out.”
She added:
As grim as the picture is, things will get substantially worse if Israel proceeds with its plans for a full military operation in Rafah, which is the main centre of aid distribution for the entire strip. Aid operations will grind to a complete halt, denying a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of people.
The consequences are unimaginable. Governments around the world must do everything in their power to prevent a further onslaught in Rafah and push for a permanent and immediate ceasefire. It’s the only way to stop the indiscriminate killing of civilians, allow aid to enter Gaza and be distributed safely at scale to prevent famine and deadly disease outbreaks.”
ActionAid said that as well as a dwindling and inconsistent supply of food for people to buy, prices are also very high. Heba, a displaced mother who is now staying in the classroom of a school shelter with her family, told the charity:
The prices are expensive. If you buy a kilo of lentils it costs 20 shekels [£4.33]. It was originally 10 shekels [£2.16]. Yeast costs 35 shekels [£7.58]. With difficulty, they bring us [food] vouchers but it is not enough … It gives us just a can of beans and a can of chickpeas for a family of seven.”
A lack of fuel and cooking gas means families are burning anything they can find to cook what little food they have, says ActionAid, with potentially dangerous health consequences. Sohad, a 23-year-old displaced mother who is staying on a beach in a tent with her family, told the charity: “We live on sand and now we burn plastic to cook with. We have not found anything to eat. We have not found anything to feed our children.”
According to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza is now classified as facing either crisis, emergency or catastrophic levels of food insecurity. ActionAid say the amount of aid being allowed into Gaza each day “is shamefully insufficient” and needs to “be scaled up immediately”.
Updated
The Guardian’s visuals team have created this in-depth look at how Gaza’s ‘safe’ city Rafah came to be on the precipice of catastrophe. It contains analysis of satellite data, graphs on the proportion of buildings likely to have been damaged or destroyed in Gaza, and maps that show how the damage has spread further south over the last couple of weeks as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) shifted its military activity, pushing displaced people closer to Rafah. You can take a look at the visualisation here:
Pressure builds on Israel to ditch Rafah offensive as ministers gather in Munich
US secretary of state and foreign ministers from UK, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan join Israel at security conference, writes the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour:
Western leaders are hoping a round of meetings at a security conference in Munich will put overwhelming pressure on Israel not to press ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah.
Almost all the key figures, save the Iranian foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, will be present in Munich on Friday, including foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Jordan. The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, and foreign minister, Israel Katz, will also attend along with three freed hostages, Raz Ben Ami, Adi Shoham and Aviva Siegel. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, is flying in too.
The pressure on Israel to avoid a ground offensive is coming from almost all quarters, including allies such as the US, UK, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The shadow of a return to the international court of justice and a further Algerian-sponsored UN security council resolution is looming over Israel.
Netanyahu pushes back on US calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, saying it would give a 'reward to terrorism'
Negotiations over a ceasefire in Gaza appear to have stalled, with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday pushing back hard against the US vision for after the war – particularly its calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, reports AP.
After speaking overnight with president Joe Biden, Netanyahu wrote on X that Israel will not accept “international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians”.
He said that if other countries unilaterally recognise a Palestinian state, it would give a “reward to terrorism”. Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected creation of a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive and expand it to the Gaza city of Rafah, near Egypt, until Hamas is destroyed and scores of hostages taken during the militants’ 7 October attack are freed.
In their phone call, Biden again cautioned Netanyahu against moving forward with a military operation in Rafah before coming up with a “credible and executable plan” to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians, the White House said.
With the war showing no sign of ending, the risk of a broader conflict grew as Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group had deadliest exchange of fire along the border since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, says AP.
Israel launched airstrikes into southern Lebanon for a second day on Thursday after killing 10 civilians and three Hezbollah fighters on Wednesday in response to a rocket attack that killed an Israeli soldier and wounded several others.
Updated
Four patients die as oxygen runs out in Gaza hospital seized by Israeli forces, health officials say
The storming by Israeli troops of southern Gaza’s main hospital brought chaos to hundreds of staff and patients inside, writes The Associated Press (AP). It says health officials said on Friday that four people in intensive care had died after their oxygen cut off.
Israeli military said its special forces were searching the facility, where it believes the remains of hostages abducted by Hamas might be located.
The raid came after troops had besieged Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis for nearly a week, with staff, patients and others inside struggling under heavy fire and dwindling supplies, including food and water. Hours before troops seized the hospital on Thursday, Israeli fire killed a patient and wounded six others inside the complex, staff said.
Here are some satellite images that show where Egypt is reportedly setting up an area as a contingency measure along the Egypt-Gaza border near Rafah:
According to Reuters, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, an activist organisation, published images on Monday it said showed construction trucks and cranes working in the Egyptian area near the Gaza border. It also showed images of concrete barriers.
Citing an unidentified source, the Sinai Foundation said that the construction work was intended to create a secured area in case of a mass exodus of Palestinians.
Reuters was able to confirm the location of part of the video as Rafah from the position of the buildings, trees and fences which match satellite imagery of the area but was not able to confirm the location of the whole of the video or the date on which it was filmed.
Egypt to create a gated high-security area in the reception of Palestinian refugees from Gaza
— Sinai for Human Rights (@Sinaifhr) February 14, 2024
The Sinai Foundation obtained information through a relevant source that indicates that the construction work currently taking place in eastern Sinai, is intended to create a… pic.twitter.com/8Xe1H7t9O0
Egypt reportedly setting up area as contingency measure - Reuters sources
Egypt is preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources told news agency Reuters, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo.
Egypt, which denied making any such preparations, has repeatedly raised the alarm over the possibility that Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive could displace Palestinians into Sinai – something Cairo says would be completely unacceptable – echoing warnings from Arab states such as Jordan.
One of the sources said Egypt was optimistic talks to clinch a ceasefire can avoid any such scenario, but is establishing the area at the border as a temporary and precautionary measure.
Three security sources told Reuters that Egypt had begun preparing a desert area with some basic facilities which could be used to shelter Palestinians, emphasising this was a contingency step. The sources Reuters spoke to for this story declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Israel has said its army is drawing up a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah to other parts of the Gaza Strip. But UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Thursday it was an “illusion” to think people in Gaza could evacuate to a safe place and warned of the possibility of Palestinians spilling into Egypt if Israel launches a military operation in Rafah. He called this scenario “a sort of Egyptian nightmare”.
Egypt has framed its opposition to the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza as part of wider Arab rejection of any repeat of the “Nakba”, or “catastrophe”, when about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes in the war surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.
The first source said construction of the camp began three or four days ago and it would offer temporary shelter in any scenario of people crossing the frontier “until a resolution is reached”.
Asked by Reuters about the accounts by the sources, the head of Egypt’s state information service said: “This has no basis in truth. Our Palestinian brothers have said and Egypt has said that there is no preparation for this possibility.”
Updated
Joe Biden issues fresh warning to Israel over Rafah plans
US President Joe Biden has issued a fresh warning to Israel over its plans for an offensive in Rafah.
The area had formerly been declared a ‘safe zone’ for Palestinians fleeing the fighting and Israeli bombardments in other parts of Gaza. Since then its population has swelled in numbers.
Biden told Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should not proceed with military action in Rafah without a credible and executable plan to protect Palestinian civilians, the White House said.
The call between the two leaders on Thursday was the second time in less than a week that Biden warned Netanyahu about moving into the southern part of the Gaza Strip without a plan to ensure the safety of about 1 million people sheltering there.
They also spoke about ongoing hostage negotiations and Biden pledged to continue to work around the clock to help free the hostages, who have spent 132 days in Hamas captivity, according to the White House read out of the call.
This round of negotiations in Cairo, aimed at a lengthy ceasefire and a second further exchange of hostages and prisoners after a successful week-long truce at the end of November, is expected to last until Friday.
Western leaders are also hoping a round of meetings at a security conference in Munich will put overwhelming pressure on Israel not to press ahead with a ground offensive in Rafah. The White House has announced that the US vice-president Kamala Harris is set to meet with Israeli president Isaac Herzog and Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani at the conference on Friday, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, the Egyptian non-governmental organisation Sinai Foundation for Human Rights reported that construction work had begun on creating a “high-security gated and isolated area” near the border with Gaza “in the case of the mass exodus of the citizens of Gaza Strip”.
Opening summary
It has gone 9.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and this is our latest Guardian blog on the Middle East crisis.
US President Joe Biden has again told Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he should not proceed with military action in Rafah without a credible and executable plan to protect Palestinian civilians, the White House said.
The population of the city has swelled since the Israel-Gaza war began after the 7 October attacks by Hamas.
The call between the two leaders on Thursday was the second time in less than a week that Biden warned Netanyahu about moving into the southern part of the Gaza Strip without a plan to ensure the safety of about 1 million people sheltering there, reports Reuters.
It comes as the round of ceasefire and hostage release negotiations are expected to finish on Friday. Israel is also expected to come under pressure at the Munich Security Conference over its plans for Rafah.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest main developments:
International medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported a “chaotic situation” at Nasser hospital and said its medical staff “have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind”. It also said one of its colleagues remained unaccounted for after Israeli forces shelled the hospital in the early hours of Thursday and another colleagues was detained at a checkpoint that Israeli Forces had set up “to screen people leaving the compound”. MSF said “we call for his safety and the protection of his dignity” and urged Israeli forces to stop “this attack”.
Israeli military confirmed its special forces were inside Nasser hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis on Thursday, saying it had “credible intelligence” that the bodies of hostages taken on 7 October may be in the facility.
IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari, said forces were conducting a “precise and limited” operation in Nasser hospital and would not forcibly evacuate medics or patients but Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said Israel had launched a “massive incursion” with heavy shooting that injured many of the displaced people who had sheltered there. He said the military had ordered medics to move all patients into an older building that was not properly equipped for their treatment. “Many cannot evacuate, such as those with lower limb amputations, severe burns, or the elderly,” he said in an interview with the Al Jazeera network.
Videos that Reuters verified on Thursday as having been filmed inside Nasser hospital, though it could not verify when, reportedly showed scenes of chaos and terror. Men walked through dark corridors using the lights from their phones, with plaster dust swirling around and debris lying in the corridors, at one point wheeling a bed through a damaged area. At one point in a video gunshots rang out and a doctor shouted “Is there anyone still inside? There is gunfire, there is gunfire – heads down”.
Israeli forces fired into the main hospital in southern Gaza early on Thursday, killing a patient and wounding six others, according to medics. Dr Khaled Alserr, one of the remaining surgeons at Nasser hospital, told the Associated Press that the seven patients struck early on Thursday were already being treated for past wounds. On Wednesday, a doctor was lightly wounded when a drone opened fire on the upper stories of the hospital, he said, adding that “the situation is escalating every hour and every minute”.
Cashflows at the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) will turn negative next month and its financial problems will accelerate in April if funding suspended by a number of countries does not resume, the head of the agency said on Thursday before a meeting in Dublin with the country’s foreign minister.
More Israeli strikes were reported in south Lebanon on Thursday as Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati condemned the escalation. Government institutions, schools and Lebanese University were to close on Thursday in protest of the airstrikes.
Israeli military said Thursday’s strikes in Lebanon targeted Hezbollah infrastructure and launch posts. Spokesperson Avi Hyman from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said: “Our message to Hezbollah has and always will be: Don’t try us”. Senior Hezbollah official Sheikh Nabil Kaouk said at an event on Thursday in southern Lebanon that the militant group was “prepared for the possibility of expanding the war”.
Senior Hezbollah official and member of parliament Hassan Fadlallah said on Thursday that Israel would face reprisal after two sets of strikes on southern Lebanon the previous day killed 10 civilians, half of them children. “The enemy [Israel] will pay the price for these crimes,” Fadlallah told Reuters when asked about the armed group’s reaction.
The UN peacekeeping force deployed along the Lebanon-Israel border, known as Unifil, expressed concerns over the latest “exchanges of fire,” and urged all sides involved to halt hostilities to prevent further escalation. “Attacks targeting civilians are violations of international law and constitute war crimes,” Unifil’s spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said in a statement. “The devastation, loss of life, and injuries witnessed are deeply concerning.”
Israel’s vow to push ahead with a “powerful” operation in Gaza’s Rafah was met with a growing chorus of international condemnation on Thursday, with leaders warning against catastrophic consequences for the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped there. Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel “not to go down this path”, issuing a rare joint statement in the latest urgent appeal seeking to avert further mass civilian casualties. “An expanded military operation would be devastating,” they said. “There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go.”
Israel’s far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich has rejected plans for an establishment of a Palestinian state, writing on X that Israel “won’t agree in any way” to it. Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben Gvir also posted on X. He wrote: “1,400 are murdered and the world wants to give them a state. Not going to happen. The establishment of a Palestinian state means the establishment of a Hamas state.”
The 22 Arab countries at the UN are urging the security council to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and unhindered humanitarian assistance, and to prevent any transfer of Palestinians out of the territory. The Arab Group chair this month, Tunisia’s UN ambassador Tarek Ladeb, told UN reporters on Wednesday that about 1.5 million Palestinians who sought safety in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah face a “catastrophic scenario” if Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu goes ahead with a potential evacuation of civilians and military offensive in the area bordering Egypt.
Updated
