World War J: Daily Update February 1-14

 

7:40 am

The House of Represenatives pass a bipartisan resolution today condemning the use of rape and sexual violence by Hamas terrorists during -- and since -- their Oct. 7 onslaught in Israel.  The measure was introduced by Rep. Lois Frankel, D-Fla., and endorsed by 200 co-sponsors from both sides of the aisle, and passed in a vote of 418 to 0.  Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., voted "present."

7:30 pm

Antisemitic protesters at Columbia University in New York City were heard chanting repeatedly: "We don't want two states. We want all of it." The snowy ground at the center of the campus was strewn with what appeared to be blood-red paint or dye.

A leading British rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg, publicly opposed an Israeli military offensive in Rafah, saying it is “impossible to remain silent”. He said: "These words are written out of deep concern about Israel’s actions and potential actions in Rafah, making it impossible to remain silent. The calculated barbarity and strategic cruelty of Hamas’s military, and the presence of its forces in tunnels beneath Rafah, are beyond doubt …But over a million Palestinian civilians, many already in flight from the north of Gaza, are now trapped with nowhere to go. In countless references, Judaism has, throughout its history, stressed our duty to refugees and the helpless. How can we be unmoved by their grief and unbearable suffering? ….I write out of horror at what may ensue and its potential consequences in unimaginable suffering. I write out of dread at the future hatred this is likely to engender, and out of fear that these actions may haunt us, and the good name of Israel and the Jewish People, for generations.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) said today that Gaza’s hospitals are ‘completely overwhelmed’ and accused Israel of impeding its aid-delivery missions in Gaza. Speaking to reporters in Geneva via video link from Rafah in southern Gaza, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the occupied Palestinian territories said that fewer than half of its requested aid-delivery missions in Gaza have been approved by Israel.

“Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza” and a “humanitarian operation at death’s door”, warned the UN. Martin Griffiths, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said the scenario “we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed” and “our humanitarian response is in tatters”.

Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea met CIA director William Burns in Cairo on Feb. 13 for talks on a Qatari-brokered plan to halt fighting in Gaza. The negotiations, which also involved Qatar’s prime minister and Egyptian officials, are part of an intensifying effort to secure a ceasefire before Israel proceeds with a ground incursion into the southern city of Rafah, where more than half of the territory’s population has fled.
A Hamas was heading to Cairo to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with the mediators on Feb. 13.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an outspoken critic of Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war, was also due in Cairo today for talks with president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The prime ministers of Ireland and Spain have written and implored EU chiefs to take action over the “deteriorating” situation in Gaza a day after the Irish leader claimed Israel had become “blinded by rage”. In a highly unusual move, Leo Varadkar and Pedro Sánchez wrote to the European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen. They asked the commission to “urgently review whether Israel is complying with its obligations to respect human rights in Gaza”.

Israel is in breach of international law as the occupying power if it fails to provide food and water to the people of Gaza, according to British foreign secretary David  Cameron. Speaking on Feb. 13 in parliament, he said it was simply not possible for people in Rafah to leave as proposed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), remarks that suggest the UK would not endorse any Israeli plan to mount a full-scale attack on the area.

WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that he is “alarmed by what is reportedly happening at Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza.” “Nasser is the backbone of the health system in southern Gaza. It must be protected. Humanitarian access must be allowed,” he said.

Displaced Palestinians have begun evacuating Nasser hospital complex in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis after weeks of being isolated by fighting. Videos seen by the Associated Press showed dozens of Palestinians carrying sacks of their belongings and making their way out of the Nasser hospital complex, while a doctor wearing green hospital scrubs walked ahead of the crowd, some of whom were carrying white flags.

Nasser hospital and the surrounding are has ‘turned into a battle zone’, reports Al Jazeera. Journalist Hani Mahmoud isaid the situation in Nasser hospital was becoming “more and more risky” for medical staff and hundreds of displaced people sheltering there. He reported a lack of fuel, medical supplies and oxygen at the hospital, plus “a sewage flood as the facility is without electricity”.

“There is sometimes even no space to walk” in Rafah, Médecins Sans Frontières project coordinator in Gaza, Lisa Macheiner said describing the unfolding situation and attacks in the area. Macheiner also spoke of the “lack of access to food … water … sanitation … healthcare” and said “there is a huge need for primary healthcare for follow up of patients, who had surgeries, multiple surgeries” and of people suffering with infected wounds. The medical humanitarian organisation has called on the government of Israel to halt any offensive on Rafah.

Israeli air attacks have been reported across Gaza, including in the southern part of the strip. Israeli artillery fire hit Khan Younis, in southern Gaza and Israeli warplanes had carried out repeated raids on the southern neighborhoods of Gaza City.

About 100 representatives of  Israeli hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza flew to The Hague today in the Netherlands to file a “crimes against humanity” complaint at the international criminal court (ICC) against Hamas, reports AFP. The ICC is the world’s only independent court set up to probe the gravest offences including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

103 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 145 were injured in the past 24 hours, said the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.
An Israeli woman was killed and eight others were injured in a suspected Hezbollah attack, according to The Times of Israel. Safed’s municipality also said rockets hit the base, as well as the city’s industrial zone and an area near Ziv hospital. There has been no immediate claim for the attack.

Israeli military jets began carrying out a widespread wave of strikes in Lebanese territory today, the IDF spokesperson, Daniel Hagari said.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres said he was ‘deeply troubled’ by the number of journalists killed in the Gaza conflict. Reporting on an Israeli drone attack in Muraj, north of Rafah that allegedly targeted two journalists, Al Jazeera said the attack had resulted in its Arabic correspondent Ismail Abu Omar having to have his leg amputated, and had also seriously injured photojournalist Ahmed Matar. Guterres condemned the attack.

At least 18 Palestinians were arrested overnight in the West Bank area of Judea and Samaria, including two women from Jericho. Al Jazeera cited the Palestinian Prisoners Society and the Palestinian commission of detainees and ex-detainees affairs which said detentions also took place in Hebron, Qalqilya, Nablus, East Jerusalem and Ramallah. It put the total number of arrests after 7 October at 7,020 and called it “one of the most prominent tools of collective punishment”.

Militants from the Islamic State (IS) group attacked military barracks in central Syria this week, killing nine soldiers, an opposition war monitor said. The Syrian army and officials have not confirmed the attack, reports AP. IS claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday near the town of Al-Sukhna, saying its fighters also seized weapons abandoned by fleeing soldiers and set fire to the barracks. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three Syrian troops were wounded in addition to the nine killed in Al-Sukhna.

US Central Command (Centcom) said its forces launched a strike on Feb. 13 on a missile battery in a Houthi-controlled part of Yemen. It said the cruise missile was about to be fired at ships in the Red Sea.

Protesters denouncing Israel’s offensive in Gaza disrupted a foreign policy debate in Sweden’s parliament today, as the country’s foreign minister reiterated support for Israel’s right to self-defence against Hamas. Security guards escorted a woman out of the public gallery after she shouted that Israel “was committing genocide”, as foreign minister Tobias Billstrom presented the government’s foreign policy declaration to parliament.

9:40 am

National Security spokesman John Kirby told a Feb. 13 press briefing that the US has “not seen what the Israelis are thinking” on protecting civilians in case of an operation in Rafah in southern Gaza. “Any credible plan that could be executable would have to take into account their physical movement, safe movement, as well as proper sustenance for them – food, water, medicine, access to healthcare,” says Kirby, amid US and international warnings to Israel ahead of an expected IDF operation in the Gaza border city. A retired admiral, Kirby praised the IDF for its conduct in the war on Hamas, saying: "We have seen them take actions, sometimes actions that even I’m not sure our own military would take, in terms of informing civilian populations ahead of operations where to go, where not to go.”

 

8:30 am

The Islamic Jihad terror group’s Al-Quds Brigade opened fire from the West Bank area of Judea and Samaria at Meirav, an Israeli kibbutz abutting the northern West Bank near Beit She’an. There were no injuries in the attack, which occurred as school children were heading home. One home may have been hit by bullets, according to Ynet. 

Spain and Ireland have asked the European Commission to urgently review whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza. “We are deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation in Israel and in Gaza… The expanded Israeli military operation in the Rafah area poses a grave and imminent threat that the international community must urgently confront,” the prime ministers say in a joint letter published on the Spanish government website. “We also recall the horror of Oct. 7, and call for the release of all hostages and an immediate ceasefire that can facilitate access for urgently needed humanitarian supplies.” The EU Commission confirmed receipt of the letter. “We do urge all sides when it comes to Israel to respect international law and we note that there must be respect, there must be accountability for violations of international law,” an EU spokesperson says. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar says several EU states are also talking about a possible joint recognition of a Palestinian state.

Israeli defense forces struck a number of towns in the south of the country, including areas in Nabatiyeh Governorate, deeper inside the country than most previous strikes.

An independent Palestinian leader backed by Arab peacekeepers could oversee the reconstruction of Gaza after the war between Israel and Hamas, said Mohammed Dahlan, a prominent Palestinian exile said. Dahlan, the former PA Gaza security chief,said that “the leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates are open to supporting processes that are part of efforts leading to a Palestinian state.” In Dahlan's proposal, a new Palestinian leader would push PA President Mahmoud Abbas aside to a ceremonial role, and could invite countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia to send in troops and pay for a reconstruction of the Strip, says Dahlan, who many think may be eyeing the job for himself. Israel would have to agree to a Palestinian state: “The main Arab countries are really very keen to settle this conflict. Not the war, the whole conflict.” “No Abbas, no Hamas,” says the former Fatah strongman. “New people in charge of the Palestinian Authority.” As he has been for decades, Dahlan is openly critical of Hamas: “Relying on people suffering isn’t leadership. The Palestinian people want to live.”

Dahlan has been a top advisor to United Arab Emirates President Mohamed Bin Zayed while in exile after being pushed out of the Fatah terrorist organization. . In 2017, he brokered a deal between Egypt and Hamas to keep fuel flowing to Gaza’s power plant, flexing his diplomatic muscle.Representatives from six Arab countries met last week in Saudi Arabia to discuss a ceasefire and the future of Gaza. Dahlan told the New York Times that he is trying convince Hamas to step aside to let new Palestinian leadership take over.

IDF fighter jets are currently carrying out a “widespread” wave of airstrikes in Lebanon. This was in response to rockets fired at northern Israel, including an army base in Safed, killing an Israeli woman and injuring eight other people.

Gazans sheltering in the main hospital in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis have begun to leave under the Israeli military’s order, videos shared by medics show. Videos show dozens of Palestinians carrying sacks of their belongings and making their way out of the Nasser Hospital complex. Though medical staff and patients have been told they need not leave the premises, a doctor wearing green hospital scrubs is seen walking ahead of the crowd, some of whom were carrying white flags.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is calling on Hamas, a rival of the PA, to make haste in agreeing to a deal with Israel in order to save the Gaza Strip from Israel’s military offensive. “We call on the Hamas movement to quickly complete a prisoner deal, to spare our Palestinian people from the calamity of another catastrophic event with dire consequences, no less dangerous than the Nakba of 1948,” Abbas says in a statement carried by the official Palestinian outlet Wafa. Hamas' delegation is going to Egypt to meet Egyptian and Qatari mediators, after Israeli negotiators held talks with the mediators on  Feb 13. Abbas “called on the US administration and Arab brothers to work diligently to complete a prisoner deal as quickly as possible, in order to spare the Palestinian people the scourge of this devastating war,” referring to Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, has said that he is “alarmed by what is reportedly happening at Nasser Medical Complex in Gaza.” “Nasser is the backbone of the health system in southern Gaza. It must be protected. Humanitarian access must be allowed,” he said.

Protesters denouncing Israel’s offensive in Gaza disrupted a foreign policy debate in Sweden’s parliament today, while Sweden's foreign minister reiterated support for Israel’s right to self-defense against Hamas. Security guards escorted a woman out of the public gallery after she shouted that Israel “was committing genocide”, as foreign minister Tobias Billstrom presented the government’s foreign policy declaration to parliament. “Sweden supports Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself against Hamas in accordance with international law,” Billstrom said before being interrupted. He added that “in light of the catastrophic situation in Gaza, the government believes that a ceasefire is necessary for humanitarian reasons.”

Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza' and a 'humanitarian operation at death’s door', warned the UN. Martin Griffiths, the UN undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, said the scenario “we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed”.The scenario we have long dreaded is unraveling at alarming speed. 
Today, I’m sounding the alarm once again: Military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza. They could also leave an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.

Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists attacked Syrian military barracks and killed nine troops in central Syria. IS claimed responsibility for the Feb. 12 attack  near the town of Al-Sukhna, saying its fighters also seized weapons abandoned by fleeing soldiers and set fire to the barracks. The attack was the latest in intensifying clashes in the desert in eastern Syria between the Iranian-backed militants and the Syrian army.

103 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, says Hamas-controlled health ministry. The figures have not been independently verified. According to the statement, at least 28,576 Palestinians have been killed and 68,291 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October.

About 100 representatives of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza flew to The Hague in the Netherlands today to file a “crimes against humanity” complaint at the international criminal court (ICC) against Hamas. Haim Rubinstein from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said the campaign group will file a case against Hamas leaders at the ICC. The ICC is the world’s only independent court set up to probe the gravest offences including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, an outspoken critic of Israel, will also go to Egypt to talk with president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. 

The UN secretary general, António Guterres told Al Jazeera that he is “deeply troubled” by the number of journalists killed so far in the Israel-Gaza conflict. He said: "I am deeply troubled by the number of journalists killed in this conflict. Freedom of press is a fundamental condition for people to be able to know what’s really happening.”

8:00 am

Rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel claimed at least one life, a woman, in the city of Safed. Israeli artillery responded.

The Israeli and US delegations left Cairo after talks aimed to agree on terms for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict. The negotiations involved CIA director William Burns, Qatar’s prime minister, and Egyptian officials, were part of an effort to secure a ceasefire before Israel proceeds with a full-scale ground incursion into the southern city of Rafah, where more than half of the territory’s population has fled. The Wall Street Journal cited officials as saying that the Israeli left Cairo “without closing any of the major gaps in the negotiations”.

Israel is in breach of international law as the occupying power if it fails to provide food and water to the people of Gaza, according to the UK foreign secretary, David Cameron. He also said it was simply not possible for people in Rafah to leave as proposed by the Israel Defense Forces: “The people who are in Rafah on many occasions have already moved three, four or five times … That is why it’s so important, the Israelis stop and think before going ahead with any operations.”

The US said it was reviewing reports that Israel had harmed civilians in Gaza, under a set of guidelines aimed at ensuring countries receiving US arms conduct military operations in line with international humanitarian law.

South Africa has made an urgent request to the UN’s international court to consider using its power to intervene in Rafah, the city in southern Gaza which is the object of Israeli military operations. The country’s presidency asked the court to consider whether Israel’s decision to extend its military operations in Rafah requires it to use its power to prevent further breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.

The UN said it would not participate in any forced evacuation of Rafah. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN Office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) said it had not received any Rafah evacuation plans from Israel. “Regardless, the UN does not participate in forced, non-voluntary evacuations. There is no plan at this time to facilitate the evacuation of civilians,” he said.

Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have carried out their first attack in the Red Sea in six days, firing at an Iran-bound grain cargo ship, the US military has said, in a strike that raises questions about the group’s targeting.

The Senate voted in favor of sending Israel $14 billion as part of a wider $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. The package would also provide $9.15 bilion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and other conflict zones around the globe. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was among the no votes, calling the bill “unconscionable”. The bill heads to the Republican-controlled House next, where its fate is uncertain.

 

February 14, 2024

1:00 pm

New York Daily reported that a 25-year-old man was assaulted and beaten with a baseball bat by a stranger who called the victim a "dirty Jew" after a confrontation in Staten Island NY. According to police today, the victim was approached  in Mariners Harbor about 2:30 p.m. on Feb. 12. The perpetrator questioned the man about his background, cops said. “You dirty Jew!” the attacker said before striking the victim. The victim was transferred to Staten Island University Hospital. The attack ran away and is still at large. Police released surveillance footage of the alleged attacker. He is described as about 40 years of age and 5-foot-11. He was wearing a blue jacket, green pants, black ski hat and tan boots. He has a dark complexion, black hair and beard. 

12:01 pm

South Africa appealed to the UN’s international court to consider using its power to intervene in Rafah, the city in southern Gaza currently waiting for an Israeli ground offensive. The country’s president asked the court to consider whether Israel’s decision to extend its military operations in Rafah requires it to use its power to prevent further breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.

The UN said it would not participate in any forced evacuation of Rafah. Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA said the office had not recieved any Rafah evacuation plans from Israel. “Regardless, the UN does not participate in forced, non-voluntary evacuations. There is no plan at this time to facilitate the evacuation of civilians,” he said.

The Senate voted in favor of sending Israel $14 billion as part of a wider $95 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The package would also provide $9.15 billion in humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the West Bank and other conflict zones around the globe. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was among the no votes, calling the bill “unconscionable”.

President Biden has said the US would do “everything possible” to make a ceasefire happen. After a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Biden said that “the key elements of the deal are on the table,’ but “there are gaps that remain.”

UK foreign secretary and former prime minister David Cameron said he has personally challenged the Israeli government over individual incidents in Gaza when asked about Hind Rajab, a young girl who was allegedly killed by an Israel strike. When asked in Parliament if he challenges the Irsaeli government over individual episodes, Cameron said: “Yes, we absolutely do. I’ve done that personally with them over … and we will continue to do that as part of the very important process that we go through to judge whether they are in compliance with international humanitarian law.”

Former UK foreign secretary William Hague called for the removal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He said: “The long shot of building trust and a two state solution has little chance without the removal of Netanyahu”.

An Al Jazeera correspondent had his leg amputated and a photojournalist has been “seriously injured” in an Israeli airstrike that allegedly targeted the pair while they were working in Gaza. According to the news network, Ismail Abu Omar, one of its correspondents, and his camera operator, Ahmad Matar, were in northern Rafah when they were directly targeted by a missile fired by a drone. The two journalists were transferred to Gaza’s European hospital, where doctors amputated Omar’s leg in an effort to save his life. Matar was described by Al Jazeera as being in a “serious condition”.

9:15 am

Israeli security forces arrested a senior Hamas terrorist in Jenin on the West Bank today. Two Israeli police officers were slightly wounded by shrapnel during an exchange of fire with the gunman, Omar Fayed, who heads Hamas in Jenin. Fayed was recently involved in several shooting attacks on Israeli forces and planned to carry out additional attacks. The Israel Defense Forces, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and police conducted the joint operation.

Israeli security forces arrested 18 wanted terrorism suspects during counterterror raids in Judea and Samaria on the evening of Feb. 12, according to the IDF. Soldiers operating in the Jenin refugee camp discovered tunnel shafts booby-trapped with explosives. Three wanted Palestinians were arrested during the operation, and troops seized illegal weapons.

In Qalqilya, a city on the West Bank where seven Palestinians were arrested, soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man who tried to run them over with a vehicle.

In the village of Silwad, near Ramallah, soldiers arrested two wanted men and confiscated thousands of dollars earmarked for terrorist activity.

Israeli forces thwarted an attempted vehicular assault in Gush Etzion. The driver, a Palestinian, tried to run over civilians at the Gush Etzion Junction, located south of Bethlehem about 10 miles from Jerusalem, the IDF said. Soldiers shot and killed the terrorist following a pursuit. A knife was found during a search of the terrorist’s vehicle. There were no other injuries in the attack.

The Israeli Defense Ministry approved the purchase of more than 200 armored vehicles for civilian security squads in parts of the country facing increased security risk, including Judea and Samaria, the Gaza envelope and the Lebanon border. The cost is estimated to be $41 million. The defense ministry said they are “intended to strengthen the resilience of the localities and the standby units” and provide a “quick response during a security incident.” Standby squads are made up of locals, usually former military, who train together and serve as first-response teams, holding down the fort until regular troops arrive.

5:25 am

Israel will bar Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the “occupied Palestinian territories,” from entering the Jewish state, including Judea and Samaria. Albanese blamed the slaughter of Jews by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 on Israeli “oppression,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel announced the decision on Feb. 12, following the U.N. envoy’s tweet on Feb. 10. “The time for Jewish silence is past. For the @UN to regain its credibility, its leadership @antonioguterres must unequivocally renounce the anti-Semitic statements made by their ‘Special Envoy’ @FranceskAlbs and remove her from her position immediately,” Katz tweeted on Feb. 12.

5:15 am

The Kremlin said today that it was ready to support any action leading to the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on US talks with Israel.

Anti-Israel protesters blocked entry to the Library of Trinity College Dublin, home to one of the most important manuscripts in the world, and temporarily closed down the building as they called for the Irish university to boycott the Jewish state. “Israel institutions are complicit in Palestinian genocide,” the group wrote on Instagram ahead of the protest. “Trinity will not cut ties. Demand better.” Protesters shouted "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," and "Trinity College, shame on you."

5:00 am

More than three-quarters of U.S. Jews report feeling less safe as Jews in the United States after Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel, according to the American Jewish Committee’s 2023 survey of antisemitism in America. The AJC began polling American Jews on Oct. 5, but after Oct. 7, the nonprofit opted to pause its questionnaire. It relaunched on Oct. 17, conducting surveys until Nov. 21. “The explosion of antisemitism since Oct. 7 demands that we take collective action now,” said Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee.

4:50 am

U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) accused Israel of committing war crimes during its ongoing offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. “Kids in Gaza are now dying from the deliberate withholding of food. In addition to the horror of that news, one other thing is true: That is a war crime. It is a textbook war crime. And that makes those who orchestrate it war criminals,” said Van Hollen on Feb 12. “So now the question is what will the United States do? What will we do? What will President [Joe] Biden do? President Biden must take action in response to what is happening,” he added.

4:30 am

Two people are being treated by medics following a rocket impact in Kiryat Shmona near Israel's border with Lebanon. The victims are in serious condition. Sirens had sounded in the northern city following a rocket attack from Lebanon.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell's call to limit military aid to Israel is playing into Hamas’s hands. “Israel adheres strictly to international laws of war, ensuring the safe movement of civilians in Gaza,” Katz wrote in a missive to Borrell. “In stark contrast, Hamas prevents their safe passage. Our commitment to the lives of Gazan civilians is greater than Hamas’s. Calls to limit Israel’s defense only strengthen Hamas. Rest assured, Israel is resolute in its mission to dismantle Hamas.”

A Palestinian driver who appeared to attempt to run over pedestrians in the West Bank has been shot and arrested by Israeli soldiers, the IDF reported. A knife was also found in the man’s car, and it describes the incident as a terror attack.

Russian forces are buying Starlink internet terminals, made by Elon Musk's corporation, in “Arab countries” for use on the battlefield, Ukraine’s military intelligence service claimed. According to Ukraine,an audio clip of two Russian soldiers discussing plans for such a purchase revealed the purchase.

Dozens of Hamas operatives have been killed by Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip over the past day, mostly in the Khan Younis area where much of the fighting is focused, the IDF says in a morning update.

The IDF says its 7th Armored Brigade killed more than 30 Hamas operatives in the western Khan Younis area in the last day, as troops “deepened” their “operational control” of the area. Also in western Khan Younis, the Paratroopers Brigade spotted and killed two Hamas operatives who tried to move under the guise of a group of civilians, according to the IDF. One of the gunmen aimed a handgun toward an IDF armored vehicle, and the paratroopers immediately opened fire. The IDF said the Border Defense Corps’ 414th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit spotted a number of Hamas operatives moving explosive devices on a motorcycle. The soldiers then called in an airstrike against the cell. The IDF says it also struck two weapons depots in the homes of Hamas terrorists in the Khan Younis area. In central Gaza, the Nahal Brigade killed around 10 Hamas operatives over the past day, including a cell spotted while preparing to carry out an anti-tank missile attack.

Australia promised new laws to prohibit “doxxing” — the malicious publication of private details online — after hundreds of Jewish Australians had personal information spread across the web. After details from a WhatsApp group of more than 600 Jewish-Australian academics, artists and others appeared online, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said it is time to act. Names, social media accounts and photos were spread quickly by opponents of the war in Gaza and pro-Palestinian activists. “The recent targeting of members of the Australian Jewish community through those practices like doxxing was shocking, but sadly, this is far from being an isolated incident,” Dreyfus said in a statement. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has asked for legislation to be brought forward as part of a broader reform of privacy laws. “The idea that in Australia someone should be targeted because of their religion… it’s just completely unacceptable,” he says.

China urged Israel to stop its military operation in the south Gazan city of Rafah “as soon as possible,” warning of a “serious humanitarian disaster” there if fighting doesn’t stop. “China… opposes and condemns actions that harm civilians and violate international law,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said, urging Israel to “stop its military operation as soon as possible, make every effort to avoid innocent civilian casualties… to prevent a more serious humanitarian disaster in the Rafah area.”

CIA Director William Burns is due in Egypt today for a new round of talks on a Qatari-mediated ceasefire that would temporarily halt fighting in exchange for Hamas freeing hostages. Negotiations have yet to produce a ceasefire, but Burns is expected in Egypt for more high-level negotiations. Burns was part of the team that released a proposed truce in Paris last month which has yet to make headway. Following pressure from the Biden administration, Israel will reportedly also be sending a delegation to Cairo, which includes Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar.

4:00 am

President Biden, after meeting with Jordanian King Abdullah, said the US is working hard on another pause in fighting in Gaza, in order to send humanitarian aid and supplies into the region and prompt Hamas to release its hostages. “The key elements of the deal are on the table,” Biden said, adding that “there are gaps that remain.”

Biden added his voice to other heads of state and the UN to call on Israel to drop plans for a military assault on the city of Rafah in the south of Gaza. Speaking at the White House on Feb. 12, he said: “A major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than 1 million people sheltering there."

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated soldiers for the rescue of two Israeli hostages in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have fled seeking shelter. Netanyahu described it as a “perfect operation”. The Israeli military launched airstrikes on nearby buildings to support the rescue, killing at least 67 Palestinians. Hamas later claimed that other Israeli hostages were also killed in the bombardment. Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har were held hostage in Gaza for 129 days said they were overjoyed at being reunited with their loved ones. The Israel Defense Forces said it rescued Marman, 60, and Har, 70, from a second-floor apartment in the southern city of Rafah while launching a heavy airstrikes in the area.

A spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the prime minister is “deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah”. British foreign secretary, David Cameron, said it was “impossible to see how you can fight a war among these people, there is nowhere for them to go … we are very concerned about the situation and we want Israel to stop and think seriously before it takes any further action.”

US senate appears on track to approve a long-awaited package of $95 billionin funding for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The senate voted 66-33 to sweep aside the last procedural hurdle before a vote on passage that could come on Wednesday. The bill  will now to the House of Representativs where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said it lacks border security provisions and  “silent on the most pressing issue facing our country”.

February 13, 2024

 

8:45 pm

King  Abdullah of Jordan said that the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel are "unacceptable" for any Muslim.

At least 74 civilians in Palestine were reportedly killed due to Israel’s airstrike in Rafah, according to Palestine TV. The death toll from the Rafah airstrikes increased from 67 reported earlier today. The figures have not been independently verified.

US officials said that Israel’s airstrike launched in Rafah doesn’t represent a full-scale offensive. The White House and the State Department both repeated that the US is in favor of an “extended humanitarian pause” in fighting in Gaza, but did not call for an official ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas.

The White House said today that Israel should protect the over 1 million civilians living in Rafah amid airstrikes. The White House is reiterating that Israel must have a credible plan to protect the people in Rafah before its planned invasion of the southern Gaza city.

The US said it would not be threatening to hold back funding or military assistance from Israel in light of Israel’s bombing of Rafah,said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller today. 

Hamas says three of eight Israeli hostages injured in Rafah airstrikes have died. A Hamas spokesperson said that they would postpone releasing the names of the deceased until “the fate of the remaining wounded becomes clear”.

France delivered a written proposal to Beirut aimed at ending hostilities with Israel and settling the disputed Lebanon-Israel frontier, according to a document seen by Reuters that calls for Hezbollah and other groups to withdraw 10 km (6 miles) from the border. It aims at ending fighting between the Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel at the border. The hostilities have run in parallel to the Gaza war and are fueling concern of escalation. Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne took the proposal to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati last week. It proposes a 10-day process of de-escalation ending with the border negotiations.

King Abdullah of Jordan stood beside President Biden at the White House and urged continued support for the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Last week, the Biden administration and a dozen other governments suspended the aid because of accusations that UNRWA personnel were cooperating with Hamas. Abdullah said, “No other UN agency can do what UNRWA is doing, helping the people of Gaza through this humanitarian catastrophe,” adding, “Its work in other areas of operation, especially in Jordan, where 2.3 million are registered is also vital." The Jordanian leader said, “It is imperative that UNRWA continues to receive the support it needs to carry out its mandate.” He also said, “Restrictions on vital relief aid and medical items are leading to inhumane conditions.” Recently, Israel has been criticized for supposedly hindering shipment by land of aid to Gaza. Israel says it approves all shipments, except for items that could pose a security risk.

Abdullah began his post-White House meeting remarks by asserting, “We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah. It is certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe.” 

Abdullah also spoke of the Palestinians who have been killed in armed clashes with Israeli security forces, and also the few who have lost their lives in altercations with Jewish Israelis living in the West Bank. “Continued escalations by extremist settlers in the West Bank and Jerusalem’s holy sites and the expansion of illegal settlements will unleash chaos on the entire region,” the Jordanian king warned. He claimed that “the vast majority of Muslim worshippers are not being allowed to enter Al Aqsa Mosque and that Christian churches have also voiced concerns about increasing and unprecedented restrictions and threats.” “It is also important to stress that the separation of the West Bank and Gaza cannot be accepted,” he says, calling for an end to Israel’s military control over those areas. “Military and security solutions are not the answer. They can never bring peace.” The Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem on the Temple Mount is considered a holy place by Muslims and is frequently a scene of clashes between Israeli security forces and Muslims. 

8:30 pm

A London theater in England issued an apology after a comedian it hosted allegedly harassed a Jewish audience member and ordered him to “leave my fucking show” when the spectator did not applaud a Palestinian flag. The theater is investigating into the Feb.10 show T“which has caused upset and hurt to members of audience attending and others.” Comedian Paul Currie placed Palestinian and Ukrainian flags onstage and called on the audience to stand and applaud. “When we all sat down again, [Currie] looked toward a young man sitting in the second row and said: ‘You didn’t stand, why? Didn’t you enjoy my show?’ a witness told the Campaign Against Antisemitism watchdog. The young man, an Israeli, replied: ‘I enjoyed your show until you brought out the Palestinian Authority flag.’” Currie responded, “Get out of my show. Get the f*ck out of here. F*ck off, get the f*ck out of here” as several other audience members cheered the comedian on and shouted, “Get out” and “Free Palestine” until the young man left. The witness, who was also Jewish, said, “It felt like we were welcome in the theatre as long as our identities [as] Jews weren’t known, and the minute our identities were known, we felt threatened.”

President  Biden met with Jordan’s King Abdullahat the White House today. Biden said that Oct. 7  “was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” Of the hostages still in Gaza, he said their families “don’t know how many are still alive.” Biden said that both the US and Israel want to defeat Hamas, adding that Hamas terrorists hid in tunnels beneath civilian buildings, “including schools, playgrounds and neighborhoods.” But he also said that Gazans  “have also suffered unimaginable pain and loss.” “Too many of the over 27,000 Palestinians killed in this conflict have been innocent civilians, including thousands of children,” Biden continues. “Hundreds of thousands have no access to food, water other basic services. Many families have lost not just one but many relatives and cannot mourn for them, Even bury them as it is not safe to do so. It’s heartbreaking.” Biden said he wants“to find the means to bring all the hostages home, to ease the humanitarian crisis, to end the terror threat and to bring peace to Gaza and Israel through a two-state solution.” He said the hostage deal framework he and Egyptian and Qatari mediators sought would see a humanitarian pause of at least six weeks, “which we could then [use] to build something more enduring.”

Biden said of Israel's plans for a military operation in Gaza in the vicinity of Rafah, near the Egyptian border: “A major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than 1 million people sheltering there...“Many people there have been displaced multiple times fleeing the violence to the north and now they are packed into Rafah, exposed and vulnerable. They need to be protected.” He said his administration has been working “day and night” on efforts to agree a six-week pause in the fighting as a means to reach a longer ceasefire. He said that “key elements of the deal are on the table” although gaps remained. King Abdullah said, “We cannot stand by and let this continue,” he said. “We need a lasting ceasefire now. This war must end.”

Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief,said Israeli P M Netanyahu “doesn’t listen to anyone”.Borrell responded to Netanyahu's statement that refugees in Rafah would be evacuated before the offensive, saying  “Where? To the moon? Where are they going to evacuate these people to?” Britiish Foreign Secretary David Cameron said: “It really, we think, is impossible to see how you can fight a war among these people, there is nowhere for them to go. “They can’t go south into Egypt, they can’t go north and back to their homes because many have been destroyed. So we are very concerned about the situation and we want Israel to stop and think seriously before it takes any further action.” A spokesperson for British PM Rishi Sunak said that he is “deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah”.

4:30 pm

Bulldozers are demolishing homes in Kibbutz Be'eri, where Hamas attacked on Oct. 7 and slaughtered whole families and abducted others. It is part of a two-year reconstruction plan. The reconstruction will cost at least $82 million and involves the total or partial demolition of at least 130 out of the 390 residential buildings in Kibbutz Be’eri, where Hamas terrorists murdered at least 97 civilians. 

Most of Be’eri’s survivors (about 900) live at a hotel in the Dead Sea. They are to move to Kibbutz Hatzerim in the Negev for the duration of the restoration works, which are expected to continue until 2025. 

A 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were shot and a pair of cars were torched in the latest reported incidents of settler violence in the northern West Bank. One incident occured in Asira al-Qibliya. Mayor Hafez Saleh said the perpetrators came from the Yhizhar settlement and began opening fire. The 20-year-old was shot in the stomach and the 16-year-old was hit in the hand. Both were taken to the hospital, but their conditions are not immediately known. TheIsraeli government has sanctioned settlers who have engaged in violence against Palestinians. 

Jordan’s King Abdullah arrived at the White House, together with his wife Queen Rania and son Crown Prince Hussein. The king is the first Muslim leaders to visit the White House since October 7, and the pair are slated to discuss the ongoing Gaza war.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US is “devastated” by the reports of a 6-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajab, killed in an Israeli strike last week. “We have asked the Israeli authorities to investigate this incident on an urgent basis. We understand that they are doing so, and we expect to see those results in a timely fashion. They should include accountability measures as appropriate,” Miller said. The IDF is investigating. 

On Feb. 11, President Biden told Israeli PM Netanyahu during their phone call that Netanyahu is allegedly failing to uphold commitments he made to scale up humanitarian aid for Gaza, according to Israeli media. This follows weeks of protests by Israelis at the Kerem Shalom border crossing that have blocked hundreds of trucks from passing in order to provide aid to Gazans. Netanyahu has insisted that Israel must supply the minimum amount of aid necessary in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis, which would force the IDF to halt its operations in Gaza. However, authorities have yet to put a complete end to the protests.

The Haaretz newspaper quoted a commander from the police’s elite Yamam unit that officers extracted two Israeli hostages by using ropes, pulling them from the building in Gaza were they were held by Hamas.  The men were shocked at first from the explosions used to breach the apartment where they were being held, but “recovered quickly.” “We came to rescue you. We came to take you home,” the commander recalls the rescuing troops as having told the two hostages, Norberto Louis Har and Fernando Simon Marman.

The US blasts UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinians Francesca Albanese after she denied French President Emmanuel Macron’s claim that Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught was the most significant antisemitic attack of the century and instead insisted that the victims were targeted “in response to Israel’s oppression.” “Francesca Albanese has a history of using antisemitic tropes. Her most recent statements justifying, dismissing and denying the antisemitic undertones of Hamas’s October 7 attack are unacceptable and antisemitic. We expect more of independent UN experts and condemn all forms of antisemitism,” US Ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council Michèle Taylor tweets. “We fully support the French Foreign Ministry’s condemnation of any attempt to dispute or justify the October 7 terrorist massacre, the largest antisemitic incident of the 21st century. We must stand together against antisemitism,” US Antisemitism Envoy Deborah Lipstadt said. 

Facing mounting criticism, Albanese clarified that she was not justifying Hamas’s “crimes, which I have strongly condemned several times. “I reject all racism, including antisemitism — a global threat. But explaining [Hamas’s] crimes as antisemitism obscures their true cause,” she said. She has refused to resign.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman blasted Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich after the latter called on Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu earlier today not to send an Israeli representative to Cairo for hostage talks with the “Nazi enemy.” “It is unfortunate and disgraceful that the Israeli finance minister, Smotrich, continues to make irresponsible and inflammatory statements, only reveal a hunger for killing and destruction and sabotage any attempt to contain the crisis in the Gaza Strip,” the spokesman says.

4:10 pm

US says Rafah strikes don't represent launch of full-scale offensive, even while the Biden administration has been consistent in repeating the US position as being in favor of an “extended humanitarian pause” in fighting in Gaza – but without calling for an official ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby welcomed Israel's liberation of two hostages held by Hamas in Rafah, but said there can be no end to the Gaza crisis until Hamas releases all hostages.

At least 74 civilians in Palestine were reportedly killed due to Israel’s airstrike in Rafah, according to Reuters and Palestinian TV. The figure was not independently verified.

The White House said today that Israel should protect the over 1 million civilians living in Rafah amid airstrikes from Israel. The White House is reiterating that Israel must have a credible plan to protect the people in Rafah before its planned invasion of the southern Gaza city.

The US said it would not threaten to curtail funding funding or military assistance from Israel in light of Israel’s bombing of Rafah, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

Hamas says three of eight Israeli hostages injured in Rafah airstrikes have died. A Hamas spokesperson said that they would postpone releasing the names of the deceased until “the fate of the remaining wounded becomes clear”.

France evacuated 42 people from Gaza today through the Rafah border crossing. These included French nationals and staff from the French cultural institute. “After a request from France, 42 people today left the Gaza Strip through the Rafa border crossing” which is located in Egypt, France’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

4:00 pm

Some time before Hamas terrorists invades Israel on Oct. 7, the head of Hamas Women’s Movement in Gaza said publicly: “The war against the Jews has nothing to do with borders and everything to do with religion” 

The IDF revealed that a Palestinian journalist, Mohamed Washan, working for Al Jazeera, is a Hamas officer, citing documents recovered by the military during operations in the Gaza Strip. “In the morning, he’s a journalist on the Al Jazeera channel, and in the evening, a terrorist in Hamas!” Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, tweeted on Feb. 11. 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said Cairo has no intention of severing its peace treaty with Israel despite several reports that it threatened to do so over Israel’s planned operation in Rafah, which Egypt fears may lead the million-plus residents sheltering there to flee south and cross the border. However, there are media reports that Egypt is moving its mobile radar units to its border with Gaza.

Accusing UNRWA - the UN agency for Palestine -  of collaborating with Hamas, Israeli Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf ordered the director general of the Israel Land Authority, Yaakov Quint, to evict the agency from any Israeli government land. In a letter, Goldknopf instructed Quint to “immediately halt” all agreements between the ILA and UNRWA “and remove them from the territories leased to them” by the government, including UNRWA offices in Maalot Dafna and Kafr ‘Aqab in Jerusalem.
 

10:38 am

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against the alarm that’s been raised by key allies, world leaders and aid agencies as Israel prepares for a ground invasion of Rafah in Gaza.

“Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying lose the war, keep Hamas there,” Netanyahu said during an interview airing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called on the US to reformulate its military aid to Israel due to civilian casulaties in the war in Gaza. Borrell recalled that President Biden said last week that Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas attack had been “over the top” and US officials had repeatedly said that too many civilians were being killed in Gaza. “Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed,” Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU development aid ministers in Brussels. “If the international community believes that this is a slaughter, that too many people are being killed, maybe we have to think about the provision of arms,” he added.

The UK Foreign Office announced new sanctions on “four extremist Israeli settlers who have committed human rights abuses against Palestinian communities in the West Bank.” Last week, the US also sanctioned several Israel settlers. 

An Israeli drone strike targeted a senior Hezbollah official in Bint Jbeil in Southern Lebanon. It was unclear whether Muhammad Abd al-Rasoul Alawiyah, the Iranian terrorist in charge of the Maroun al-Ras region, survived the targeted killing attempt, which slew several people. The IDF confirmed that a drone attacked a vehicle carrying Hezbollah operatives in the Maroun al-Ras area. The IDF also updated that terrorist infrastructure was destroyed in the areas of Al-Adisa and Al-Khyam and that two “military” buildings and a “military” site were attacked in the areas of Tir Harfa al Jabin and Maroun al-Ras.

8:15 am

Despite reports that the Egyptian government had told Israel that it would not Interfere in any ground operation into the Rafah and the Southern Gaza Strip, Egyptian officials are still publicly threatening to withdraw from the 1979 Camp David peace accord if Israel decides to invade southern Gaza. This would mean that Egypt may redeploy their armed forces to the border region, including Short-Range Ballistic Missiles into the Sinai Peninsula.

NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg warned on Feb. 11 that Donald Trump was putting the safety of U.S. troops and their allies at risk after the Republican presidential front-runner said Russia should be able to do "whatever the hell they want" to alliance members who don't meet their defense spending targets of 2 percent of GDP each. Poland is among the countries expressing concern. Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said “no election campaign is an excuse for playing with the security of the alliance.”

Israeli media is reporting significant casualties in Rafa in southern Gaza following Israeli artillery barrages and air strikes against buildings and two mosques. The latter the IDF claimed were used by the Hamas terrorist organization. 

7:55 am

President Biden reportedly called Israeli PM Netanyahu an "asshole" in private conversation. According to NBC, “five people directly familiar with his comments,” said Biden told campaign donors and others of his frustrations over his “inability to persuade Israel to change its military tactics in Gaza.” The anonymous sources called Netanyahu an “asshole” in at least three recent instances. “He just feels like this is enough,” one of the sources told NBC. “It has to stop.” Biden is reportedly frustrated that Netanayahu has rejected peace deals that are supposedly advantageous to Israel, such as normalization of diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia in exchange for a ceasefire and a pathway toward a Palestinian state. Biden reportedly also said he is trying to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire with Hamas, but Netanyahu is “giving him hell.” Biden has been pressurized by leftist Democrats and Muslim constituents over his policy toward Israel.

7:37 am

“The people in this room say that this resolution is about Gaza…but we know that’s not true. They’re trying to make life harder for Jews here in America. And they’re succeeding,” said 14-year-old Phoebe Wolf at a meeting of the Durham SC city council meeting on Nov. 8. She told the City Council how Jewish kids are scared to wear Jewish stars or kippahs, and are already seeing glimpses into Nazi Germany, 1939. “The goal of Hamas was not just to kill Israeli families but to make every Jew alive fearful and feel pain,” Phoebe says, demonstrating just how passing a ceasefire resolution would aid in both goals, and saying that she doesn't “know what’s scarier. Watching pure evil terrorize your people or seeing so much of the world support it."
 

7:30 am

Speaking to Israeli media on Feb. 11, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) responded to critics that he supports "genocide" in Gaza, he said: “It’s been incredibly easy to be on the right side, and I believe the right side is with Israel,...It’s my job as a senator to be on the right side on any issue. And after what happened, especially after October 7, there’s really only one clear right side and that’s with Israel.” 

7:15 am

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron affirmed that Israel should stop and think seriously before taking any further action in Rafah, following Israeli airstrikes in the southern Gaza city that is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians. Local health officials said 67 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in the airstrikes, under the cover of which Israel freed two hostages. According to Reuters, Cameron told reporters: "We think it is impossible to see how you can fight a war amongst these people. There's nowhere for them to go...We are very concerned about the situation and we want Israel to stop and think very seriously before it takes any further action. But above all, what we want is an immediate pause in the fighting and we want that pause to lead to a ceasefire."

7:00 am

Disagreements over the war against Hamas are driving President Biden towards a “breach” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he believes can no longer be “influenced even in private,” according to the Washington Post, citing Biden administration officials. Quoting “19 senior administration officials and outside advisers,” the WP said that Biden’s frustration with Netanyahu has led some White House aides to suggest that Biden should increase his public criticism of Israel's military operations in Gaza. The POLITICO website claimed last week that Biden is “deeply suspicious” of Netanyahu and said said privately that Netanyahu is a “bad f–ing guy.” 

Separately from WP, NBC reported on Feb. 11 that a senior Biden administration official described that “there is a growing divide between the U.S. and Israel” over the imminent IDF offensive in Rafah. Last week, Biden appeared to describe Israel's military response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel as “over the top,” adding that he was seeking a “sustained pause” in the war. “I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top,” Biden said at a presser. The White House later clarified his remarks were directed at Israel. Biden officials met with Muslim politicians in Detroit last week, seeking to mend fences. Muslim-Americans are incensed over what they see as Biden's favoritism for Israel, and have demanded a ceasefire and an end to US military aid to Israel.

Biden and Netanyahu spoke telephonically on Feb. 11 to discuss the release of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza and Israel’s upcoming ground operation in Rafah. According to the White House, Biden stressed “the need to capitalize on progress made in the negotiations to secure the release of all hostages as soon as possible.” It was the first time the two leaders had spoken since Biden described Jerusalem’s response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre as “over the top” late last week. Biden also “reaffirmed our shared goal to see Hamas defeated and to ensure the long-term security of Israel and its people,” according to the White House. In keeping with previous statements, Biden “called for urgent and specific steps to increase the throughput and consistency of humanitarian assistance to innocent Palestinian civilians” and reiterated his stance that the Israel Defense Forces should not take action in Rafah “without a credible and executable plan” to protect civilians there.

Israeli media cited an Israeli official as characterizing the chat as “good” and that discussions focused on the looming ground operation in the Hamas stronghold of Rafah, the issue of aid to Gaza and the ongoing hostage release negotiations.

6:40 am

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, called on the world to stop the advance of the Israeli ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, saying that “the US administration must not remain a hostage to Israeli policies.” On Feb. 11, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu told NBC that the military operation would go ahead “while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave.” Netanyahu did not say where the Gazans should go. Netanyahu’s statements are “pure nonsense” and “a deception to the world,” Abu Rudeineh said, “because there is no longer a safe place in the Gaza Strip, and civilians cannot return [to their homes] in the center and north of the Strip amid the ongoing bombing.” He added, “The region is at a crossroads, and the continuation of the war against the Palestinian people will lead to its regional expansion.”.

Before meeting with EU development ministers and the commissioner of the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), the head of the agency for Gaza Philippe Lazzarini said: "Even in the US, which is the strongest supporter of Israel, President Biden himself considers that this action is disproportionate.” “The toll of people being killed, civilians being killed is unbearable,” he said, adding that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has been supposedly “begging” Netanyahu “to stop killing people”. “If they launch an offensive against a highly populated area with more than 1.7 million people, they will crash against a wall, they cannot escape,” he said. Referring to Donald Trump's demand that NATO countries pay their fair share of NATO costs, Borrell said: “NATO is not an a la carte alliance that depends on the humor of the US president,” he said after Trump said he would “encourage” Russia to attack any of america's NATO allies whom he considers to have not met their financial obligations.

During a Feb. 10 rally in South Carolina, Trump complained about what he called "delinquent" payments by some NATO countries and recounted what he said was a past conversation with the head of "a big country" about an attack by Russia on such countries. "No, I would not protect you. In fact I would encourage them (Russia) to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay," Trump said he told the unnamed leader. His remarks prompted denunciations from the Biden administration, which called them "appalling and unhinged."  The failure of many of NATO's 31 members to meet a defense spending target of at least 2% of gross domestic product has long been a source of tension with the United States, whose armed forces form the core the alliance's military power. NATO estimates have shown that only 11 members are spending at the target level of 2% of GDP.

6:00 am

A joint IDF, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), and Israel Police operation in Rafah overnight rescued two Israeli hostages who had been abducted by Palestinian terrorists on Oct. 7. The names of the two former abductees are: Fernando Simon Marman (60) and Louis Har (70). Both were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak on October 7, together with Louis’ partner Clara Merman, his sister Gabriela Leimberg and her daughter Mia Leimberg, who were freed during the hostage release deal with Hamas in November. They are both in good medical condition, and were transferred for medical examination at the Sheba Tel Hashomer hospital. Sheba Hospital said, "This morning, two Israeli hostages who were freed by our forces from the Gaza Strip arrived at the Sheba Medical Center. After an initial medical examination, the condition of the two was determined to be good and they are now staying in a designated compound."

EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said he is “extraordinarily concerned” about Israeli PM Netanyahu’s plans to launch attacks on Rafah, a city in Gaza that lies near the enclave's border with Egypt. Borrell said: "I am happy to know that two hostages have been liberated but also very much worried by the situation in the border with Egypt where new military operations seem to be taking place by the Israeli defence forces. Netanyahu has been asking for the evacuation of 1.7 million people without saying where these people could be evacuated. The situation with Egypt is very tense and we are extraordinarily concerned about what can happen there."

Egypt has threatened to abrogate the Camp David Accords which brought peace between Israel and Egypt decades ago. Israeli defense officials are seeking to contact Egyptian counterparts to prevent an escalation while Egypt continues to strengthen its defenses along its shared border with Gaza. Egypt has said that it will not allow Gazans to flow into Egypt. 

Nebal Farsakh, speaking for the Palestine Red Crescent Society, told Al Jazeera: "Rafah already has nearly half of Gaza’s population. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, people have been fleeing to Rafah following Israeli evacuation orders. Families have already evacuated up to 10 times. The question is – where should people go? There is no safe place at all and there is no way to evacuate. On top of that, there is a complete destruction of the infrastructure, and the lack of transportation as well makes it impossible for people to make their way anywhere."

A Dutch appeals court has ordered the Dutch government to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel within seven days. “It is undeniable that there is a clear risk the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law,” the court said. The US-owned F-35 parts are stored at a warehouse in the Netherlands and then shipped to several partners, including Israel, via existing export agreements. “In doing so, the Netherlands is contributing to serious violations of humanitarian law of war in Gaza,” the rights groups, whose appeal was upheld by the court today. “The court orders the state to cease all actual export and transit of F-35 parts with final destination Israel within seven days after service of this judgment,” the ruling said.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that Israel would not pass up any opportunity to free more hostages from Gaza.

Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed 28,340 Palestinians and injured 67,984 since October 7, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry in Gaza. The number of casualties has not been verified by independent authorities. The ministry claimed that most of the casualties have been women and children, the ministry has said, and thousands more bodies are likely to remain uncounted under rubble across Gaza.

Germany has said the work of the UN agency for Palestinians (UNWRA’) in Gaza must continue in parallel with the investigation into allegations that several workers were involved in Hamas’s October terrorist attacks on Israel. Germany’s development minister, Jochen Flasbarth, said the agency had paused additional new finance for UNWRA until the investigation into the allegations is concluded. He added: "This is not a payment stop and it does not include UNRWA outside the Gaza Strip. We believe that the UN has taken the right steps, but I also say that UNRWA’s work is not replaceable in the Gaza Strip. Many people are dying, but human aid is indispensable and we need UNRWA for that." Several other countries, including the US, UK, and Japan have suspended payments to UNRWA, which has received billions of dollars in aid over several decades.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said only 15 out of 36 hospitals in Gaza were “still partially or minimally functioning” and that aid workers were doing their best in impossible circumstances. Speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai, he said the WHO, the UN’s health agency, continued to call for safe access for humanitarian personnel and supplies, for Hamas to release hostages, and for a ceasefire. “I am especially concerned by the recent attacks on Rafah where the majority of Gaza’s population has fled the destruction,” he said. “So far, we have delivered 447 metric tonnes of medical supplies to Gaza, but it’s a drop in the ocean of need, which continues to grow every day.”

British foreign secretary David Cameron was told by more than two dozen non-government organizations that the UK government has a duty not just to support the orders of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that required Israel to ceasefire in Gaza, but to change UK policy by suspending the supply of arms to Israel. In a letter, sent last week, the groups argue the government as a signatory to the Genocide Convention, “is bound to ensure it helps prevent and ensure it is not complicit in violations of the convention. The provisional measures issued by the ICJ therefore have immediate and urgent implications for UK policy.”

Hospital officials in Rafah say at least 50 people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes that accompanied a hostage rescue operation, according to the Associated Press. Dr Marwan al-Hams, director of the Abu Youssef al-Najjar hospital, said that the dead included women and children. An Associated Press journalist also counted the bodies brought to hospital.

The bombing in Rafah caused widespread panic in the city as people were asleep when they started, according to residents contacted by Reuters. Some feared Israel had begun its ground offensive into Rafah. Israeli planes, tanks and ships took part in the strikes, with two mosques and several houses hit, according to residents.

Hamas said in a statement that Israel's strikes are a continuation of its ‘genocidal war’ and the forced displacement attempts Israel has waged against the Palestinian people.

President Biden is hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Washington today. The two leaders are expected to discuss the ongoing effort to free hostages held in Gaza, and growing concern over a possible Israeli military operation in the port city of Rafah. 

New Zealand has urged Israel to rethink a planned offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. This afernoon, New Zealand’s prime minister, Chris Luxon, said: “Palestinian civilians cannot pay the price of Israel trying to defeat Hamas … There are 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah at the moment. We are extremely concerned about that.”

A vessel came under a missile attack off Yemen’s southern coast today while transiting the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, security agencies said. 

February 12, 2024

President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone today and had a "pretty detailed back-and-forth" chat about Israel's pending military operation in the Gaza city of Rafah. There is also a potential hostage deal with Hamas making "significant progress," a senior Biden administration official told reporters. A White House official said that Israel has made a "clear precondition" for any military operations in the southern Gaza city that "the population would have to move, would have to be moved safely and everything else." But the senior official said it's "a huge question" how that can be accomplished. Rafah is estimated to now be sheltering some 1.4 million Palestinians.

Netanyahu, insisted today on ABC's "This Week" that while Israeli forces fight with Hamas in Rafah, civilians would be able to flee back to the north, where much of the infrastructure has already been destroyed in the war, sparked by Hamas' Oct. 7 terror attack. "They're living in tents. Where are these people supposed to go?" co-anchor Jonathan Karl asked.

"The areas that we've cleared north of Rafah, plenty of areas there. But we are working out a detailed plan to do so. And that's what we've done up to now. We're not, we're not cavalier about this, this is part of our war effort to get civilians out of harm's way," said Netanyahu despite President Biden's recent criticisms of Israeli military tactics, saying Israel has been  "over the top."

"I don't know exactly what he [Biden] meant by that, but put yourself in Israel's shoes. We were attacked. Unprovoked attack, murderous attack on Oct. 7," Netanyahu said on "This Week," adding, "I think we've responded in a way that goes after the terrorists and tries to minimize the civilian population in which the terrorists embed themselves and use them as human shields." The senior administration official said today Biden's "over the top" comment was "not specifically addressed" in the two leaders' call. The official said that Biden instead reiterated he wants to see Hamas defeated while it "must be done while ensuring that operations are targeted, conducted in a way that ensures innocents are protected to the extent possible."

An Arab terrorist attempted to stab a member of Israeli security forces in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Police successfully shot and killed the terrorist, while one of the officers is allegedly lightly wounded after he was struck by bullet shrapnel.

Israel should not conduct a military operation in the densely populated Gaza border town of Rafah without a “credible and executable” plan to protect civilians, President Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today, the White House said. Biden, who last week called Israel’s military response in Gaza “over the top,” also called for “urgent and specific” steps to strengthen humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the region.

Iran marked today  the 45th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid tensions gripping the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Iranians marched through major streets and squares decorated with flags, balloons and banners with revolutionary and religious slogans.

The Israeli government bought Super Bowl ad placements calling for the release of Israeli fathers held hostage by Hamas in Gaza.  Before the Super Bowl began, it had been viewed at least 10 million times. The cost to air a 30-second ad during Super Bowl LVIII 2024:  $7-million.

The IDF says the Givati Brigade has "deepened" the damage caused to Hamas's western Khan Younis Battalion, and has strengthened its "operational control" in the area in southern Gaza. Over the past two weeks, the IDF says Givati troops killed some 100 Hamas operatives in close-quarters fighting, tank shelling, sniper fire, and by calling in airstrikes. Footage released by the IDF shows one of the airstrikes against three Hamas operatives who were spotted by Givati troops carrying a large explosive device on a motorcycle.

The IDF says it carried out strikes against several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon today. Sites hit by fighter jets in Marwahin included a rocket launching position and other infrastructure used by the terror group, the IDF says. In Ramyah, Yaroun, and Chihine, the IDF says it hit an observation post, a building, and additional Hezbollah infrastructure. The IDF says it also opened fire at a suspect spotted in the Kafr Kila area in south Lebanon.

Speaking to Fox News today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he hadn’t spoken to  President Joe Biden since he “described our military response as exaggerated.” On Feb. 8, Biden said Israel’s Gaza campaign is “over the top.” They spoke later today. .

Two residents of the majority Arab Muslim town of Ein Mahil in northern Israel near Nazareth were accused of sending intelligence to the Hamas terrorist organization, according to a joint statement by the Israel Security Agency and Israel Police. 

Egypt is threatening to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if Israeli troops are sent into the densely populated Gaza border town of Rafah, and says fighting there could force the closure of the besieged territory's main aid supply route, two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said today. The threat to suspend the Camp David Accords, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century, came after Israeli PM Netanyahu said sending troops into Rafah was necessary to win the four-month war against the Palestinian group Hamas. Egypt has warned Hamas that it must agree to a hostages-for-ceasefire deal with Jerusalem within two weeks to avert an Israel Defense Forces operation in the terror group’s last stronghold in the Gaza Strip, the southernmost city of Rafah, The Wall Street Journal reported today. This week, Israel will reportedly dispatch to Cairo negotiators to discuss a new hostage deal with U.S., Egyptian and Qatari officials.

Today, Israel's finance minister slammed the decision by financial ratings agency Moody’s to downgrade Israel’s credit rating, saying the announcement is a “political manifesto” that “did not include serious economic claims.” Moody’s dropped the rating on Israel’s debt on Friday, warning that the ongoing war in Gaza and a possible war in the north with Hezbollah could adversely affect Israel’s economy.

Israeli PM Netanyahu suggested on ABC that “enough” of the 130 or so remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza are alive to justify Israel’s ongoing war in the region. Asked how many of the hostages are still alive, Netanyahu said “enough to warrant the kind of efforts that we’re doing”. “We’re going to try to do our best to get all those who are alive back and, frankly, also the bodies of the dead.”

The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, said he was “deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah - over half of Gaza’s population are sheltering in the area”.

The US military said it struck more devices and missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.

Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip over the past 96 hours have killed two Israeli hostages and seriously injured eight others, Hamas’ armed-wing Al Qassam Brigades said over the group’s Telegram channel.
Any Israeli ground offensive in Rafah on the Gaza border will “blow up” the hostage exchange negotiations, Hamas-run Aqsa television channel quoted a senior Hamas leader as saying.

Israeli forces have discovered a tunnel network hundreds of metres long and running partly under the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine’s (UNRWA) Gaza headquarters, the Israeli military said Feb. 9, calling it new evidence of Hamas exploitation of the main relief agency for Palestinians.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said Israeli forces have prevented oxygen from reaching the al-Amal hospital for over a week, resulting in the deaths of three patients. The PRCS said Israel has also not provided medical equipment, and continues to block the delivery of fuel for the hospital’s electricity generators, despite the fuel supply running out in two days, risking a shutdown. However, the IDF displayed bottles of oxygen it had delivered to the facility.

A total of 28,176 Palestinians have been killed and 67,784 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Sunday. An estimated 112 Palestinians were killed and 173 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry added.

 

February 11, 2024

7:25 pm

Various Defense Department officials affirm that the Biden administration is preparing for a partial or total withdrawal of U.S. and allied forces from eastern Syria and Iraq due to continued attacks and escalations traced to Iranian-backed groups such as Kata'ib Hezbollah, while it seeks to get U.S. military personnel out of harms wa before a regional conflict transpires. A full withdrawal would take up to 90 days to c9omplete, but it would depend on its size, scope, and urgency.

Israel continues to increase its already high alert status along its northern border with Lebanon because of its strike on Iranian Republican Guard units in Lebanon. 

Iran is recruiting British Muslims to spy on Jews and dissidents opposed to the Islamic regime in Iran. These agents would conduct surveillance and carry out terrorist attacks on British soil.

7:00 pm

Today, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) denied any knowledge of a Hamas data center found by Israeli troops underneath its Gaza headquarters, with the Israeli military and Foreign Minister Israel Katz immediately casting doubt on the claim by UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini. Katz has called for Lazzarini's resignation and has called out UN chief Antonio Guterres. 

Lazzarini claimed that UNRWA “did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza” and that the reports “merit an independent inquiry that is currently not possible to undertake given Gaza is an active war zone.” He said Israel has “not informed UNRWA officially about the alleged tunnel.” An Israeli official responded on Twitter to Lazzarini: "You knew."

The subterranean data center was seen by Israeli media. The center had an electricity room, industrial battery power banks, and living quarters for alleged Hamas terrorists operating the computer servers. That Hamas was running a data center under UNRWA’s nose has added to growing concerns over the level of Hamas infiltration in the agency, which is already probing claims that at least a dozen staffers took part in Hamas’s October 7 massacre across southern Israel.

Israeli has long argued that UNRWA should be disbanded, and the recent allegations have led several donor countries (including the US and UK) to announce funding freezes, leading to concerns that aid for millions in Gaza could be jeapordized and that UNRWA would cease opertions in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East. 

Regarding UNRWA commissioner-general Lazzarini's denials, Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) tweeted 
“Oh, you knew," after the UN agency chief pleaded ignorance. Lazzarini said UN staff  left the Gaza headquarters on October 12, as Israel’s military campaign in Gaza began ramping up after Hamas’s killing spree in southern Israel on Oct. 7. “We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there,” he claimed. COGAT tweeted that UN officials had been informed of the terror group utilizing the Gaza City headquarters and that the data center had been there before the agency’s staff decamped for elsewhere. “Digging a tunnel takes longer than 4 months. We invited senior UN officials to see, and during past meetings with you and other UN officials, we stated Hamas’s use of UNRWA’s headquarters,” it tweeted.

The Israeli foreign minister dismissed Lazzarini’s claim that he was unaware of the Hamas facility’s presence as “not only absurd but also an affront to common sense” and reiterated calls for Lazzerini to step down. “His prompt resignation is imperative,” foreing minister Israel Katz tweted. He said the discovery showed UNRWA’s “deep involvement” with Hamas. “The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas’s military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip,” they added in a statement. “Electrical infrastructure” in the tunnel — 700 meters (765 yards) long and 18 meters underground — “connected” to the agency’s HQ, “indicating that UNRWA’s facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity,” they said.

Lazzarini said UNRWA “is a human development and humanitarian organization that does not have the military and security expertise nor the capacity to undertake military inspections of what is or might be under its premises.” He said any previous “suspicious” activity was promptly dealt with and “consistently reported in annual reports presented to the General Assembly and made public.” COGAT tweeted that UN officials had been informed of the terror group utilizing the Gaza City headquarters and that the data center had been there before the agency’s staff decamped for elsewhere. “Digging a tunnel takes longer than 4 months. We invited senior UN officials to see, and during past meetings with you and other UN officials, we stated Hamas’s use of UNRWA’s headquarters,” it tweeted. “You chose to ignore the facts so you can later try and deny them,” it added.

Hamas has previously denied Israeli claims that it  dug an extensive network of tunnels under schools, hospitals, and other civilian infrastructure as cover for terror activities. Israel’s army and the Shin Bet security agency said the data center was uncovered after military operations in Gaza City in recent weeks led to the discovery of a “tunnel shaft” near a school run by the humanitarian agency. “The shaft led to an underground terror tunnel that served as a significant asset of Hamas’s military intelligence and passed under the building that serves as UNRWA’s main headquarters in the Gaza Strip,” they added in a statement. “Electrical infrastructure” in the tunnel — 700 meters (765 yards) long and 18 meters underground — “connected” to the agency’s HQ, “indicating that UNRWA’s facilities supplied the tunnel with electricity,” they said.

Documents and a stash of weapons in the UN compound itself “confirmed that the offices had in fact also been used by Hamas terrorists,” the joint statement said. The UN has launched two separate investigations into UNRWA, the first into Israeli claims that 12 of its staff may have participated on October 7, and the other a review of its overall political neutrality.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has spoken out in defense of the agency, calling it the “backbone” of Gaza aid.

Despite the US freezing funding, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said UNRWA plays an “absolutely indispensable role in trying to make sure that men, women, and children who so desperately need assistance in Gaza actually get it.”

Israel’s ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan says on X that UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini “refused” an Israeli request to search UNRWA facilities in Gaza after passing evidence showing the Hamas terror group had been using the facilities, accusing him of trying to avoid hearing about such allegations. Saying that the UN had buried its head in the sand about Hamas encrouchments, Erdan called on Lazzarini to resign. 

The IDF says it recently facilitated the delivery of more than 20 oxygen tanks and other medical equipment to Al-Amal Hospital in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis. According to the IDF, the hospital has been used by Hamas operatives as an “operational hideout.”

It says that due to Hamas’s use of the hospital, and intense fighting in the area, troops carried out the delivery in coordination with an unnamed international aid organization and local officials.

6:30 pm

A food shipment for 1.1 million Palestinians is stuck at an Israeli port due to recent restrictions from Israeli authorities, says the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as an estimated 25% of families in Gaza face catastrophic hunger. UNRWA’s director Philippe Lazzarini, said on Feb. 9 that a convoy of food donated by Turkey had been sitting for weeks in the Israeli port city of Ashdod. The agency said that the Israeli contractor they work with received a call from Israeli customs authorities “ordering them not to process any UNRWA goods”.

The World Food Program warned on Feb. 9 that Gaza could be plunged into famine as early as May.

Israel’s plans for a military offensive on Rafah in the Gaza Strip are “alarming”, the EU’s foreign policy chief has said. Josep Borell said that “reports of an Israeli military offensive on Rafah are alarming”.

Children are going without food for days and some people are resorting to grinding animal feed into flour to survive, reported the BBC, which described that Gazans digging down into the soil to access water pipes, for drinking and washing. International charity ActionAid has said that food is becoming so scarce in Gaza that people are resorting to eating grass. “Every single person in Gaza is now hungry,” the charity said, while the UN’s Office for Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) said on Feb. 9 that almost one in 10 of Gazan children under five are now acutely malnourished.

Airstrikes on the Gaza Strip’s southernmost town of Rafah have killed at least 28 people. Each strike killed multiple members of three families, including 10 children, the youngest just three months old, said Associated Press.

An Egyptian official told the Guardian that under no circumstances would fleeing Palestinians be allowed to cross the border into the Sinai peninsula, and any attempt to relocate them to Egyptian soil would collapse the peace deal between Egypt and Israel. Other countries in the region have ejected Palestinians in the past.

The population of Rafah has swelled to more than 1.5 million people – roughly three-quarters of Gaza’s population – as people flee fighting elsewhere in Gaza.

Israeli troops found a data center directly underneath the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The US, UK, and other countries suspended aid to the agency after Israel presented evidence that UNRWA employees participated in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas.

Israel has not conceded to a ruling made by the UN international court of justice two weeks ago requiring it to take immediate steps to protect Palestinians’ rights and cease all activities that could constitute genocide, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied territories, Francesca Albanese said.

Today, Hamas claimed that there could be “tens of thousands” of dead and injured if the Israeli military attacked Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip. In a statement Hamas said that any military action would have catastrophic repercussion. AFP said witnesses reported new strikes on Rafah early today, raising fears among Palestinians of a looming ground invasion.

“People in hospitals should always feel safe” said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic as he journalists in Geneva on Feb. 9 that more than 350 attacks have taken place against healthcare in Gaza since hostilities erupted. A total of 645 people have died since 7 October and another 818 were injured as a result of these incidents said Jasarevic, with his comments coming amid allegations that a nurse was shot and critically injured while inside an operating theatre at a hospital in Khan Younis.

A senior Hamas official survived a strike in Lebanon by Israel. Reuters reported hat the person targeted was close to Saleh al-Arouri, the Hamas deputy chief killed last month in a suspected Israeli strike on a suburb of Beirut. Sources said a Hezbollah member and two civilians were killed by the strike in the coastal town of Jadra, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Lebanese border.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry claimed today that at least 117 people were killed in overnight bombardment, including more than 20 in strikes in Rafah. It also said 152 were injured in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that three children were killed in a strike in Rafah. The PCRS also said that Israeli forces raided al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s biggest city, on Friday after a weeks-long siege during which the PRCS reported “intense artillery shelling and heavy gunfire”.

The PRCS accused Israeli forces of the ‘deliberate targeting’ of a PRCS ambulance that resulted in the death of two of its medics, Yusuf Al-Zeino and Ahmed Al-Madhoun.

The Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said neither Iran nor Lebanon had sought to expand hostilities in the region. “Iran and Lebanon confirm that war is not the solution, and that we absolutely never sought to expand it,” he told a press conference alongside his Lebanese counterpart in Beirut on Saturday. Amir-Abdollahian has held meetings in Lebanon with Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati, regional groups, including Hezbollah and various Palestinian groups.

“Israel’s declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. “There is no place that is safe in Gaza and no way for people to leave.”

Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s foreign minister said “the people of Gaza cannot disappear into thin air”, as she warned that an Israeli offensive on Rafah would be “a humanitarian catastrophe”.

Israel’s army has deployed artificial intelligence-enabled military technology in combat for the first time in Gaza, raising fears about the use of autonomous weapons in modern warfare.

Hezbollah said today it had seized an Israeli Skylark drone over Lebanese airspace “in good condition”. The Skylark is a small, unmanned aerial vehicle typically used for surveillance and produced by Israel-based weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems.

Yemen’s Houthi militia held a funeral today for at least 17 militants killed during joint US-UK airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed militants.
At least 364 attacks on healthcare have happened in the occupied West Bank since 7 October, resulting in 10 fatalities and 62 injuries, said WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic on Friday. He noted that 44 health facilities had been affected, including 15 mobile clinics and 24 ambulances.

The Saudi foreign ministry cautioned against the “extremely dangerous repercussions” of Israel “storming and targeting” the city of Rafah. It said “this continued violation of international law and international humanitarian law” confirmed the necessity of convening the UN security council urgently “to prevent Israel from causing an imminent humanitarian catastrophe”.

Israeli occupation forces continued their siege of the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis for the 20th day and reached its northern gate, reports Al Jazeera. “The occupation forces have been besieging us for 20 days and we are suffering from a shortage of food and drink,” Nahidh Abu Tamiyya, the head of the surgical department told an Al Jazeera correspondent. The IDF has engaged in house-to-house combat with 30,000 Hamas terrorists since it invaded Gaza early in October.

Two Palestinians have been killed by an Israeli sniper – one in front of the Nasser medical complex reception gate, and the other in the emergency department, according to Wafa news agency. It said that medical teams cannot move between the complex’s buildings due to the snipers, and that the lives of 300 health personnel, 450 patients and wounded, and 10,000 displaced people inside the Nasser medical complex are threatened.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini said he followed “reverse due process” in sacking nine staff members accused by Israel of being involved in Hamas’s October attacks. Lazzarini said he did not probe Israel’s claims against the employees before dismissing them and launching an investigation.

Three people were killed in on Israeli airstrikes that targeted a building in an upmarket area near Damascus early today, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the SOHR said three people were killed in the airstrikes but could not immediately confirm whether the dead were fighters. He added that many other people were injured in the strikes on a neighbourhood hosting “villas for top military and officials.”

Iran’s football federation said today it had asked world football’s governing body, Fifa, to suspend Israel’s football federation over the country’s war in Gaza.

 

11:47 am

CIA director Bill Burns is expected to travel to Cairo on Feb. 13 to meet with Egyptian officials about  negotiations over a new deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, according to US media reports. Burns has been President Biden's lead in point person in the efforts to secure a hostage deal and a pause in fighting. Sending him to Cairo puts pressure on Qatari and Egyptian mediators to press Hamas to agree to a deal. The White House has acknowledged that a hostage deal is the only way to get a ceasefire in Gaza. Biden said in televised remarks on Feb 8 that he is pushing hard for a deal.
 

The White House clarified on Feb. 9 that President Biden was indeed referring to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas terrorists when he described the conduct of the response in Gaza as “over the top” on Feb. 8. “He was obviously talking about Israel’s conduct in Gaza,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said when asked about the matter during a press briefing.

Among the Muslim political leaders who met with senior Biden administration officials in Michigan on Feb. 8 was Michigan House Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash, the state’s highest-ranking Arab and Muslim leader. The Muslim politicians demanded a ceasefire in Gaza, restrictions on military aid to Israel, and recommitting humanitarian aid to Palestinians.According to DemocracyNow!: “Now the question is: Are they going to heed the call of their constituents and do something that a majority of Americans and Democrats support in demanding for a ceasefire and an end to the violence?” demanded Aiyash. The Democrat has signed on to the “Listen to Michigan” campaign and pledged to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s presidential primary on February 27. “We’re focused on ending a war and stopping the military funding that supports genocide,” says Layla Elabed, Palestinian American community organizer who is spearheading the “Listen to Michigan” campaign. “Until that happens, we cannot trust Biden and we cannot commit our votes to him.”

11:30 am

Israeli jets carried out further airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon earlier today. The targets were three command centers in Naqoura and Ayta ash-Shab, among others, where terrorists were gathered, and two other sites in Khiam and Marwahin, according to the IDF. The IDF also reported three projectiles were fired from Lebanon toward the northern community of Shlomi, landing in open areas. IDF artillery responded with shelling. 

Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says neither Iran nor Lebanon had sought to expand hostilities in the region, four months after Hamas’s October 7 shock attack on Israel set off flare-ups across the Middle East. “Iran and Lebanon confirm that war is not the solution, and that we absolutely never sought to expand it,” Amir-Abdollahian said at a press conference in Beirut as his Lebanese counterpart stood by. In addition to Hamas, Iran backs Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, terror groups that have continued to attack Israel as it wages a war against Hamas. Iran also backs armed Shia groups in Iraq that have attacked US forces in the region.

Egypt warned Israel again that any mass displacement of Palestinians into its territory would put the countries’ decades-long peace agreement and close security ties at risk.

Israel has been preparing for a massive push into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza, where there are one million+ displaced Palestinians. According to the Wall Street Journal, that when Israel informed Egypt of its expansion of the ground operation into Rafah, Egyptian officials again warned them that if any Gazans were pushed into the Sinai Peninsula, “a decades-long peace treaty between the two countries would be suspended,” according to the report. “There is limited space and great risk in putting Rafah under further military escalation due to the growing number of Palestinians there,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said today during a press conference. He warned that an escalation would have “dire consequences.” Egypt has repeatedly said it will not allow an influx of Palestinians into its territory, previously warning such a scenario would “rupture” Israeli-Egyptian ties. Palestinians have been repeatedly ejected in the past from various nations in the region, including Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan.

 

Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon claimed to have seized an Israeli Skylark surveillance drone over Lebanese air space “in good condition.” The Skylark is a small, unmanned aerial vehicle produced by Israel-based weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. A senior Hamas member allegedly targeted in an alleged Israeli airstrike earlier today in Lebanon survived the attack.

An Israeli strike on a vehicle in the village of Jadra, some 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Israeli border, allegedly targeted Basel Salah, a Hamas operative charged with recruiting and managing members of the terror group, including in the West Bank. Salah is believed to have been wounded in the strike. Salah's unit was headed by Azzam Al-Aqraa, who was killed in the alleged Israeli strike on Beirut last month, also killing the terror group’s deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri. Salah allegedly was involved in recruiting Hamas members for years, even amid the war in Gaza. It would potentially mark the deepest Israeli strike in Lebanon since hostilities ramped up after Hamas’s October 7 attack.

Saudi Arabia warned Israel against launching a military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the last Hamas stronghold in the Strip, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says the Palestinian death toll in Gaza since the start of the war has reached 28,064. That figure has not been independently verified. The casualties  include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires. The IDF says it has killed over 10,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

IDF fighter jets carried out strikes against a building used by Hezbollah in south Lebanon’s Bint Jbeil and an observation post in Markaba. Overjnight, the IDF also struck a Hezbollah command center and another site used by the terror group’s air defense unit.

Hamas warned that Israeli offensive into Rafah will cause ‘tens of thousands’ of casualties; AP says 31 killed there early today. Israeli PM Netanyahu this week ordered troops to prepare to go into Rafah, which lies on Gaza's border with Egypt and is crowded with displaced Palestinians. The IDF is engaged in house-to-house combat as it hunts down those responsible for the deadly October 7 attacks on southern Israel. Hamas claimed any military action would have catastrophic repercussions that “may lead to tens of thousands of martyrs and injured if Rafah… is invaded.” Hamas holds “the American administration, international community and the Israeli occupation” responsible if that should happen.

Iran asked the international soccer association, FIFA, to “completely suspend” the Israeli soccer federation “from all activities related to football.” The request also asks for “immediate and serious measures” by FIFA and its member associations “to prevent the continuation” of the Israeli “crimes and provide food, drinking water, medicinal and medical supplies to innocent people and civilians.”

Israeli political opposition leader Yair Lapid says the decision by US ratings agency Moody’s to downgrade Israel’s credit rating shows the Israeli government does not function. A frequent critic of PM Netanayahu, Lapid tweeted, “The lowering of Israel’s credit rating is further proof that this government is not functioning and harming the public.” Lapid wrote: “For over a year now, this government has abandoned growth in the economy, bringing in a wasteful and irresponsible budget, and even during a war, there is no one among the 38 ministers who work for the Israeli economy.” Lapid wrote: "“The ‘with God’s help’ and ‘there is money for everything’ economy has failed.”  “Israel needs a new government that functions.”

The Hezbollah terror group announces that its leader Hassan Nasrallah has met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. The two discussed developments in Gaza, the situation in southern Lebanon — where Hezbollah trades fire on a daily basis with Israel across the border — and other fronts on the “axis of resistance.” Iran is the main backer of Hezbollah and several other terror groups in the region, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. Amir-Abdollahian also met with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in Beirut.

The IDF says intensive fighting between troops and Hamas operatives continues in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, as well as in Gaza's center and north. The Israeli Air Force carried out strikes on various Hamas targets across the Strip. In central Gaza, the IDF says the Nahal Brigade killed several Hamas operatives and captured others over the past day. In western Khan Younis, the Commando Brigade raided several Hamas sites, capturing weapons and military equipment, the IDF says. The Paratroopers Brigade and 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade killed several Hamas gunmen and seized weapons.

On Feb. 7, Secretary of State Antony Blinken appeared to rebuke Israel when he said it does not have “a license to dehumanize others.” “Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7, ”said Blinken in prepared remarks at a Tel Aviv press conference. “The hostages have been dehumanized every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others.”  The Biden administration has shown its dissatisfaction with Israel over civilian casualties in Gaza, but Blinken's remarks wre the harshest yet. “The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks of October 7,” Blinken said. “The families in Gaza whose survival depends on deliveries of aid from Israel are just like our families. They’re mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who want to earn a decent living, send their kids to school, have a normal life. That’s who they are. That’s what they want."

The New York Times reported that top Biden administration foreign policy aides met with Muslim political leaders in the suburbs of Detroit, where there is a sizeable community of Muslims and Arabs who were essential to President Biden's election in 2020. According to NYT:

 "In meeting with Arab American leaders in Michigan this week, one of President Biden’s top foreign policy aides acknowledged mistakes in the administration’s response to the war in Gaza, saying he did not have “any confidence” that Israel’s government was willing to take “meaningful steps” toward Palestinian statehood.

The remarks came after months of public and private admonitions from the Biden administration for Israel to take a more surgical approach in a conflict that has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to health authorities in Gaza. On Thursday [Feb 8], Mr. Biden himself declared that Israel had gone “over the top” in its response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.

The Biden aide, Jon Finer, a deputy national security adviser, offered some of the administration’s clearest expressions of regret for what he called “missteps” it had made from the beginning of the violence, and he pledged that it would do better.

During the meeting on Thursday with Arab American political leaders in Dearborn, Mich., Mr. Finer said, “We are very well aware that we have missteps in the course of responding to this crisis since Oct. 7,” according to a recording of the gathering obtained by The New York Times. A National Security Council official confirmed the recording was authentic."

 

February 10, 2024

 

4:10 pm

Amnesty International’s secretary general Agnes Callamard said that civilians in Gaza are at “grave risk of genocide” in response to Israel ordering people in Rafah to evacuate ahead of an expected invasion. Regarding reported Israeli plans to evacuate Gazan civilians, she said: "Evacuation?? BUT WHERE? There is nowhere to go to.” Callamard said “[Amnesty] is reiterating that Palestinians in Gaza are at grave risk of genocide. The international community has an obligation to act to prevent genocide,” she said.

The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that he holds Israel and the US responsible for the effects of an expected invasion of Gaza by Israel, which has been engaged in constant house to house combat in the enclave since October. Abbas said that Israel aims to push Palestinians from Gaza, and also Israel’s actions threaten peace and security in the region.

Undercover Israeli killings in West Bank hospital ‘may be war crimes’, said UN experts today. The killing of three Palestinians associated with Hamas in a hospital in the  West Bank in January by Israeli commandos disguised as medical workers and Muslim women may meet the threshold for war crimes.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today that a ‘massive operation’ is needed in Rafah, southern Gaza, while he asked Israeli security officials to present an evacuation plan for the area. Also today, Netanyahu ordered Israel’s military to prepare for evacuating Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of an expected invasion. Israeli military forces are also reinforcing the country's border with Lebanon.

Several employees were fired from the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) as apart of “reverse due process” after being accused of taking part in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, said UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini. Lazzarini sacked nine UNRWA employees in light of the acccusations, which are now being investigated. The employees were accused of involvement in the terrorist attacks. Lazzarini was asked if he had looked into whether there was any evidence against the employees and he replied: “No, the investigation is going on now.” He said the decision to sack the employees utilized “reverse due process”, adding: “I could have suspended them, but I have fired them. And now I have an investigation, and if the investigation tells us that this was wrong, in that case at the UN we will take a decision on how to properly compensate [them].”

4:00 pm

Retired US Army Gen. Jack Keane reiterated on Fox News his advice to Israel that it should not follow US instructions about how to conduct its ground operations to defeat Hamas in Gaza. In January, Keane told Fox News that the Biden administration should stay out of Israel's ongoing ground war against Hamas. Regarding relations between President Biden and PM Netanyahu, he said, "The Israelis don't want to change their ground campaigns. I wish the administration would stay out of the tactics of how to conduct these operations. It is the prime minister and IDF's [Israel Defense Forces] objective to try and destroy Hamas." 

2:30 pm

During Israeli PM Netanyahu's war cabinet meeting on the evening of Feb. 8, National Unity ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot requested that Israel’s response to Hamas’s latest hostage deal demands be formally drafted and sent immediately to the Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Netanyahu rejected the request, saying that he wanted to bring the response to the full cabinet in what will likely delay the process by several days, noting that it is also less likely to be approved given the many hardline ministers who oppose making concessions to Hamas in exchange for the hostages.

Israel reportedly told Egyptian and Qatari mediators late on Feb. 8 that it rejects most of the demands made in the response issued by Hamas to a hostage deal framework, but that it is still ready to launch negotiations on that original framework. The original framework was crafted during a Paris meeting last month of top officials from the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt. It envisioned a three-phase humanitarian pause with 35 to 40 Israeli hostages, including women, men over the age of 60 and those with serious medical conditions released during the first six-week phase, according to the Axios news site reports. Israeli soldiers and the bodies of killed hostages would be released in subsequent phases. Details regarding the final phases, as well as the number of Palestinian security prisoners who would be released by Israel, were to be discussed in subsequent negotiations if the sides both agreed to the Paris proposal. On Feb. 6, Hamas offered its response and demanded that Israel release at least 1,500 Palestinian security prisoners, withdraw its troops fully from Gaza, eventually agree to a permanent ceasefire and take steps to reduce its sovereignty on the Temple Mount. Netanyahu called the demands “delusional” and he reportedly rejected an Egyptian proposal to send a representative to Cairo in order to move forward with the negotiations.

Civilians in Rafah in the Gaza Strip need to be protected, but the United Nations does not want to see any forced mass displacement, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had instructed the IDF to prepare plans to evacuate the southern Gaza city before the IDF begins operating there.

Egypt has sent about 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai within the past two weeks as part of a series of measures to bolster security on its border with Gaza, two Egyptian security sources say. This took place before the expansion of Israeli military operations around Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where much of its population has sought safety, sharpening Egyptian fears that Palestinians could be forced en masse out of the enclave.

Israeli warplanes struck Rafah, which adjoins the border, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the military to prepare to evacuate the displaced people. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on October 7 with the terror group’s deadly onslaught, Egypt constructed a concrete border wall that reaches six meters into the ground and is topped with barbed wire. It has also built berms and enhanced surveillance at border posts. Last month, Egypt’s took measures at its border with Gaza in response to Israeli suggestions that Hamas had obtained weapons smuggled from Egypt. Three lines of barriers made any overground or underground smuggling impossible, it said.

Satellite images from January and December also show some new constructions along the 13-kilometer (8-mile) border close to Rafah and the extension of a wall to the sea’s edge at its northern end. The new measures come after an expansion of security in northern Sinai as Egypt’s military consolidated its grip against an Islamist insurgency that escalated a decade ago. Before the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Egypt said it had destroyed tunnels through which smuggling to Gaza had previously flourished, and had cleared a buffer zone close to the border. On the approach to the Rafah Crossing with Gaza, the remains of razed houses can be seen along with miles of concrete walls that have been built parallel to the sea and near roads close to the border.

The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas says a plan announced by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for a military escalation in Rafah at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip aims to drive Palestinians from their land. The office of Abbas, head of the PA that exerts partial self-rule in the West Bank, said it holds both the Israeli government and the Biden administration responsible for the plan’s repercussions. The PA presidency calls on the UN Security Council to take heed, “because [Israel] taking this step threatens security and peace in the region and the world. It crosses all red lines,” the statement says.

The IDF struck a launcher used in the Hezbollah rocket barrage from Lebanon on northern Israel. Dozens of rockets were launched in the attack. The IDF says many of them were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defense system There are no injuries in the attack, which Hezbollah says was aimed at the IDF’s Kela base. The IDF says sirens sounded in Kiryat Shmona and nearby communities due to fears of shrapnel from the interceptions falling in the area.

The IDF says it identified one of the rocket launchers in the south Lebanon village of Qalaat Debba and struck it. IDF fighter jets also hit another Hezbollah building in Khiam, the IDF adds.

The Biden administration will continue to pause aid for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) until it concludes an internal investigation looking into the organization, US officials announced today. Several other countries, including UK, have also paused their funding of the UN organization. 

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power and other senior U.S. officials visited the 2024 election battleground state of Michigan on on Feb. 8 among criticisms by the Muslim community there of Biden’s policy on Israel, his failure to call for a ceasefire on attacks on Gaza, and continued military aid to Israel. Muslim voters in Michigan were essential to Biden's election in 2020. The officials said the Biden administration remains committed to providing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people, but would wait for the investigation into UNWRA to be complete, said Ali Dagher, a Lebanese-American attorney who took part in one of four discussions with U.S. officials in Dearborn, a majority Arab-American city near Detroit.

Abbas Alawieh, a former senior congressional staffer who also participated in one of the discussions, said Power spoke at length about UNWRA but indicated Biden was not planning to reverse his decision to halt aid to the agency. Sixteen countries suspended their funding to UNRWA after Israel accused 12 of UNRWA’s 13,000 employees in the Gaza Strip of taking part in the Hamas-led assault on Israel last autumn.
UNRWA officials say they expect the U.N. oversight office’s preliminary investigation report to take several weeks.

A UN spokesperson said today that civilians in Rafah should be protected from any military operation, but added that the United Nation doesn’t support any forced displacement. UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric made the remarks after Israel ordered its military to prepare an evacuation plan for Rafah, ahead of an expected invasion of the city.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas added that Israel’s expected invasion of Rafah would “push the region into endless wars.” Abbas called for Israel and the US to be held responsible for creating another “Nakba”, referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. He called on the UN Security Council to take urgent action. “It is now time for everyone to take responsibility in confronting the creation of another Nakba, which will push the whole region into endless wars,” the statement said. Abbas’ office also said that the expected military operation would threaten “peace and security in the region”. A statement warned the UN Security Council about the impact’s of Israel’s actions as “[Israel] taking this step threatens security and peace in the region and the world. It crosses all red lines,” Abbas’ office said in a statement.

The chief of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said today that any military operations by Israel in Rafah would bring “endless tragedy” to the already devastated city. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said today: “Any large-scale military operation among this population can only lead to an additional layer of endless tragedy that’s unfolding,” adding, that there is a “growing anxiety and growing panic” in Rafah. “People have absolutely no idea where to go after Rafah,” Lazzarini said.

The killing of three Palestinian men in a hospital in the occupied West Bank last month by Israeli commandos disguised as medical workers and Muslim women may amount to war crimes, a group of UN experts said. The three terrorists were killed on January 29 in a joint undercover operation by the army, Shin Bet security service and border police in the Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin, one of the most volatile cities in the West Bank, Israel’s military said.

“Under international humanitarian law, killing a defenceless injured patient who is being treated in a hospital amounts to a war crime,” the UN experts said in a statement, referring to Basel Al-Ghazzawi, a patient being treated for injuries it said were caused by an Israeli air strike. “By disguising themselves as seemingly harmless, protected medical personnel and civilians, the Israeli forces also prima facie committed the war crime of perfidy, which is prohibited in all circumstances,” they added, calling for Israel to conduct an investigation. The experts concerned are special rapporteurs engaged by the United Nations to examine a specific human rights issue.
 

2:15 pm

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Israel’s military to prepare for evacuating Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of an expected invasion.

Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, warned of a “bloodbath” if Israeli operations expand to Rafah. “No war can be allowed in a gigantic refugee camp,” he said Aid workers said Israeli military advance into southern Gaza’s Rafah area could cause mass deaths among the more than one million Palestinians trapped there, with humanitarian aid in danger of collapse.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said that Israeli forces had raided the PRCS al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis. “The occupation (Israeli) forces stormed al-Amal hospital and started searching it. We’re finding it difficult to communicate with our crews inside the hospital,” a PRCS statement said on Friday. The Israeli military did not immediately respond when contacted by AFP about soldiers entering the hospital.

At least 22 people, including children and women, were killed in Israeli airstrikes overnight and into today in the central area of the Gaza Strip and in the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt. The strikes hit a residential building in Rafah and a kindergarten-turned-shelter for the displaced in the central town of Zuwaida. The dead and wounded were taken to nearby hospitals, where the bodies were seen by journalists. These figures have not been independently verified.

Israeli ground forces are still focusing on the city of Khan Younis, just north of Rafah, but prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly warned this week that Rafah would be next, creating panic among hundreds of thousands of displaced people. Netanyahu’s words have also alarmed Egypt which has said that any ground operation in the Rafah area or mass displacement across the border would undermine its 40-year-old peace treaty with Israel. The mostly sealed Gaza-Egypt border is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid.

On Feb. 8, President Biden said Israel’s offensive on Gaza has been “over the top”. It is his sharpest criticism yet of Tel Aviv’s conduct during the war. As Joe Biden took questions on the special counsel’s report investigating his possession of classified documents, he said: “There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying.” During the press conference, Biden also mistakenly referred to the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, as the president of Mexico.

White House spokesman John Kirby warned Israel against conducting an offensive against Rafah, the last refuge of Palestinians fleeing the Israeli army’s assault on Gaza. Kirby said the US would not support an attack on the southern town. He added that the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, had expressed his concern to Israeli officials during his recent visit.

An international charity said that food is becoming so scarce in Gaza that people are resorting to eating grass. “Every single person in Gaza is now hungry, and people have just 1.5 to 2 litres of unsafe water per day to meet all their needs,” said ActionAid in a statement published today that warned intensifying attacks in Rafah would have “disastrous consequences”. Volker Türk, the UN high commissioner for human rights said Feb. 8 that widespread destruction by the IDF of civilian infrastructure in Gaza “amounts to a grave breach of the Fourth Genevea Convention, and a war crime”.

The UN children’s agency (Unicef) called on all parties to refrain from military escalation in Rafah, at the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, warning that there are more than 600,000 children in the area, some of whom have been displaced more than once since the war began four months ago

11 Palestinians were arrested in Israeli army raids in the occupied West Bank overnight. 

Israeli protesters gathered in front of the Nitzana crossing with the Egyptian border, blocking humanitarian aid from entering Gaza today. There have been protests at multiple border crossings with Gaza in recent weeks, including at the Kerem Shalom crossing where Israeli protesters prevented trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering Gaza. The protesters express the belief that the relief supplies are being diverted to terrorists.

The latest figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry claimed that 107 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 142 were injured in the past 24 hours. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants. 

Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said the war in Gaza has put more than half a million children out of school.“Every day of war deepens the scars, risking a lost generation vulnerable to exploitation,” Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on social media platform X. “Children are being robbed of childhood.”

Israeli forces have killed 340 health personnel, and arrested 99 since the October 7 assault on Israel by Hamas terrorists, said Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesperson for Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry. At least 123 ambulances have been destroyed in the same period.

Syrian air defences shot down two drones in the west of Damascus today, according to Syrian official media that said the drones came from the direction of the Israeli's Golan Heights bordering Syria and to the west of the capital. The Israeli military has said it does not comment on reports in foreign media.

Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian travelled to Lebanon and Syria to discuss various regional issues. According to the Syrian daily Al-Watan, when in Damascus Amirabdollahian would discuss current developments, including Israeli attacks on Syria and the ongoing war in Gaza. It added that he would then travel onwards to Qatar.

Several Arab foreign ministers discussed the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza at talks in Saudi Arabia, Saudi state media reported today, following a Middle East tour by US secretary of state Antony Blinken that stirred hopes for a long-awaited Gaza truce deal. The United Arab Emirates foreign minister called for an intensification of efforts to prevent the expansion of conflict in the region during a meeting of Arab states in Riyadh. The meeting on Gaza included the foreign ministers of the host country, Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and the secretary general of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Hussein al-Sheikh.

The US and Qatar are reportedly working on a joint plan to expel Hamas leaders from Doha, writes the Times of Israel, which cited the Saudi-funded news outlet Al-Arabiya. The Times of Israel said Al-Arabiya had not provided further details and the claim had not been corroborated by any other sources.

Australian foreign minister Penny Wong reiterated concerns about UNRWA, noting that while it does critical work, there remain serious allegations against its staff.
 

2:00 pm

Iran's foreign minister vowed  in Beirut  today that his government will continue its support of the Hezbollah  terrorist organization, adding that Lebanon’s security affects that of Iran and the region. Iranian FM Hossein Amirabdollahian was welcomed by representatives of Lebanon’s Hezbollah as well as the militant Palestinian group Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Iran, a main backer of the militant groups, has been calling on the U.S. to pressure Israel to stop its offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli defense ministry to plan for a large-scale evacuation of Palestinians from the south of Gaza to coincide with IDF operations into the City of Rafah and surrounding communities, with the goal being the total destruction of the remainder of Hamas’s military capabilities along with their leadership.

Israel is not close to eliminating Hamas and has only decreased the terror group's fighting capabilities, according to US intelligence officials who spoke to members of Congress, according to the New York Times.

 

11:32 am

Despite Secretary of State Antony Blinken's schedule in Israel  to meet IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi for a private meeting, the Israeli PM Netanyahu's Office made it clear that the Prime Minister had to be present as well.  On Feb. 6, Blinken was reported to have made an unusual request to be briefed privately by Halevi rather than as part of a meeting with Netanyahu's non-partisan the War Cabinet. An official told Israeli media that a meeting between a foreign minister and a military official without a civilian official present was not common practice in international relations and therefore Netanyahu's office refused to approve a private meeting between Blinken and the chief of staff. "Israel is not a banana republic," the official said.
 

11:30 am

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Feb. 8 about “post-conflict planning for Gaza,” in what some call an apparent dig at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has blocked cabinet discussions on the matter. According to The Times of Israel, a US official said earlier this week that the Biden administration does not have a lot of confidence in Netanyahu’s handling of the war, citing his rejection of the Palestinian Authority retaking control of the Strip. Netnayahu's coalition wants to resettle Gaza with Israeli civilians and encourage Palestinians to emigrate while maintaining a military occupation on those who remain. Netanyahu says he opposes these and other policies that could strip Jerusalem of any remaining support from the US. Netanyahu has thus avoided bringing discussions regarding the “day after” in Gaza to the cabinet, even as IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi warns that this risks foiling Israel’s military gains in Gaza.  The US official told The Times of Israel that Netanyahu has thwarted regional efforts to have a new administration put in place in parts of northern Gaza cleared by Israeli troops late last year, allowing Hamas to once again fill the vacuum. Recently, the IDF has had to send troops back into the area to fight off the resurgence of Hamas activity.

According to the Biden administration, Austin and Gallant also discussed “the need to increase humanitarian assistance for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, and West Bank stabilization efforts.” “Secretary Austin reiterated the need to protect civilians as Israel conducts its operations against Hamas,” and the pair “discussed the US response to attacks against US forces by Iranian-aligned militia groups.”

IDF fighter jets struck Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon today, including a complex where the terror group’s operatives were gathered in Maroun al-Ras. The IDF says it also hit three more buildings used by Hezbollah in Yohmor and Naqoura. Several projectiles were also fired from Lebanon in the last few hours, at Menara, Mount Dov and Malkia. The IDF says it is shelling the launch sites with artillery.

Rocket sirens sounded in the northern city of Kiryat Shmona and nearby towns in the Galilee Panhandle, following a barrage launched from Lebanon. Israel's Iron Dome air defense system intercepted several projectiles over the area. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana decided to cancel a meeting that was scheduled for today in New York with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, citing the latter’s claim last night that Israel is violating international law with its war against Hamas in Gaza. “The cancellation of the meeting does not come in a vacuum. I intended to try and convince him, but yesterday he again called on the State of Israel to stop fighting, criticizing it ‘even if Hamas uses human shields,'” Ohana says in a statement. Guterres said on Feb. 8 that Israel still has obligations under international law not to harm civilians, even if Hamas uses them as human shields — a practice that the UN chief also condemned. Ohana calls Guterres a “lost cause” and says he has to uphold his “red lines.” “I will not whitewash Guterres,” Ohana declares.

11:15 am

Qatar, where Hamas' top leaders live and which is playing a central role as mediator in the current conflict, spent nearly $6 billion since 2007 lobbying the American government and funneling cash to the United States’ top universities. Qatar has given or contracted more than $5.6 billion to 61 American institutions of higher learning s since 2007, including Ivy Leagues such as Harvard University, Yale University, Cornell University, and Stanford University. Qatar has also spent more than $243 million on lobbying efforts in the United States since 2015, with more than $16 million spent in 2023 alone.

11:00 am

President Biden issued a memorandum on Feb. 8 requiring allies who receive military aid from the US to provide “credible and reliable written assurances” of their adherence to international law including international human rights law. For the first time, the State Department and the Department of Defense are required to issue periodic reports on whether allies are meeting the requirements. The memo does not mention countries but comes amid increasing calls in the US to condition aid to Israel due to concerns over its military operations in Gaza, triggered by the October 7 attacks, and the use of US weapons in the Palestinian enclave.

10:40 am

About 40 pro-Palestine protesters were outside a Northrop Grumman plant near Plymouth Minnesota before dawn today. Some were chained together, others were blocking the road. A handful were arrested and/or ticketed for trespassing. Among those arrested were Emma J. Galvin, 28, and Emma Jean Bergman Harrison, 26, both of Minneapolis.

10:30 am

Anti-Zionist activists published the names, images, professions and social media accounts of  almost 600 of Jewish people working in academia and creative industries, in an escalation of social tensions over the October 7 attacks and war in Gaza. The names and data were taken from a private WhatsApp Group formed last year by Jewish writers, artists, musicians and academics. The leak included a spreadsheet with links to social media accounts and a separate file with a photo gallery of more than 100 Jewish people. Police in Australia are investigating potential criminal breaches of privacy from earlier incidents relating to the same WhatsApp group. “Police are investigating following reports the personal details of a number of people, who belong to a private social media chat group, appear to have been released online,” a police spokesperson said.

10:15 am

White House spokesman John Kirby said Americans should not believe anything Vladimir Putin said during Tucker Carlson's interview. He said they should remember that they are listening to Vladimir Putin, and nothing should be taken at face value. 

Israel's Meron Air Defense and Radar Base in Northern Israel as well as another IDF Installation have reportedly been targeted today by roughly 30 Rockets launched by Hezbollah from Southern Lebanon, with several explosions heard in and around the bases. the Meron base was also struck by Hezbollah in January reportedly causing Damage to Israel’s Northern Early-Warning and Detection System and multiple radars.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Ministry of Defense to begin planning for a large-scale evacuation of the Palestinian population from the southern Gaza Strip to coincide with IDF ground operations into the City of Rafah and surrounding sommunities, with the goal being the total destruction of the remainder of Hamas’s military capabilities along with their leadership.

Video showed detonations of Hamas tunnels by the IDF in Gaza's residential areas. 

U.S. Central Command announced on the evening of Feb. 8 that is conducted 7 self-defense strikes against the Houthi terrorist group in Western Yemen between 5am to 9pm with 4 Unmanned-Surface Vessels and 7 anti-ship cruise missiles having been destroyed due to them posing an Imminent Threat to Commercial Shipping and Naval Ships in the Southern Red Sea.

9:30 am

President Joe Biden said on Feb. 8 that “the conduct of the response in Gaza” has been “over the top,” in unclear remarks widely understood and reported as a critique of Israel, but which may have been made in reference to this week’s Hamas ceasefire proposal. The White House did not elaborate on or clarify Biden’s remarks. . As he was leaving a White House press conference, in response to reporters shouting about “the hostage negotiations” and “Netanyahu says he’s ordered the IDF…”, Biden responded, “The hostage negotiations, look …” and returning to the microphone, said: “I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top. I think that, as you know, the president of Mexico, Sissi” — Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi is, in fact, president of Egypt — “did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate. I talked to Bibi [Netanyahu] to open the gate on the Israeli side.” Biden went on: “I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard, to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza. There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and it’s gotta stop. Number one.” This was on the day that senior Biden administration aides were huddled with Muslim political leaders in Detroit, who have threatened to not support Biden's re-election bid.

Special counsel Robert Hur declined to prosecute  Biden for his handling of classified documents but said in a report released on Feb. 8 that Biden’s practices “present serious risks to national security” and that part of the reason he wouldn't charge Biden was that the president could portray himself as an "elderly man with a poor memory" who would find sympathy in a jury. “Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” the report said, but added that the evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Israel says the mandate of UNRWA probe into allegations that UN personnel had participated in the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel should be more clearly defined. Israel calls the UN’s creation of an independent review group into its relief agency for Palestinian refugees “a positive step, although it is long overdue.” “The review group should include research institutes with relevant professional experience that includes counter-terrorism, security and vetting procedures,” stated the Israeli Foreign Ministry, adding that representatives from donor countries, as well as Israeli experts, should be included on the panel as well. The statement says the mandate of the panel “should be defined in clearer terms regarding the need to prevent the employment of members of terror groups in the ranks of the organization and to ensure that the organization’s facilities will not be used for terror purposes.” “Israel expects the review committee to also investigate incitement to violence and antisemitism in UNRWA’s educational system, in textbooks and by teachers, before and after the October 7 massacre.”

Security has been significantly increased at several Israeli embassies around the world after intelligence authorities uncovered plans to carry out terror attacks. The Israeli embassies in the Netherlands, India and Sweden are among those determined to be at risk for terror attacks and have had their security upgraded. On January 31, police destroyed an explosive device discovered outside the embassy in Stockholm, in an incident labeled as an “attempted terror attack” by Israel’s ambassador.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency claimed that Syrian air defenses shot down two drones that entered Syrian airspace from Israel’s Golan Heights. The report says the drones were intercepted west of Damascus. There is no comment from the IDF on the incident.

The IDF prevented the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom Crossing earlier today after a directive was issued following a situational assessment, Channel 12 reports.

IDF Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Ori Gordin met with mayors and council heads of the evacuated communities in the north of Israel to discuss the security situation along the Lebanon border. Gordin assured the local officials that the military’s goal is “to change the security situation in the north in a way that will allow the residents to return safely and with a sense of security,” and said that the IDF is continuing “to prepare for the expansion of the war and going on the offensive” against the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group. Since October 8, the Lebanon-based terror group has launched rockets, missiles and drones at Israel’s northern communities on a near-daily basis.

Hamas demanded that 1,000 trucks of humanitarian aid be given access to northern Gaza every day until the impact of the war on civilians has been reversed. The Hamas-run Government Media Office in Gaza claims that this amount of aid is required because “the famine in northern Gaza is worsening” as a result of American and Israeli actions. “We immediately demand the entry of 1,000 trucks daily into northern Gaza until it recovers from the famine and its impact,” the report quotes Hamas as saying. There are an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 Palestinians still living in northern Gaza, which the IDF ordered be evacuated at the beginning of the war.

Israel's 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade, operating in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, located a Hamas rocket launcher adjacent to a children’s daycare and a mosque. The rocket launchers, armed with projectiles and aimed at Israel, were later destroyed,. The reservists also discovered a Hamas tunnel under a water facility in Khan Younis. Inside the tunnel, two Hamas operatives were killed, it says.

British Airways announced that it will resume flights to Israel in April, having suspended them in October citing security fears after the October 7 massacre carried out by Hamas in Israel and the outbreak of the war in Gaza. The airline, which is owned by London-listed aviation conglomerate IAG, says it will “restart our flights on 1 April” to Tel Aviv. The route will operate four times per week but with smaller aircraft than before the outbreak of war, owing to expectations of weaker demand. Many airlines stopped flying to Israel after October 7, but several have since announced their resumption — including Air France, Lufthansa and Ryanair.

The United Arab Emirates foreign minister calls for greater efforts to prevent the expansion of conflict in the region during a meeting of Arab states in Saudi Arabia. The meeting about Gaza included the foreign ministers of the host country, Saudi Arabia, along with Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, and the Secretary-General of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation Hussein al-Sheikh. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly declared that diplomatic recognition of Israel cannot be concluded until a ceasefire and a Palestinian state are put into place.

 

February 9, 2024

 

3:15 pm

The Ireland women’s basketball team shunned normal pre-match courtesies while facing Israel in a EuroBasket qualifying game after being outraged by accusations of antisemitism by an Israeli player. Accusations by Israeli player Dor Saar prompted Basketball Ireland to report them to the governing body FIBA Europe. Forfeiting the match was rejected because Ireland would have faced sanctions. Instead, there are no handshakes or other pleasantries before the qualifier in Riga, Latvia, an alternative venue because of the war in Gaza.

Meta pulled Facebook and Instagram accounts belonging to Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei for violating the company’s “Dangerous Organizations & Individuals policy,” a Meta spokesperson said. Khamenei’s Persian-language Instagram account had more than five million followers, while his English-language account had more than 200,000. All four of his accounts on X, formerly Twitter, are still live.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken canceled a planned visit to the Kerem Shalom Crossing, according to Israeli media, despite Blinken telling a Channel 13 journalist during a press briefing last night, “There was no planned visit to Kerem Shalom, so there was nothing to cancel.” The visit to the Israel-Gaza border crossing was canceled after Israel failed to assure Blinken that the entry of humanitarian aid into the war-torn Gaza Strip would not be interrupted by protests amid his visit. In recent weeks, Israelis have protested near the border crossing in an attempt to prevent trucks carrying humanitarian aid into Gaza.

The United States is aware of reports that two Americans in Gaza were detained by Israeli forces in a raid early today. The family of dual US-Palestinian nationals Hashem Alagha, 20, and Borak Alagha, 18, say the two brothers were detained in a raid on a home west of the city of Khan Younis on Thursday morning.

The United States warned Israel that staging a military push into the southern Gaza city of Rafah without proper planning would run the risk of becoming a “disaster.”  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last night that he has ordered troops to “prepare to operate” in Rafah, and air strikes have been stepped up. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the Biden administration has “yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation,” adding: “To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area” where one million people are sheltering “would be a disaster.”

The security establishment reportedly believes that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been “out of contact” for the past ten days, not making any contact with Qatari and Egyptian mediators during that period. There are theories that he is on the run, engaged in a tactical ruse or simply unable to make contact due to the ongoing communications problems in Gaza. Several decisions were made by Hamas in the past few days without him, though not necessarily ones relating to the hostages deal. Israeli media report that the Israeli security establishment believes Sinwar was not involved in the issuing of Hamas’s response to the Qatari hostage deal framework earlier this week, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed yesterday as “delusional.”

The Hamas response included a clause stating that the deal would be “subject to the approval of the Hamas leadership in Gaza.”

3:00 pm

Muslims in southeastern Michigan are incensed about President Biden's policy towards Israel and Gaza. Today, senior Biden administration officials visited Dearborn, a Detroit suburb which is known for its large Muslim community. Local television interviewed several local politicians and leaders. Muslim mosque leader Imran Salha said, "What is there to speak about? Conversations about aid are irrelevant when you're bombing my people...There is no new information for us to meet about. Why should we waste time? Call for a cease fire and then we can talk." Salha is among those in the area who have pledged to vote "uncommitted" on ballots in the upcoming Presidential Primary election later in February.  Dearborn Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud (D) is among those endorsing the pledge. Hammoud was among the local Muslim leaders who refused to meet with Biden's campaign manager when a trip to the state was announced in late January. He rejected the offer, saying "this is not a moment for electoral politics." According to the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the attempt at outreach was offensive. Dawud Walid of CAIR said, "Genocide takes precedent over the southern border. Genocide takes precedent over inflation rates."

President Biden will meet with Jordanian King Abdullah II on Feb. 12.

Israeli forces intensified strikes on Rafah in southern Gaza, as the UN said such action would only “increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare”. More than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering in the southern border city of Rafah, with many of them in makeshift tents and lacking food and medicine. The UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha) added that fighting in Rafha would risk “further hampering a humanitarian operation already limited by insecurity, damaged infrastructure and access restrictions.”

Israeli planes bombed areas in Rafah today, killing at least 11 people in strikes on two houses. Tanks also shelled some areas in eastern Rafah, intensifying the residents’ fears of an imminent ground assault.

A Hamas delegation is expected in Cairo for more ceasefire talks, a day after the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the group’s demands made as part of their response to a proposed ceasefire deal. Senior Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan confirmed the trip at a news conference in Beirut while an Egyptian official has also told Agence France-Presse that “a new round of negotiations” is set to start on Thursday in Cairo aimed at achieving “calm in the Gaza Strip”.

More reports emerged from Khan Younis of people in the vicinity of Nasser hospital being targeted by Israeli snipers, said Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud in Rafah. He said: “Paramedics are unable to get out of the hospital to help the injured and remove the dead from the streets.” Al Jazeera also quoted Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesperson for Gaza’s health ministry, saying the situation at the hospital complex is a “humanitarian disaster” adding that there are “300 medical staff, 450 wounded, and 10,000 displaced people in the Nasser medical complex being killed and starved.”

Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud also said there had been intense bombing across Rafah city, particularly the western part. “This seems to be an indication that the ground invasion is expanding,” he wrote. Mahmoud said residential homes had been targeted and a displaced family from the northern part of the Gaza Strip and another that had come from Khan Younis were killed in overnight airstrikes that destroyed an entire building. Mahmoud added that 14 people had been killed in the attacks and described seeing people being removed from the rubble in the early hours today.

Secretary of State Blinken left the Middle East today with public divisions between the US and Israel at perhaps their worst level since Oct. 7, reports the Associated Press. Blinken was returning to Washington after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war would continue until Israel is completely victorious and appeared to reject outright a response from Hamas to a proposed ceasefire plan.

Before heading back to Washington, Blinken met in Tel Aviv with Benny Gantz and Gabi Eisenkot, two former military officials who joined Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet after the October 7 attack in Israel by Hamas fighters. Blinken discussed ways to secure the release of Gaza hostages with Gantz and Eisenkot. Blinken also discussed the hostage talks in a meeting with Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid.

Repeated US strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are pushing the government to end the mission of the US-led coalition in the country, the prime minister’s military spokesperson Yahya Rasool said today. 

Five Israeli hostages who were freed in November pleaded with Israeli PM Netanyahu to push for a deal, after he publicly rejected the terms of a ceasefire in Gaza proposed by Hamas.

The latest figures from the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 130 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes and 170 were injured in the past 24 hours. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said a paramedic colleague, Mohammed Al-Omari, was killed, and two other paramedics were injured after Israeli occupation forces directly fired at them in Gaza City while they were transferring several wounded individuals from al-Ahli Baptist hospital in preparation for their transfer to hospitals in the south.

More than 6,920 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank since  October 7, say the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. This includes those who were arrested from their homes, military checkpoints, and those who were forced to surrender themselves under pressure, the group said.

A US drone strike on a car in Baghdad has killed three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said after a string of blasts were heard in the Iraqi capital. The strike late on Wednesday came on a main thoroughfare in the Mashtal neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad.
Leading Palestinian human rights groups have accused the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide of failing to fulfil her mandate after she issued only one statement on the war in Gaza – largely supportive of Israel – that has claimed 26,000 Palestinian lives.

The Canadian government did not see any evidence backing up Israel’s claim that staff employed by UNRWA colluded with Hamas before suspending funding to the agency, CBC News reports. Canadian officials told CBC News that Canada’s own decision to defund was a reaction to UNRWA’s decision to dismiss the staffers, which created the impression that the agency saw Israel’s allegation as credible.

Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, has said she did not have all the evidence about serious allegations regarding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) before she decided to halt funding. Australia, the US and the UK were among more than 10 donors to suspend funding to the UN agency after the Israeli government alleged that as many as 12 UNRWA staff members were involved in the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia has invited federal Greens MPs and senators to view footage of Hamas’s attacks from 7 October, after the party’s push for Australia to remove support for what it called Israel’s “slaughter” in Gaza.

The US military said today that its forces conducted multiple strikes against Houthi missile systems as the Yemen based rebel group prepared to launch attacks that threatened US Navy and merchant ships. Centcom said it identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined they “presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region”.

Norway has transferred $26m to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said on Feb. 7.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) issued a new call for an urgent and sustained ceasefire in Gaza. Bob Kitchen, vice-president of emergencies at the IRC said military operations in Rafah would result in there “no longer” being “a single ‘safe’ area for Palestinians to go to as their homes, markets, and health services have been annihilated”.

On Feb. 7, the Houthis’ news agency reported that the US and the UK had hit targets in Yemen’s Hodeida province.

A German navy frigate has departed for the Red Sea, where Berlin plans to have it take part in an EU mission to help defend cargo ships from attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. EU foreign ministers are expected to sign off on the Red Sea mission on 19 February. Officials have said that seven countries in the bloc are ready to provide ships or planes.

British defense intelligence officials say the UK is closer to a large-scale conflict than at any recent point, as the Middle East crisis intensifies while Russia pursues an expansionist agenda and China develops advanced weapons.

Turkish authorities have detained 147 people suspected of having ties to militant group Islamic State (IS) in operations across 33 provinces, interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said today.

Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz is heading to Washington, and will meet the US president, Joe Biden on Friday. As well as discussing the war in Ukraine, he also aims to discuss plans for strengthening the western Nato defence alliance and the Israel-Hamas war, German government officials said.

A senior member of the Swedish security police said today that Iran has planned attacks on the country. According to AFP, Daniel Stenling, counterespionage head at Sweden’s domestic security agency, told SR on Thursday that Iran “has been preparing and conducted activities aimed at carrying out a so-called physical attack against someone or something in Sweden.”

2:53 pm

 

Israeli forces bombed areas in the southern border city of Rafah  where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering on Feb. 8, a day after Israeli PM Netanyahu rejected a proposal to end the war. Netanyahu said the terms proposed by Hamas for a ceasefire that would also involve releasing hostages held by the Palestinian militant group were “delusional” and vowed to fight on, saying victory was in reach and just months away.

The US military conducted multiple strikes against Houthi missile systems as the Yemen-based rebel group in Hodeida province prepared to launch attacks that threatened US Navy and merchant ships. Late Feb. 7 Sana’a time, US Central Command forces  “conducted self-defence strikes against two Houthi mobile anti-ship cruise missiles prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.” Later that night, CENTCOM forces “conducted a second strike against a Houthi mobile land attack cruise missile prepared to launch.” CENTCOM determined they “presented an imminent threat to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region”. The strikes “will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US Navy and merchant vessels”, it said.

A German navy frigate has departed for the Red Sea, where Berlin plans to have it take part in an EU mission to help defend cargo ships from attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. The Hessen set off from the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven with about 240 sailors on board. EU foreign ministers are expected to sign off on the Red Sea mission on 19 February. Officials have said that seven countries in the bloc are ready to provide ships or planes. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said the EU mission – unlike US and UK forces in the region – will not carry out any military strikes.

Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet with President Biden on Feb. 9. As well as discussing the war in Ukraine, he also aims to discuss plans for strengthening the western NATO defense alliance and the Israel-Hamas war, German government officials said. Prior to his departure, Scholz said Germany feels the responsibility to stand by Israel’s side while developing the conditions necessary for a sustainable peace in the region, such as a two-state solution and humanitarian aid for Gaza.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) issued a new call for an urgent and sustained ceasefire in Gaza. IRC V.P. Bob Kitchen said: "Military operations in Rafah will result in the displacement of more than a million Palestinians and risk death, destruction and injury for tens of thousands of people. If Israel expands its operations farther south, it would mean the renewed forced displacement of more than a million people who have nowhere left to go; and it would end the humanitarian lifeline from Egypt. If they aren’t killed in the fighting, Palestinian children, women and men will be at risk of dying by starvation or disease. There will no longer be a single “safe” area for Palestinians to go to as their homes, markets, and health services have been annihilated."

The Canadian government claims that it did not see any evidence backing up Israel’s claim that staff employed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) colluded with Hamas terrorists before suspending funding to the agency. Government sources told CBC that Israel still has not shared evidence with Canada to substantiate its claim that 12 employees of UNRWA were involved in some capacity in the 7 October attack on Israel by Hamas and the affiliated group Islamic Jihad. CBC News said it had not yet been able to review the Israeli intelligence document. CBC News said Israel had refused to provide the intelligence it says backs up its allegations, either to UNRWA or to the UN Office of internal oversight services (OIOS), the UN body assigned to investigate. Canadian officials told CBC News that Canada’s own decision to defund was a reaction to UNRWA’s decision to dismiss the staffers, which created the impression that the agency saw Israel’s allegation as credible.

Secretary of State Blinken met with Benny Gantz and Gabi Eisenkot, two former military officials who joined Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war cabinet after the October 7 attack in Israel by Hamas fighters. Blinken discussed the release of Gaza hostages with Gantz and Eisenkot, among other officials present. Blinken set out his intentions as he opened the meeting by saying the focus would be on “the hostages and the strong desire that we both have to see them returned to their families, the work that’s being done to that end”. “The most urgent issue is of course to find ways to bring back the hostages,” Gantz told Blinken.“That being done, many things can be achieved,” he said. Blinken also discussed the hostage talks in a meeting with Israel’s main opposition leader Yair Lapid. “It’s good to see how committed this group is to the hostages, to solving the situation, to figure out ways to promote peace,” the centrist former prime minister said, referring to efforts by Blinken and US officials.

130 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, says Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry. According to the statement, at least 27,840 Palestinians have been killed and 67,317 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7. The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants.

A senior member of the Swedish security police said today that Iran has planned attacks on the country, days after local media reported that two Iranians were deported for a plot to kill three Swedish Jews several years ago. Earlier this week, Swedish broadcaster SR reported that two Iranians had been suspected of planning to kill members of the Swedish Jewish community. They were arrested in 2021 and were expelled from Sweden in 2022 without charges. Daniel Stenling, counterespionage head at Sweden’s domestic security agency, told SR today that Iran “has been preparing and conducted activities aimed at carrying out a so-called physical attack against someone or something in Sweden.” Stenling added, “we have worked on a number of such cases where we have, as we gauge it, thwarted such preparations.” The two deported Iranians sought asylum in Sweden in 2015, claiming to be Afghans, and eventually got shelter in Sweden. They were identified as Mahdi Ramezani and Fereshteh Sanaeifarid, both of whom are linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

A Swedish prosecutor earlier confirmed that the Iranian man and woman were suspected of planning to carry out an attack “deemed to be terror” and that they have been expelled from Sweden. Prosecutor Hans Ihrman did not say when.

Israel’s ambassador to Australia invited federal Greens members of Parliament and senators to view footage of Hamas’s attacks from October 7, after the party’s push for Australia to remove support for what it called Israel’s “slaughter” in Gaza. Today, the Israeli embassy posted ambassador Amir Maimon's invitation to view the 42-minute compilation which has been shown to politicians and journalists. Maimon said he was inviting the politicians to view the footage due to the “amount of time the Greens have devoted to attacking Israel in parliament this week”.

Repeated US strikes against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq are pushing the Iraqi government to end the mission of the US-led coalition in the country, the Iraqi prime minister’s military spokesperson Yahya Rasool said today. The US military said a Feb. 7 strike killed a commander from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that the Pentagon has blamed for attacking its troops. Rasool said that the US-led coalition “has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict.”

The US-led international military coalition in Iraq was set up to fight Islamic State terrorists. The US has 2,500 troops in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of the group. Since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza began in October, Iraq and Syria have witnessed almost daily tit-for-tat attacks between hardline Iran-backed armed groups and US forces stationed in the region. A US drone strike on a car in Baghdad has killed three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said after a string of blasts were heard in the Iraqi capital. The Feb. 7 strike happened on a main route in the Mashtal neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad. A crowd gathered as emergency response teams picked through the wreckage. Security forces closed off the heavily guarded Green Zone, where a number of diplomatic compounds are located, amid calls for protesters to storm the US embassy. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the commander who was killed had been targeted “in response to the attacks on US service members.” The strike killed “a Kataeb Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region,” according to CENTCOM, which said there are “no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties at this time.”

Norway has transferred $26 million to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), foreign minister Espen Barth Eide said on Feb. 7.

Turkish authorities detained 147 people suspected of having ties to militant group Islamic State (IS) in operations across 33 provinces, interior minister Ali Yerlikaya said today. The “Operation Heroes-49”, was carried out simultaneously across the country, Yerlikaya said. Last month, a worshipper was shot to death at a Catholic church in Istanbul in an attack attributed to ISIS. 

A Hamas delegation is expected in Cairo for more ceasefire talks, a day after the Israeli PM Netanyahu rejected the group’s demands in a ceasefire bid as untenable.  Senior Lebanon-based Hamas official Osama Hamdan confirmed news of  the trip, while an Egyptian official said that “a new round of negotiations” is set to start on  Feb. 9 and aimed at achieving “calm in the Gaza Strip”. Secretary of State Blinken departed Israel today and said on Feb. 7 that a ceasefire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas was still possible, despite the two sides being far apart on the central terms for a deal.

Israeli PM Netanyahu also confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had been instructed to commence operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where the population has been swelled by hundreds of thousands of displaced people. He said on Feb. 7 that the war in Gaza is still winnable. Previously, he has said that Hamas must be eliminated from Gaza.

8:30 am

A US drone strike on a car in Baghdad has killed three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said after a string of blasts were heard in the Iraqi capital. The strike late on Feb. 7 came on a main thoroughfare in the Mashtal neighbourhood in eastern Baghdad.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected Hamas demands for a ceasefire in Gaza and vowed to press ahead with Israel’s military offensive in Gaza until achieving “total victory”. Israel was within reach of achieving total victory “in a matter of months”, Netanyahu said at a news conference shortly after meeting US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. “The day after is the day after Hamas. All of Hamas.”

Hamas laid out a detailed three-phase plan to unfold over four and a half months late on Feb. 6 via Qatari and Egyptian mediators, responding to a proposal drawn up by the US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt. The plan stipulates that all hostages would be released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including senior militants, and an end to the war.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said “a lot of work” remained to be done to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas on terms for a new ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Blinken met with Netanyahu and Israeli president Isaac Herzog on Wednesday, during which he reiterated US support for “the establishment of a Palestinian state as the best way to ensure lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike and greater integration for the region”, according to a US state department readout.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said he is “especially alarmed” by reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. His comments came amid concerns of an “imminent” Israel ground invasion of Rafah as Israeli gunboats reportedly fired on the main coastal road to the west of the city on Wednesday morning. “Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences,” Guterres warned.

At least 27,708 Palestinians have been killed and 67,147 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, according to the latest figures by the Hamas-controlled Gaza health ministry. The figures includes 123 Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes and 169 injured in the past 24 hours.

Saudi Arabia has said there will be “no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized”. A Saudi foreign ministry statement on Wednesday reiterated “its call to the permanent members of the UN security council that have not yet recognized the Palestinian state, to expedite the recognition of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital”.

Israeli protesters have prevented trucks carrying humanitarian aid from entering Gaza through the Kerem Shalom crossing on Feb. 7, according an Israeli defence body. The group behind the protests has demanded freedom for the Israeli hostages in Gaza before further aid is allowed into the besieged Palestinian territory.

Israel’s military has said it discovered and destroyed a tunnel used by senior Hamas leaders and to hold hostages in southern Gaza’s main city of Khan Younis. Israeli special forces unearthed what they said was a “strategic underground tunnel” stretching more than one kilometer (just over half a mile) in a “targeted raid”. The city has been the focus of intense bombardment in recent weeks.

Israeli strikes on a southern Lebanese village killed one civilian and wounded two others on Feb. 7, according to Lebanon’s state media. An Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee said the army attacked a series of Hezbollah targets in the Khiam area. “A sixth of all rocket launches from Lebanese territory since the start of fighting were launched from the vicinity of Khiam,” Adraee said in a statement on X.

Police in Austin, Texas, say the stabbing of a 23-year-old Palestinian American was a hate crime. Threats against Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have increased across the US since the October 7 attacks by Hamas and during the Israel-Gaza war.

Human Rights Watch has urged EU donors to restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) amid warnings that it could cease operations across the Middle East by the end of the month. The rights group said it was “unconscionable” to consider shutting down the UN agency amid a “desperate” humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Norway has announced a fresh donation to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the transfer of 275 million Norwegian kroner ($26 million) would support Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, Agence France-Presse reports.

French president Emmanuel Macron called the attacks by Hamas on Israel the “biggest antisemitic massacre of our century” as he led a ceremony paying tribute to the French victims. The ceremony, the first major international memorial event outside Israel since the Hamas attacks four months ago, remembered the 42 French citizens killed in the attacks and the three others still missing, believed to be held hostage.

Canada’s immigration minister, Marc Miller, has said he is “pissed off” that extended family members of Canadians are being blocked from leaving war-torn Gaza. Ottawa last month provided a list of about 1,000 people approved to come to Canada to Israeli and Egyptian authorities, who jointly control the only border crossing out of the Palestinian territory, at Rafah. They would be permitted to stay in Canada temporarily while fighting continues. But none have been allowed yet to leave the coastal strip.
 

February 8, 2024

2:00 pm

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi visited Israeli troops on Feb. 6 and repeated that that only military pressure on Hamas will bring about the release of the hostages held by the terror group: “Today we are on day 122, but we are making progress, we are not standing still. When we talked about dismantling Hamas, we didn’t think it would be in a week, we didn’t think it would be in a month, it’s peeling back layers.” Halevi said that the IDF’s new raids in northern Gaza result in “more dead terrorists, more dead commanders, more destroyed infrastructure.” “I hope that this pressure also brings us to achieve one more important goal, returning the hostages,” Halevi said. 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas conferred with Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Ramallah. Abbas pressed for US recognition of a Palestinian state encompassing the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, and for full UN membership. He stresses that peace and security can only be achieved through a two-state solution. Abbas also expressed his “disappointment” at an entry ban into the US approved last week by the House of Representatives against members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), as well as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, saying that the measure would “affect the American role” in shaping the politics of the region. The bill is yet to be approved by the Senate.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu predicted “the circle of peace will expand” if Hamas is defeated, after Saudi Arabia declared it won’t normalize relations with Israel until the war in Gaza is over and a Palestinian state is established. Netanyahu rejected a US request for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to meet privately with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, saying he doesn’t meet military commanders without political leaders present when he visits the United States or elsewhere. “I think that’s how we need to act,” he said.

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, is “especially alarmed” by reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. “I am especially alarmed by reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on Rafah – where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been squeezed in a desperate search for safety,” Guterres told the UN general assembly today. "Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences." He called for an immediate ceasefire and release of hostages. He said, that Gaza  is “a festering wound on our collective conscience” that threatens the entire region. He added, "Nothing justifies the horrific terror attacks launched by Hamas against Israel on 7 October. Nor is there any justification for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. Yet, Israeli military operations have resulted in destruction and death in Gaza at a scale and speed without parallel since I became Secretary-General."

Secretary of State Blinken and Israeli PM Netanyahu “discussed the latest efforts to secure the release of all remaining hostages and the importance of increasing the amount of humanitarian assistance reaching displaced civilians throughout Gaza,” according to the Department of State. Blinken reiterated US support for “the establishment of a Palestinian state as the best way to ensure lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike and greater integration for the region,” the statement said. The US secretary of state also “reaffirmed the United States’ support for Israel’s right to ensure the terrorist attacks of October 7 are never repeated and stressed the importance of taking all possible steps to protect civilians in Gaza”.

1:45 pm

President Biden is sending senior aides to Michigan to meet with Arab American and Muslim leaders in suburban Detroit, where his administration's policies regarding Israel and the war in Gaza have incensed local Muslim and Arab communities in the 2024 battleground state. Among the Biden administration aides are Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development, principal deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, and Steven Benjamin, who directs the Office of Public Engagement. Also expected to attend are Tom Perez, who leads the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, as well as Mazen Basrawi, the White House liaison to American Muslim communities, and aides Jamie Citron and Dan Koh. Last month, leaders of the Muslim community in the Detroit metropolitan area refused to meet with Biden's campaign manager.

1:30 pm

Israeli Premier Netanyahu appeared on television to reject Hamas’ terms for a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement, calling them “delusional.” He vowed to press ahead with Israel’s war against Hamas, now in its fifth month, until achieving “absolute victory.” He made the comments just after a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “Surrendering to Hamas’ delusional demands that we heard now not only won’t lead to freeing the captives, it will just invite another massacre,” Netanyahu said in a nationally televised evening news conference. “We are on the way to an absolute victory,” Netanyahu said, adding that the operation would last months, not years. “There is no other solution.”

10:15 am

A Jewish community leader in Sweden spoke out about a plot to kill him that was foiled in 2021. Aron Verständig, chair of the Official Council of Swedish Jewish communities, told Radio Sweden about Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sending two sleeper agents—couple Mahdi Ramezani and Fereshteh Sanaeifarid—who were activated after they had lived in the Scandinavian country for five years. Ramezani and Sanaeifard were arrested in 2021 with plans to kill two other Swedish Jews.

Jamil Hakime, a former New York City child services worker, was sentenced on Feb. 6 to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release for selling a gun and 19 rounds of ammunition to two men planning to attack a synagogue, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York stated. Hakime, 59, sold the weapons to Christopher Brown and Matthew Mahrer on Nov. 18, 2022. He pleaded guilty on March 14, 2023.

The IDF says it struck a building used by Hezbollah in the southern Lebanon village of Marwahin. It adds that fighter jets also struck overnight another site belonging to the terror group in Bani Haiyyan.

10:00 am

Today, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Argentine President Javier Milei, who has promised to move his country’s embassy to the capital and designate Hamas a terrorist group. “I’m delighted to welcome you, President Milei, and your delegation, to Israel. You’re a great friend of the Jewish state. We are delighted with your decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move your diplomatic post there, and also, of course, an embassy,” began Netanyahu.

An illegal immigrant who authorities believe is from northern Africa is facing charges of hate crime, second degree assault, criminal mischief and robbery. He was arraigned on Feb. 5 in Nassau County NY. He stole a pro-Israel flag from a Long Island porch — then pummeled the homeowner who tried to stop him in a wild caught-on-video attack, officials said. Bechir Lehbeib, 26, allegedly stole the flag — which declared “In This Home We Stand with Israel —  from Aleksandr Binyaminov’s porch, cops said. The illegal immigrant tussled with Binyaminov and told him "Jews are killing Muslims." Binyaminov, who said one of his wife’s relatives was killed in the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel, was left bruised after the attack and blamed President Biden’s border policies for the clash. Lehbeib, who descibed himself as Palestinian, entered the U.S.from Mexico in November, authorities said. He was detained on $50,000 bond. Lehbieb listed a former Wyndham hotel, now a shelter for illegal immigrants provided by taxpayers, as his place of residence.

9:48 am

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) accused Israel of commiting war crimes in the Gaza war and slammed pro-Israel lobbying groups such as AIPAC for "spending enormous sums of money right now to influence our political system."

9:45 am

University of Pennsylvania’s interim president, Larry Jameson, responded on Feb. 4 to anti-Semitic cartoons published by a lecturer at Penn’s Annenberg School of Communications, saying that while he  finds the images "reprehensible," the school has a "bedrock commitment to open expression." There has not been any move to sanction or remove cartoonist Dwayne Booth from the faculty. This came came after a Washington Free Beacon report discovered the cartoons, which depict Zionists sipping Gazan blood from wine glasses—a version of the ancient blood libel employed in anti-Semitic propaganda—as well as doctored historic photos of Jews in a Nazi concentration camp that were made to depict them holding signs that read "Stop The Holocaust In Gaza," and "Gaza, The World's Biggest Concentration Camp."

Carnegie Mellon University granted tenure to Prof. Uju Anya, a self-described "anti-racist feminist" who has been an outspoken critic of Israel's response to Hamas terrorism since Oct. 7. "Jewish lawyer Raphael Lemkin coined the term genocide in 1943 to describe the Nazi campaign to exterminate Jews," Anya wrote. "Genocide describes, for example, the mass slaughter of 3 million Biafrans in Nigeria. Genocide also describes what the state of Israel is doing to people of Palestine." Anya went on to argue that Israeli citizens and "Jewish people around the world" are uniting in opposition to the war on Hamas—more than 80 percent of American Jews support the war, according to a December poll, while 88 percent of Jewish Israelis approve of the Israeli military's performance since Oct. 7.Anya's promotion was celebrated by House Rep. Summer Lee (D-Penn.), who has also come under fire for her antisemitism.

9:20 am

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on Feb. 6 "Israel is our closest ally. And when they threaten Israel – they actually threaten freedom itself."

The Israel Defense Forces revealed today a barred cell area in a major Hamas tunnel beneth southern Gaza’s Khan Younis that it said was used by the terror group to hold hostages. A total of 12 hostages were held in the tunnel at different times, three of whom have already returned to Israel. In addition to the cell used to hold hostages, troops found a bathroom and a rest area for the terrorists guarding the captives. Senior Hamas officials had resided in the tunnel before it was repurposed to hold the hostages, and that troops recovered weapons in the subterranean passage. The military said the tunnel was built “in the heart of a civilian area in Khan Younis” and according to its estimates, millions of  dollars, donated by Western countries, were invested in its construction.

According to a CNN report: “The stale, damp air inside the tunnel smells of sewage. The walls are slimy, and they feel like they are closing in. When the light goes off, everything is plunged into complete darkness. Inside this maze of tunnels under Khan Younis, there is a narrow room with an arched ceiling, divided in half by a barred metal gate. The musty chamber, which looks like a makeshift cell, is where the Israeli military says Hamas held at least 12 of the hostages kidnapped and brought to Gaza on October 7.”

 

Troops of the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit and other special forces under the 98th Division raided the “strategic” underground network, which the IDF said was around one half-mile long. “The troops battled terrorists in the tunnel, breached blast doors, and neutralized explosive devices,” the IDF said. The tunnel is part of a “branching underground labyrinth” that also connects to another tunnel where hostages were held, revealed by the IDF several weeks ago.

The revelation came hours after Hamas proposed a ceasefire plan that would see a four-and-a-half-month truce during which the hostages would be freed in three stages, and which would lead to an end to the war. This was the terror group’s counterproposal to an outline sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and backed by the United States and Israel. The Hamas plan would also see steps taken to address the spiraling humanitarian crisis in the enclave. Israel's government is expected to release a formal response to Hamas' plan today.

It is believed that 132 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November. Four hostages were released prior to that, and one was rescued by troops. The bodies of eight hostages have also been recovered and three hostages were mistakenly killed by the military. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015, respectively, along with the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, since 2014. As many as 50 hostages are believed to be dead, according to Israeli intelligence. It was revealed that among the dead are two infant boys.

More than 27,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. These figures cannot be independently verified, are believed to include fatalities caused by failed rocket fire by Gaza terror groups, and do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed 10,000 Hamas gunmen in Gaza, as well as 1,000 terrorists in Israel on October 7.

The IDF said today that troops are continuing to raid Hamas sites across the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli Air Force and Navy hit targets belonging to the terror group. The IDF said the Paratroopers Brigade battled and killed dozens of Hamas operatives in western Khan Younis over the past day. The soldiers also discovered and seized weapons used by Hamas, including assault rifles and explosives, the IDF said.

Today, the IDF announced that Staff Sgt. (res.) Hanan Drori, 26, had died from a fungal infection after being seriously injured in Gaza, bringing the toll of slain troops in the ground offensive against Hamas to 227.

More than 27,400 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. These figures cannot be independently verified, are believed to include fatalities caused by failed rocket fire by Gaza terror groups, and do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel says it has killed 10,000 Hamas gunmen in Gaza, as well as 1,000 terrorists in Israel on October 7.

Also in western Khan Younis, the IDF said troops of the Maglan commando unit killed several Hamas gunmen in close-quarters combat, including three operatives who fired anti-tank missiles, and the Egoz commando units raided several Hamas sites, killing operatives in the process and discovering tunnel shafts.

In another area of Khan Younis, the IDF, said the 646th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade spotted a Hamas operative near them and called in an airstrike. A short while later, three more operatives were spotted and were also struck and killed in strikes, the IDF said. The Givati Brigade, also in Khan Younis, killed several Hamas operatives and located weapons and documents belonging to the terror group, it said.

 

9:10 am

Sylvia Yacoub - a Foreign Service Office with the US State Department who accused President  Biden of "genocide" and worked to undermine the administration’s support for Israel remains in her post more than three months after her social media activity drew widespread outrage, according to sources familiar with the matter.

8:30 am

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry has said there will be “no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognized”. In a statement, the Saudis said, "Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the US administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which runs the Eurovision song contest, has told Al Jazeera that Israel will not be excluded from this year’s contest. Despite multiple calls for Israel to be banned from the show, the EBU stated, "As a member-led organisation, our governing bodies … did review the participants list for the 2024 Contest and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster KAN met all the competition rules for this year and can participate as it has for the past 50 years.” t

In Britain's parliament, opposition Labour MP Fleur Anderson has asked prime minister Rishi Sunak if the UK government would consider bringing forward the moment when the UK might recognize a Palestinian state, as implied recently by foreign secretary David Cameron. Asked if Sunak had signed off on those comments, he told lawmakers in Westminster that the longstanding position has been that the UK will recognise a Palestinian state when that is most conducive to the peace process.Speaking during a visit last week in Lebanon, Cameron said no recognition could come while Hamas remained in Gaza, but that it could take place while Israeli negotiations with Palestinian leaders were continuing.

A national ceremony is being led by French president Emmanuel Macron today to pay tribute to French victims of the October 7 attack in Israel by Hamas. The ceremony will pay homage to 42 French citizens who died in the attack and three hostages still believed to be held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza, Macron’s office said. Four French hostages have been previously released. Families of victims were also due to attend the ceremony, many having come from Israel on a special flight chartered by France.

Al Jazeera journalist Hani Mahmoud reported sounds of explosions in Rafah as Israeli gunboats fired on the main coastal road to the west of the city today. He said: "There was a massive airstrike just a few blocks from where we’re reporting. Eleven people have been killed in intense attacks overnight. Among those were a journalist and his mother and sister. It looks like a targeted killing in his flat.” Mahmoud claimed that the situation in Rafah was “very serious and getting more intense by the hour”. He added: “Concerns are growing that an Israeli ground invasion is imminent.”

The UN special representative for the Middle East, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, called for restraint and said the region is at “a critical juncture” in a speech to the security council on Feb. 6. “With the conflict raging in Gaza, as well as armed action elsewhere, the Middle East is at a critical juncture, and the same is true for Iraq,” said Hennis-Plasschaert, who is the head of the UN Mission in Iraq (UNAMI). She added:“With Iraq cloaked in an already complex tapestry of challenges; it is of greatest importance that all attacks cease.” She said “an enabling environment” will be essential for Iraq to continue on the path of stability, which requires restraint from all sides. “Yes, indeed, from Iraq’s armed actors, and, as might be expected, restraint from Iraq’s neighbours and other countries is just as crucial,” she said.

Hamas has responded to a US-backed Israeli ceasefire plan for the war in Gaza with its own proposal for a permanent end to the fighting. It is a position Israel is almost certain to reject, but which mediators are viewing positively, as it appears the group is willing to engage in further negotiations. Hamas put forward its three-stage plan late on Feb. 6. Under the plan. Palestinian militants would exchange Israeli hostages they abducted on October 7 for 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, secure the reconstruction of Gaza, ensure the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, and an exchange of bodies and remains, according to a draft document. Muhhamed Nazzal, a senior member of Hamas’s political bureau, told Al Jazeera that Hamas had received the proposal sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and backed by the US and Israel, and that the group’s counter proposal was “more specific” and “provided deadlines”. “These timelines were specified by Hamas itself,” Nazzal said. He added: “Among these details, none can be compromised. The Israeli killing machine must be brought to a halt. We wish to see Israeli occupation forces’ withdrawal from the Gaza Strip entirely. Our response is realistic and our demands are reasonable.” Nazzal said that Hamas fears that the Israelis are “not seriously committed to this deal”. He said the inclusion of the permanent ceasefire in the second stage of the agreement has been put there to test whether they are.  

The Qatar-based news organisation asked Nazzal about President Biden's comment that Hamas' counterproposal was “a little over the top”. Nazzal responded: "We do not expect the American president to come up with a better statement. He is totally biased and was part of the war waged on Gaza. He provided the political and legal cover for the Israelis and has supported all of Netanyahu’s moves. They worked hand in hand, providing military and financial assistance. We expect the US administration to come up with a final decision: Are they willing for the war to continue? Or do they want a permanent ceasefire?”

Israeli military say its troops killed dozens of Palestinian militants in Gaza in past 24 hours in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis over the past 24 hours. Israeli troops discovered large quantities of weapons and uncovered more tunnel shafts in the area, the military said in a statement.

Israeli airstrikes over the central city of Homs and nearby areas killed and wounded civilians, according to the Syrian state news agency Sana today. There was no immediate comment from Israel. Sana quoted an unidentified military official as saying the strikes late on Feb. 6 damaged both private and public property, without giving additional details. The Israeli jets reportedly struck the Syrian city and the countryside from over the Mediterranean Sea near the Lebanese coastal city of Tripoli. The areas struck included the affluent al-Malaab neighbourhood and Hamra street. It said Israel hit farmland in al-Waer, causing fires but no casualties there. According to UK-based pro-opposition war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Humanitarian Rights, at least six civilians were killed, among them a woman and a child, as well as two militants from the Lebanese Hezbollah group. The casualties were all in a building on Hamra street that was apparently targeted in one of the strikes, it said. Search efforts were ongoing, the Observatory added. It said at least nine explosions were heard in Homs and its outskirts, where Hezbollah is reportedly present.

Israel rarely acknowledges its actions in Syria, but it has said it targets bases of Iran-allied militant groups such as Hezbollah, which has sent thousands of fighters to support Syrian president Bashar Assad’s forces. It has also targeted members of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guards in Syria, including a high-ranking general last December.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken was set to meet Israeli leaders today as Hamas suggested it was open to a new ceasefire and hostage release deal as the war enters its fifth month. The US, Israel, Qatar and Egypt have proposed a ceasefire of several weeks in return for a phased release of hostages taken by Hamas during its 7 October attack in Israel. Hamas responded to the offer late on Tuesday in what it said was a “positive spirit” while reiterating its core demands for an end to the Israeli offensive and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, which US president Joe Biden said were “a little over the top.”

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the war will continue until “total victory” over Hamas and the return of all the remaining hostages.

Blinken is pushing for a larger postwar settlement in which Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in return for a “clear, credible, time-bound path to the establishment of a Palestinian state.” However, Israeli PM Netanyahu is opposed to Palestinian statehood, and Saudi Arabia has conditioned diplomatic normalization with Israel on Palestinian statehood.Blinken acknowledged “there’s still a lot of work to be done.” But he said he still believed an agreement on the hostages was possible. At a press conference in Qatar on Tuesday, he said a pathway to more lasting peace was “coming ever more sharply into focus” but would require “hard decisions” by the region’s leaders.
 

8:00 am

At least 31 of the 136 remaining Israeli hostages captured by Hamas are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military seen. There are unconfirmed intelligence reports indicating that at least 20 other hostages may also be dead.

The US military said Houthi militants targeted shipping in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with six ballistic missiles. Centcom said a Marshall Island owned bulk carrier received minor damage, but there were no injuries reported.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) expects its preliminary report into Israeli claims that a dozen of its employees took part in the October 7 attack on Israel to be ready by early next month. Dorothee Klaus told reporters in Lebanon that the agency expects donors who suspended their funding after the claims emerged to review their decisions based on the probe. The US and UK were among those who pulled funding for the agency after Isreal’s claims.

A UK ship travelling through the southern Red Sea has been attacked by a drone but no one has claimed responsibility as yet. The British military’s United Kingdom maritime trade operations says the attack happened west of Hodeida, Yemen, and caused “slight damage” to the ship’s windows on the bridge. A small vessel had been nearby the ship before the attack, it added.

A 14-year-old Palestinian armed boy was shot dead by Israeli security forces near occupied East Jerusalem after an attempted stabbing attack. Photos of the assailant's knife and pistol circulated on social media.

Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.

Russia summoned Israel’s ambassador in Moscow over comments Simona Halperin made in an interview. She had criticised Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.
 

February 7,2024

 

2:30 pm

Javier Milei, was warmly welcomed by Israeli officials as he announced plans to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem during a trip to Israel. Milei, on his first official visit since taking office besides a brief stop at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland, arrived in Israel today. Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, embraced him on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv. In the past, Milei has spoken of his intention to convert to Judaism. During his stay in Jerusalem, he prayed at the Wailing Wall and planted a tree.

The US is escalating war in the Middle East through its attacks in Syria and Yemen, Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said. Russia has requested an urgent session of the UN Security Council after the US carried out airstrikes in Syria and Iraq allegedly in response to a drone attack on an American military outpost in Jordan. The bombings have “once again demonstrated the aggressive nature of US policy in the Middle East and Washington’s complete disregard for the norms of international law,” Nebenzia said during the UNSC meeting in New York on Monday.

1:55 pm

 

Employees of a London theater refused to staff a pro-Israel event hosted by British journalist Douglas Murray on the evening of Feb. 4. Staff had received threats via email, according to Alan Aziz, the CEO of Technion UK, the nonprofit that organized the fundraiser. Murray and British actress Louisa Clein planned to hold the discussion to raise money for Israeli soldiers.  "My event in central London tonight has been moved after the theatre that was meant to be hosting it cowered to a campaign of intimidation," Murray posted on X. "We have arrived at the point where theatres in London no longer feel safe to support free speech - or at least not when the subject is about Jews or Israel."

The New York Times reported that at least 32 of the 136 remaining Israeli hostages captured by Hamas are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military. The figure amounts to more than a fifth of the remaining hostages behind held by Hamas.

Argentine President Javier Milei was greeted on arrival in Israel by foreign minister Yisrael Katz, and announced his intention to move the Argentine embassy to Jerusalem. The embassy is presently located in Tel Aviv.

The Royal Navy said that HMS Richmond frigate has taken over responsibility for the UK’s contribution to protecting shipping in Red Sea. The Type 23 frigate replaces HMS Diamond, which had come under fire from Iran-backed Houthi forces on three occasions during its time on duty in the region.

Private security firm Ambrey said that a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier was targeted by Houthi terrorists while heading through the Maritime Security Transit Corridor about 53 nautical miles southwest of Aden. The vessel was travelling from the US to India. The vessel and crew were safe, both Ambrey and UKMTO, who earlier reported the incident, said.

Lebanese foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib summoned the British ambassador and handed him a note of protest regarding British foreign minister David Cameron’s visit to Beirut, the Lebanese state news agency (NNA) said today. There were no further details on the reason for the note of protest.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken landed in Egypt and met with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi and US ambassador Herro Mustafa Garg. He met with the Saudi leader on Feb. 5 to discuss “regional coordination to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza”, according to the state department spokesperson Matthew Miller.  He will visit Israel as well as Egypt and Qatar. Speaking on Feb. 5 after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said there was “real hope” for success of a “good, strong [ceasefire] proposal”. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in to Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment.

UNRWA expects its report into Israeli claims staff were involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas will be ready early next month. UNRWA representative for Lebanon Dorothee Klaus told reporters in Lebanon that the agency expects donors who suspended their funding after the claims emerged to review their decisions based on the probe. The US and UK were among those who pulled funding for the agency after Isreal’s claims. 

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have said they fired naval missiles at two ships, Star Nasia and Morning Tide, in the Red Sea. According to Reuters, Houthi spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised speech that the ships targeted were US and British flagged. However, records from shipping trackers show they are flagged to the Marshall Islands and Barbados.

The US military says it’s carried out more strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, hitting what it describes as “explosive uncrewed surface vehicles or USV’s”, which Reuters says are explosive-laden drone boats.

A UK ship travelling through the southern Red Sea has been attacked by a drone but no one has claimed responsibility as yet. The British military’s United Kingdom maritime trade operations says the attack happened west of Hodeida, Yemen, and caused “slight damage” to the ship’s windows on the bridge. A small vessel had been nearby the ship before the attack, it added.

Six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late on Feb. 4 by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias. The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Monday the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops. Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility.

The Israeli military claimed it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli bombardment continues in Khan Younis, with large areas east of the city of Deir al-Balah also being targeted. At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency Ocha.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
A 14-year-old Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli security forces near occupied East Jerusalem after what they claimed was an attempted stabbing attack.

Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Feb. 5. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Russia summoned Israel’s ambassador in Moscow over comments Simona Halperin made in an interview. She criticized Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.

A former French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is to lead an independent review of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees after accusations by Israel that at least 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October. The review was ordered by Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), last month before the publication of the Israeli allegations and a subsequent mass exodus of donors led by the US and UK.

February 6, 2024

8:15 pm

France wants proof from Hamas that medication sent for Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip has reached them, a member of French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s entourage said today. Weeks after medicine was delivered to the Gaza Strip for hostages held in Gaza, the countries involved in the complex operation still do not know whether the drugs eventually reached the captives. “We know that the medications effectively entered into Gaza,” the official said, adding, “The modalities of their transfer to the hostages were dealt with under Qatar’s mediation. We now expect to receive verifiable proof that the medications have reached their beneficiaries.”

“The responsibility lies on Hamas and is a matter of regular exchanges with Qatari authorities,” the official said. France is working with Qatar and other countries on the matter. Sejourne met later today with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah and was due to travel to Lebanon on Feb. 6. Sejourne voiced support Abbas and the PA. “The future of the Gaza Strip is inseparable from the future of the West Bank, we must prepare for this future by supporting the Palestinian Authority,” Sejourne said. “It must renew itself and redeploy as soon as possible in the Gaza Strip,” where Hamas seized power in 2007, he added. “I repeat: Gaza is Palestinian land,” he said. He asked for  “a comprehensive political solution, with two states living in peace side by side,” urging the resumption of the peace process “without delay.” Israel and the Palestinians have not held substantive peace talks in more than a decade. “Without a political solution, there will be no just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Sejourne said.

Sejourne announced that France will donate 200,000 euros to the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel, to help Hamas victims deal with sexual violence and sexual crimes committed on October 7. Reports of rape and sexual violence have multiplied since October 7, and at the start of December, Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, said Hamas used rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia today on a trip that also will take him to Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank.  

The Biden administration strongly opposes a plan by the Republicans in the House for a standalone bill to provide aid to Israel. President Biden will veto it if it reaches his desk, the White House said today while pushing for legislation that includes support for Israel, Ukraine and border security. The bill would provide a higher level of funding for Ukraine than for the United States Marin Corps.

Police arrested  200 protesters at Pennsylvania state capitol who oppose the state government’s investments in Israel. Organizers of the protest in Harriburg said some were cited with failure to disperse and then released shortly afterward. Protesters wore shirts saying “Divest from genocide.” One large sign says the state should reinvest that tax money in healthcare, housing, schools and climate. There were chants of “Free Palestine” before and after those espousing the notion were arrested. The event was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, the Philly Palestine Coalition, and the Pennsylvania Council on American-Islamic Relations. It began this morning outside the Capitol, but moved to the Rotunda by early afternoon.

The speaker of Israel's Knesset, Amir Ohana, met with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Washington DC. He told Sullivan that Hamas must be completely destroyed and that Israel “appreciates the support of the US from the beginning of the war, particularly the efforts that are being made to bring back the hostages, including US citizens.” Ohana says that “these are critical days which will determine the fate of the entire region,” pointing to escalations by the Houthis and other Iran-backed militias, including against US forces and international shipping routes. Ohana also met with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, along with a number of family members of hostages as well as several other members of the Knesset. He will meet House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Capitol on Feb. 6.

The Pentagon says that there were likely casualties from the recent US strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria, but an assessment was still ongoing. “It’s fair to conclude that there likely were casualties associated with these strikes,” Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder tells reporters. He adds that there had been two attacks against US troops in Syria since the Friday strikes, but there were no US injuries.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said video footage of an IDF soldier standing over a stripped, bound and wounded Palestinian in Gaza is “deeply troubling.” The clip was uploaded to Instagram by Yosee Gamzoo, who appears to be soldier in the video. The post was later deleted as well as Gamzoo's Instagram account after pro-Palestinian accounts got wind of it and accused him of torturing the suspect. Asked about the footage in a briefing, Patel says he had not seen it before. “I have no knowledge or information as it relates to the circumstances surrounding that incident,” Patel clarified. “I will leave it to the IDF to speak to those specific situations, but we have been clear to them that the respect for basic human rights, that humanitarian law needs to be respected and that those who do not comply need to be held accountable,” he added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed “building a more integrated region” with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during their meeting in Riyadh, the State Department says, using language widely understood to refer to an Israel-Saudi normalization agreement. Saudi Arabia it is still interested in normalizing relations with Israel but that it will be contingent on Israel agreeing to create a pathway for the future establishment of a Palestinian state — something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has all but rejected.

Blinken also “underscored the importance of addressing humanitarian needs in Gaza and preventing further spread of the conflict,” the State Department said. “The secretary and crown prince continued discussions on regional coordination to achieve an enduring end to the crisis in Gaza that provides lasting peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike,” the State Department declared. 

8:00 pm

Six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late on Feb. 4 by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria in the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the weekend against Iran-backed militias. The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said today the attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops. Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibilty.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on his fifth visit to the region since October in the coming hours. He will visit Israel as well as Egypt and Qatar. Speaking Monday after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said there was “real hope” for success of a “good, strong [ceasefire] proposal”. Jake Sullivan, President Biden's security adviser, said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in to Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment.

In its latest operational update the Israeli military claims it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli bombardment continues in Khan Younis, with large areas east of the city of Deir al-Balah also being targeted. At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency OCHA.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
A 14-year-old Palestinian child was shot dead by Israeli security forces near occupied East Jerusalem after what they claimed was an attempted stabbing attack.

Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers on Monday. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.

7:45 pm

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must choose between his political allies on the right and “the way of Lapid and Gantz,” Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said today. Yair Lapid is the leader of the opposition and of the Yesh Atid Party in the Israeli parliament, while Minister-without-Portfolio Benny Gantz is head of the National Unity Party and a member of Netanyahu’s War Cabinet.

The Israel-Hamas war hurt fourth-quarter 2023 sales at McDonald’s as anti-Israel activists targeted the fast food giant over perceived corporate support for the Jewish state. Global same-store sales increased by 3.4% in the three months that ended on Dec. 31, 2023, well below the 4.7% rise expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Revenue at U.S. outlets grew in line with expectations, but at Middle Eastern franchises the growth was a paltry 0.7%.

Israel will bring in 65,000 foreign workers from India, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan to replace Palestinian construction laborers amid the war with Hamas, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on Feb. 4.

Israeli Ambassador to Moscow Simona Halperin will be called on the carpet at the Russian Foreign Ministry over objectionable comments. “Due to unacceptable public statements by the Israeli envoy, which distort Russian foreign policy approaches and historical facts, Halperin will be summoned to the Foreign Ministry,” the ministry told the TASS news agency.

Former president Donald Trump said on Feb. 4 that Israel played a significant role in planning the 2020 assassination of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, but stopped short of actually participating in the hit. “Israel was a part of it. Bibi [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] was a big part of it. And we had everything planned because what he [Soleimani] has done is terrible. What he did to us is terrible. He killed so many of our soldiers. He killed so many people. He’s the father of the roadside bomb,” Trump told Fox News journalist Maria Bartiromo.

2:00 pm

Speaking to IDF soldiers in Latrun, Israeli PM Netanyahu said that 75% of Hamas battalions have been destroyed, and that “there is no substitute for total victory.” “We are on the path to total victory,” Netanyahu told Battalion 8104, “and I want to tell you that we are committed to it and we will not give it up. We will not end the war without achieving this goal of total victory, which will restore security to both the south and the north.”

An anti-Israel professor who previously held a machete to a reporter's neck has been fired from Cooper Union College in New York City's East Village after sharing a post featuring an advertisement of a pro-Israel event with cockroaches crawling over the image, the New York Post reported. Shellyne Rodriguez announced her termination in an email to students on January 23 in which she claimed, “Cooper Union has fired me because of a social media post I made about ‘Zionists.'"

20,000 more Israeli soldiers have been called up for duty at Israel's border with Lebanon. Hezbollah continue to fire rockets into Israel from Lebanon. 

11:48 am

In England, London’s Metropolitan Police says an officer photographed on Feb. 3 wearing a “boycott Israeli apartheid” sticker on his arm was unaware that someone had placed it there during an anti-Israel march in central London. “A member of the public witnessed this and quickly removed it,” wrote Matt Ward, deputy assistant commissioner of the police. “The officer is shaken by the online commentary overnight and we are supporting him.

According to New York Jewish Week and The Times of Israel: "Friday’s rally outside of Columbia University, which sought to 'globalize the intifada,' drew some 2,000 participants. That’s thanks, in part, because a group called Within Our Lifetime brought its supporters to the campus to protest the school’s suspension of pro-Palestinian groups. The group, known for protests endorsing Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel and for its calls to eliminate Israel, was co-founded by a former leader of Students for Justice in Palestine, which is currently suspended at Columbia and whose national organization praised the Oct. 7 invasion as a 'historic win.' The groups have become among the most visible public opponents of Israel in New York City and beyond. But despite their prominence, their finances and internal operations are hard to track. That’s because both route all of their donations through a small, low-profile nonprofit in Westchester chaired by Howard Horowitz, a left-wing Jewish activist who came to his current anti-Zionist views partly through his time living in Israel decades ago.

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Iran issued a warning on Feb. 4 to the U.S. over potentially targeting two cargo ships in the Mideast long suspected of serving as forwarding operating base for Iranian commandos, just after America and the United Kingdom launched a massive airstrike campaign against Yemen's Houthi rebels. The statement from Iran on the Behshad and Saviz ships appeared to signal Tehran's growing unease over the U.S. strikes in recent days in Iraq, Syria and Yemen targeting militias backed by the Islamic Republic.

A British aircraft carrier that had been set to lead the largest NATO exercises since the Cold War did not set sail Feb. 4 after a problem with its propeller was discovered during final checks, the Royal Navy said. The HMS Queen Elizabeth will not join the exercises off Norway’s Arctic coast and will be replaced by the HMS Prince of Wales. Last week, the UK announced that it would send ships to the Red Sea to address attacks by Yemen's Houthi terrorists, who have attacked shipping along the narrow strait between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.

On Feb. 4, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu set out the country’s core demands for ending the war against Hamas in Gaza. “The essential goal is, first of all, the elimination of Hamas. To achieve this goal, three things are needed,” Netanyahu told journalists at the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv.

IDF says troops raided a building in Khan Younis used by a senior Hamas commander, as fighting and strikes against the terror group continue across the Gaza Strip.

Hamas terrorists arrested a group of Gazan men who had initiated street protests against Hamas a few days ago, demanding an end to the war.

The Hamas terrorist organization is expected to turn down an offer for a hostages-for-ceasefire deal with Israel along the lines of the previous agreement, which saw over 100 captives being freed in November, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya news channel reported on Feb. 4. As part of that deal, Israel released hundreds of female and teenage Palestinian security prisoners, in addition to pausing its military campaign in the Gaza Strip.

As part of operations in western Khan Yunis, the Israeli Givati Brigade conducted a targeted raid on the "Al-Qadsia" compound, which serves as the main base of Hamas' Khan Yunis Brigade. The office of Mohammad Sinwar - the brother of Yahya Sinwar - was located at the compound. When entering the area, the forces identified that the compound was booby-trapped by Hamas terrorists with many explosives, including buried inside the walls, which were neutralized by engineering forces. In addition, many terrorists entrenched near the position opened fire toward the soldiers. The terrorists were neutralized by sniper fire, tank fire and the Israeli Air Force.

NBC’s Kristen Welker said on Feb 4 during a televised interview: “60% disapprove of [Biden’s] handling of foreign policy.” In response, President Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said: “I can’t speak for the American people.”

Over the Feb. 3-4 weekend, former president Donald Trump said: "We've always got to protect Israel, in my opinion."

The Biden administration has denied a report that the president has a strongly negative view of Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and has used crude language to describe the Israeli leader. A Feb. 4 story by Politico claimed that the president is “deeply suspicious” of Israel’s leader and had said privately that Netanyahu was a “bad f–ing guy.”

United Nations envoy Pramila Patten concluded her eight-day visit to Israel today after receiving a first-hand account of the sexual violence committed by Hamas during the terrorist group’s bloody cross-border attack on Oct. 7. “Only after I saw the video did I understand things that I didn’t understand before in terms of the magnitude of the disaster that happened,” the Mauritian barrister said according to Ynet. 
 

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At least six members of US-backed Kurdish-led group killed in drone strike in Syria. This was the first significant attack in Syria or Iraq since the US launched strikes over the Feb 3-4 weekend against Iran-backed militias that have been targeting its forces in the region, six allied Kurdish fighters were killed late Feb. 4 by a drone attack on a base also housing US troops in eastern Syria. The US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said today that the militia attack hit a training ground at al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour, where the forces’ commando units are trained. No casualties were reported among US troops.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia. He is expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. This is his fifth visit to the region since the October 7 attack by Hamas inside southern Israel. Blinken is also set to visit Egypt, Qatar and Israel later this week in an attempt to secure a pause in fighting that will allow hostages to be released. Hamas is believed to still have about 136 people in captivity in Gaza, not all of whom are believed to still be alive. In recent days the US has carried out strikes inside Syria, Iraq and Yemen on targets it says are Iran-backed militants.  Speaking this weekend after meeting in Washington with Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Blinken said there was “real hope” for success of a “good, strong [ceasefire] proposal”. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Blinken would press Israel to allow more food, water, medicine and shelter in to Gaza, which has been left in rubble by nearly four months of bombardment.

In July 2022, President Joe Biden visited Saudi Arabia, and said afterwards he told the crown prince that he held him personally responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a US-based journalist. The Biden administration later ruled that the crown prince enjoyed head-of-state immunity from any decision by an American court on the murder of the journalist, who had been living in exile in the US before his death.

Israeli police have published footage showing what they say was an attempted stabbing attack earlier today near Israeli-occupied al-Eizariya in the West Bank. Police shot dead the 14-year-old during the incident. Palestinian news agency Wafa identified the attacker as Wadee Oweisat from Jabal al-Mukkaber, near East Jerusalem.

Thomas White, head of Gaza affairs for UNRWA, tweeted photos of damage to aid trucks waiting to move into northern Gaza that he claimed had been targeted by Israeli naval gunfire. 

In its latest operational update the Israeli military claims it has killed “dozens of terrorists” in the central and northern Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours. Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that Israeli bombardment continues in Khan Younis, with large areas east of the city of Deir al-Balah also being targeted. At least 20 Palestinians were killed over the weekend in Israeli strikes on Rafah, the city previously designated a safe zone by the Israeli military and to where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had fled, according to the UN agency humanitarian agency OCHA.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported on social media that Israeli forces have detained the general manager and the administrative director of the Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.
Citing security sources and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, news agency Wafa reports that Israel has detained another 22 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Describing the raids as a “large-scale military incursion” across the territory, Wafa reports nearly 6,540 Palestinians have been detained since October 7.

Spain will send the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA an additional €3.5m (£3m / $3.8m) in aid, foreign minister José Manuel Albares told lawmakers today. The agency has warned of a significant funding shortfall after several large donors suspended funding after Israel accused 12 UNRWA employees of participating in the October 7 Hamas attack inside southern Israel.

Russia has summoned Israel’s ambassador in Moscow over comments Simona Halperin made in an interview. She had criticized Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov for playing down the importance of the Holocaust and said Russia was being too friendly with Hamas.

February 5, 2024

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