“We will fight until complete victory, and this includes a powerful operation also in Rafah after we have allowed the civilian population to leave the combat zones.” This is what Benjamin Netanyahu stated on social media, while Washington reiterated that Israel must give answers on where the Palestinians, over a million, who are refugees in the city on the border with Egypt, can go.
USA: “Responses on civilian destination and assistance”
Recalling that there are “over a million people in a confined area”, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that “we need answers not only to the question of where these people need to go but also where how they can get the level of aid, food, medicine, water and shelter” they need, underlining that military operations could disrupt the entry and distribution of this aid.
Biden's advisor then referred to the fact that Rafah is located on the border with Egypt and that “the Egyptians are worried about what an offensive against the city could potentially mean.” “We need clear answers to these concerns too,” concluded Sullivan, explaining that talks with the Israelis are ongoing on these matters.
WHO: “Total attack on Rafah would be a catastrophe”
But the World Health Organization said a large-scale Israeli military offensive against Rafah would “further expand the humanitarian disaster beyond imagination.” The attack “would push the health system closer to the brink of collapse,” Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said, adding. The WHO's ability to distribute medical aid to Gaza is severely limited because many of its requests to deliver supplies have been rejected by Israel, Peerperkorn said. Only 40% of WHO missions in northern Gaza have been authorized since November and this figure has decreased significantly since January. “Even when there is no ceasefire, there should be humanitarian corridors so that the WHO and the UN can do their work,” Peeperkorn said.
The hostage negotiations and Netanyahu's no
Meanwhile, negotiations to reach a truce and the release of the hostages continue. The director of the CIA, William Burns, his Mossad colleague David Barnea and the prime minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, left Cairo after new problems emerged in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas, a source tells CNN diplomat aware of the negotiations, specifying however that these will continue even if no other meetings have been scheduled for the moment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that he continues to consider Hamas' requests “delusional” and for this reason he has decided not to send a delegation to the Egyptian capital tomorrow.
Position harshly contested by the families of the kidnapped according to which not going to Cairo to continue talks with Hamas “is a death sentence”. “The families of the hostages welcomed with amazement the decision to boycott the negotiations in Cairo – the Forum of families of the hostages and missing persons said in a statement – It seems that some of the members of the cabinet decided to sacrifice the lives of the hostages without admitting it “.
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