Battle in Gaza: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu defiant on Rafah invasion as officers meet in Qatar for ceasefire talks

Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated his willpower to hold out a floor invasion of Rafah, regardless of rising strain from Western allies.

The Israeli prime minister rebuked Joe Biden, saying he made it “supremely clear” to the US president he meant to go forward with an assault on the southern Gaza metropolis the place he believes Hamas‘s remaining battalions are hiding.

But US secretary of state Antony Blinken has stated he hopes to safe a ceasefire settlement and the discharge of hostages in Gaza in his upcoming journey to the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Mr Netanyahu‘s intelligence chief, David Barnea, has attended talks in Doha aimed toward reaching a truce, leaving Qatari officers “cautiously optimistic” however they cautioned any floor assault would set again negotiations.

A United Nations-backed report has warned “famine is imminent” in northern Gaza, as round half of the territory’s inhabitants confronted “catastrophic hunger”.

Without pressing motion, there may be anticipated to be famine from now till May, based on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, an company that screens starvation globally.

Alongside that, the UN’s human rights workplace stated Israel’s restrictions on the entry of support into Gaza may quantity to a conflict crime – one thing Israel denied.

In different developments in Gaza:

• Incoming Palestinian PM Mohammad Mustafa laid out plans for a revitalised Palestinian Authority and an unbiased belief fund to supervise Gaza’s reconstruction.
• Italy expressed its robust opposition to any Rafah invasion, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warning of “even more catastrophic consequences for the civilians crowded in that area”.
• Fighting within the Gaza Strip has left not less than 31,819 Palestinians lifeless since 7 October final 12 months, stated the Hamas-run well being ministry.
• Britain’s deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, defended Israel’s proper to guard itself, however referred to as for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza on humanitarian grounds.
• At least 15 Palestinians have been killed by an Israeli airstrike concentrating on a home within the al Nuseirat refugee camp, Palestinian well being officers stated, including that some individuals have been regarded as trapped below the rubble of the three-storey constructing.

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In current weeks, there have been rising tensions between Israel and plenty of its Western allies who’ve change into more and more vocal concerning the nation’s army actions in Gaza.

This comes because the UN warned of attainable conflict crimes being dedicated by Israel, associated to the circulate of support into the territory.

Jeremy Laurence, a UN human rights workplace spokesperson, stated: “The extent of Israel’s continued restrictions on entry of aid into Gaza, together with the manner in which it continues to conduct hostilities, may amount to the use of starvation as a method of war, which is a war crime.”