The Israeli military has increased its attacks in Rafah, southern Gaza, and struck Gaza City while crippling humanitarian support operations across the Palestinian territory as ceasefire talks concluded without a deal. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) stated that 110,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah. Israeli troops were moving in the east of the city in close combat operations and conducting air raids.
“People are petrified. People have been worrying about this for a long, long time and it is now upon us. There is continuous bombardment. There is smoke on the horizon. There are people on the move,” Sam Rose, director of planning for the UNRWA, said. He expressed Israel was subjecting Gaza to a “medieval siege” in a “scorched earth” war. Israeli forces earlier this week took control of the Rafah border crossing, sealing the critical entry point for humanitarian aid. “No aid has come into Gaza now since Sunday. No aid, no fuel, no supplies, nothing. And we really are now down to our last reserves,” Rose stated.
“We have a few more days of flour that we can deliver. But everything else will start to shut down very soon without fuel, without water. So the situation is really desperate,” he added.
Under heavy spells, patients and staff have been forced out of hospitals in Rafah, departing many sick and wounded Palestinians with no way of being treated. “Al-Najjar Hospital is out of service. And the Kuwaiti Hospital [in Rafah] is just for trauma and emergency,” stated Palestinian doctor Mohammed Zaqout. “We have no beds, no hospitals to refer [people to], especially for critical patients.”
Further north, witnesses reported air strikes and fighting in neighbourhoods of Gaza City, targeting Zeitoun, Sabra, Nassr, Tal al-Hawa, and the Shati refugee camp. At least three people were killed and five wounded after Israeli strikes hit a family home in central Gaza City, according to the Wafa news agency.
The Israeli and Hamas representatives left the Egyptian capital, Cairo, after the latest round of ceasefire talks, mediated by Qatar, the United States and Egypt. Hamas stated on Friday that the “ball is now completely” in Israel’s hands. Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed the two sides must demonstrate “flexibility” in order to strike a deal for a ceasefire and an interaction of captives being held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners. Hamas declared a deal would involve a withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, the return of Palestinians expelled by the war, and captives-for-prisoners swap, with the aim of a “permanent ceasefire”.
The group stated it stood by the terms and that Israel had “raised complaints to it on several central issues”. Hamas’s request for an initial 12-week pause in fighting was a significant sticking point for Israel during this week’s truce negotiations, broadcaster CNN reported, citing three sources familiar with the talks.
Israel is committed to pressing ahead with its offensive on Rafah, where 1.4 million displaced Palestinians were harbouring, in defiance of warnings from the UN and its partners, including its key military and political ally, the US. While US President Joe Biden cautioned that he would stop some US weapons supplies to Israel if it took out the ground assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained intractable.
“If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails,” he stated in an interview on Thursday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is anticipated to submit a report to Congress later on Friday on Israel’s behaviour in Gaza, which stops short of concluding that the government has violated the terms for its usage of US weapons, US media platform Axios reported. On Friday, the UN General Assembly is to vote on a resolution that would give new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and call on the UN Security Council to approvingly reconsider Palestine’s request for full membership.
