The UN agency for Palestinian refugees warns of the fate of the inhabitants of Rafah. “Since Israeli forces intensified their operations on May 6, around 80,000 people have fled (the city)seeking refuge elsewhere”, estimated UNRWA on the social networkspecifying that “no place is safe” in the Gaza Strip. “The price these families pay is unbearable”, continued the agency. At the start of the week, the Israeli army ordered Palestinians in this town in the south of the enclave to leave the area in preparation for an offensive in the area. According to the UN, around 1.4 million people are crowded into Rafah, including more than a million displaced people having fled the fighting which destroyed the north and then the center of the Gaza Strip. Follow our live stream.
Israel considers Joe Biden’s threat “disappointing”. The Israeli ambassador to the UN reacted Thursday to the American president’s threat to stop the delivery of certain weapons to Israel in the event of a major offensive in Rafah, which he considers “difficult to hear and very disappointing”. “It is quite clear that any pressure on Israel, any restriction imposed on it, even from close allies concerned about our interests, is interpreted by our enemies” And “gives them hope”said Gilad Erdan on Israeli public radio.
For the first time, Joe Biden conditions his aid to Israel. The American president warned that he “would not deliver” certain weapons to Israel in the event of a major offensive against the city of Rafah, during an interview on the CNN channel. Asked about the suspension of a first delivery last week, Joe Biden acknowledged that “Civilians were killed in Gaza because of these bombs. (…) It’s bad.”
Rafah bombed and evacuated. Since Monday, the Israeli army has been carrying out massive bombings and incursions into the eastern neighborhoods of the city. She ordered the many Palestinians there, including a large number of internally displaced people in the Gaza Strip, to evacuate to a coastal area further north. “Life has completely stopped in the city center, (…) the streets are empty, the markets are at a standstill”testifies a Gazan, Marwan al-Masri, to AFP.
Negotiations underway in Cairo. Indirect negotiations have resumed since Wednesday to try to reach a compromise on a truce and avoid an assault in Rafah. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, also met in Jerusalem with the director of the CIA, William Burns, to discuss a possible “break” in military operations in the south of the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of hostages, according to an Israeli official.
Catastrophic humanitarian crisis. The closure of the Rafah crossing point and military operations in the same city are leading to a worsening of living conditions in the Gaza Strip. The UN has said it only has one day of fuel reserves left for its humanitarian operations. A British emergency doctor on mission in the south of the enclave, James Smith, describes a health situation to AFP “catastrophic” and a smell of sewage “omnipresent” in the hospital.
