The Latest | More than 100,000 flee Rafah as Netanyahu vows to widen Gaza assault despite US warning
By The Associated Press
About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a U.N. official says.
All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah.
Some 1.3 million Palestinians — over half Gaza’s population — had sought refuge in Rafah.
The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday unless more aid arrives, Petropoulos said.
U.N. officials warn that the lack of fuel is undermining medical facilities, water supplies and sewage systems across Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a U.S. threat to withhold some weapons would not deter Israel from expanding its offensive in Gaza. A limited Israeli operation earlier this week captured the Gaza side of Rafah’s border crossing with Egypt, throwing humanitarian operations into crisis.
The death toll from the war in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials, and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The U.N. says northern Gaza is already in a state of “full-blown famine.”
The war began Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Currently:
— A West Bank village feels helpless after Israeli settlers attack with fire and bullets
— UN to vote on resolution that would grant Palestine new rights and revive its UN membership bid
— Pro-Palestinian protesters demand endowment transparency. But it’s proving not to be simple
— US says Rafah offensive would jeopardize cease-fire talks as Biden threatens to halt more Israel aid
— The Biden-Netanyahu relationship is strained like never before. Can the two leaders move forward?
— What are the latest obstacles to bringing aid into Gaza, where hunger is worsening?
Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Here’s the latest:
ISRAELI TROOPS BATTLE PALESTINIAN MILITANTS IN RAFAH, GAZA CITY
JERUSALEM — Israeli troops are battling Palestinian militants in the southern city of Rafah, where a rocket attack and an Israeli incursion earlier this week closed crucial crossings needed for humanitarian aid.
There are also battles underway in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City in the northern part of the territory. Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive and Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas there.
In a statement released Friday, the military said it had located several tunnels in eastern Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and had eliminated militants “during close-quarters combat and with an aerial strike.”
Hamas’ military wing said it carried out a complex attack in which it struck a house where Israeli troops had taken up a position, an armored personnel carrier and soldiers operating on foot.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. It was not possible to independently confirm the battlefield accounts from either side.
Hamas also said it launched a number of mortar rounds at the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, close to where Israeli troops are operating. The military said it intercepted two launches.
The crossing was closed after a rocket attack last weekend that killed four Israeli soldiers. Israel says it has re-opened its side of the crossing, but the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says the Gaza side is inaccessible because of the ongoing fighting.
Israeli forces captured the Gaza side of the nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, forcing it to shut down. It’s unclear when it will reopen.
Aid groups say a prolonged closure of the crossings will severely hinder humanitarian operations in the territory, where hunger is already rampant.
UN TO VOTE ON RESOLUTION THAT WOULD GRANT PALESTINE NEW RIGHTS AND REVIVE ITS MEMBERSHIP BID
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote Friday on a resolution that would grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and call on the Security Council to favorably reconsider its request to become the 194th member of the United Nations.
The United States vetoed a widely backed council resolution on April 18 that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood made clear Thursday the Biden administration is opposed to the assembly resolution.
Under the U.N. Charter, prospective members of the United Nations must be “peace-loving,” and the Security Council must recommend their admission to the General Assembly for final approval. Palestine became a U.N. non-member observer state in 2012.
Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the 193-member General Assembly and the resolution is expected to be approved by a large majority.
The draft resolution “determines” that a state of Palestine is qualified for membership, dropping the original language that in the General Assembly’s judgment it is “a peace-loving state.” It therefore recommends that the Security Council reconsider its request “favorably.”
At numerous council and assembly meetings, the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza and the killing of more than 34,000 people in the territory, according to Gaza health officials, have generated outrage from many countries.
AL JAZEERA SAYS ALL STAFF HAVE LEFT ISRAEL AFTER GOVERNMENT ORDERED ITS OFFICES CLOSED
JERUSALEM — The pan-Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera said Friday it no longer has any staff operating inside of Israel after an order closing the broadcaster’s offices and halting its on-the-ground reporting there.
The comment by Al Jazeera to The Associated Press comes after Israel’s Communication Ministry said police raided an office of the broadcaster in Nazareth on Thursday after alleging it had been transmitting live video from there.
“Al Jazeera has no staff operating inside Israel. All of our staff have moved to Ramallah to continue the coverage from there, abiding by the law,” the channel said. “However, whoever makes such comments does not understand modern day technologies which allow users to utilize a simple mobile phone to post or share a video online.”
Al Jazeera’s headquarters are in Doha, Qatar.
Israel ordered the local offices of Al Jazeera to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance.
The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites, is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country.
Since the order, the broadcaster has moved many of its English-language service correspondents from Israel to Amman, Jordan. Others still operate from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
UNRWA WILL CLOSE ITS JERUSALEM OFFICE AFTER ISRAELI PROTESTERS SET FIRE TO PERIMETER TWICE
JERUSALEM — The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is closing its Jerusalem compound after Israeli protesters twice set fire to its perimeter.
Philipe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of UNRWA, said no one was injured but that staff had to put the fires out themselves because firefighters and police were slow to arrive.
He shared video of Thursday’s protest, in which the crowd can be heard chanting “Burn the U.N.” in Hebrew. In a post on the platform X, Lazzarini called it an “outrageous development,” saying “once again, the lives of UN staff were at a serious risk.”
He said that in light of the “appalling incident” he had taken the decision to shut down the compound.
On Tuesday, protesters damaged the gate of the compound, prompting the U.N. to lodge a protest with Israeli authorities.
Israel has accused UNRWA, which is the largest provider of humanitarian aid to Gaza, of having links to Hamas and other Palestinian militants, some of whom allegedly took part in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
UNRWA denies any links to such groups. It immediately fired the employees when it was informed about the allegations pertaining to Oct. 7 and launched an internal investigation.
An independent review last month found that UNRWA had submitted full lists of its thousands of staffers to Israel every year since 2011, without Israel expressing concern about any of them.
The review said the agency has “robust” procedures to uphold the U.N. principle of neutrality but cited gaps in implementation.
NETANYAHU VOWS TO ‘FIGHT WITH OUR FINGERNAILS’ AS U.S. SAYS IT WON’T SEND WEAPONS FOR RAFAH ASSAULT
JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu minister said Thursday that his country will “stand alone” if it has to in its war against Hamas after President Joe Biden said the U.S. would not provide offensive weapons for Israel’s long-promised assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
“If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails,” he said. “But we have much more than fingernails.”
Netanyahu’s comments come amid a deepening crisis in relations with the United States.
Israel says that Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza, and Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to invade the city despite widespread international opposition due to concerns over the more than 1 million Palestinian civilians huddled in the city.
Biden’s comments about providing weapons were the latest sign of steadily deteriorating relations between Israel and its closest and most important ally after seven months of Israel’s war against Hamas.
