JERUSALEM - Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved plans for an attack on Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza, where more than a million people displaced from elsewhere in the territory have sought shelter, officials in Israel have said.
The decision was made as a ship towing a barge loaded with food arrived off Gaza on Friday. It was a test run for a new aid route by sea from Cyprus into the devastated Palestinian territory, where famine looms after five months of Israel’s military campaign.
Any attack on Rafah is likely to cause civilian casualties and worsen an already acute humanitarian crisis across Gaza.
Germany’s foreign affairs minister, Annalena Baerbock, tweeted: “A large-scale offensive in #Rafah cannot be justified. Over a million refugees have sought protection there and have nowhere to go. A humanitarian truce is needed immediately so that more people don’t die and the hostages are finally released.”
Netanyahu made the decision after a meeting of Israel’s war cabinet to discuss a new proposal from Hamas for a ceasefire.
As a first stage, Hamas has proposed it would release the Israeli women, children, elderly and sick people it is holding hostage in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including some convicted of multiple murders of Israelis.
The militant Islamist organisation seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages when it launched an attack into Israel in October, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians. About half of the hostages were released during a week-long truce in November; Israel believes about 130 of the captives remain in Gaza and that 32 are dead.
The proposal, which came after talks were stalled for about 10 days, appears to allow for a definitive end to hostilities to be scheduled after, rather than before, a first 40-day ceasefire – a significant concession by Hamas.
Netanyahu’s office described the new demands as “unrealistic” but said an Israeli delegation would leave for Qatar, a key mediator in the negotiations, to discuss Israel’s position on a potential agreement.
Observers said the new announcement about plans to attack Rafah may have been intended to put pressure on Hamas during any talks.
Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli army was preparing “operational issues” and the evacuation of the civilian population from Rafah. No potential timeline was given for the assault. It could take many weeks to prepare the large force needed to take on the several thousand Hamas militants who Israeli officials say are based in the city.
Joe Biden has called an attack on Rafah a “red line” if undertaken without sufficient precautions to protect civilians. Few observers have been convinced by Israeli military officials’ promises to create protected zones to shelter huge numbers of civilians to be evacuated from the city before any assault.
Officials in Israel have repeatedly said destroying any remaining Hamas forces in Rafah is essential to achieving their war aims.
Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 31,341 people, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The UN has warned of famine in Gaza and the growing humanitarian emergency has prompted some countries to diversify aid supply routes, including by air and sea, as land access to Gaza via Jordan, Israel and Egypt remains limited.
On Friday a Spanish ship travelling a new maritime corridor from Cyprus began unloading its cargo of food at a makeshift jetty off the Gaza coast. It is unclear how the aid will be distributed. Fighting is continuing in parts of north and central Gaza, including around the areas where the jetty has been prepared.
Officials in the territory said Israeli fire killed 20 people waiting to receive aid on Thursday, in an echo of a similar incident at the end of February when scores of Palestinians were killed waiting for food trucks in the northern part of Gaza. The Israeli military denied the reports, which it said were part of a “smear campaign” aimed at instigating violence elsewhere.
Gaza officials said the attack occurred as a crowd gathered to receive aid from a truck at the Kuwait roundabout, a key interchange used by humanitarian convoys carrying food into northern Gaza. More than 150 people were wounded, they added.
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Earlier on Thursday, eight people were killed in an airstrike on an aid distribution centre at the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza, health officials said.
The Gaza conflict has displaced most of the territory’s 2.3 million people, and there have been chaotic scenes and deadly incidents during aid distributions in recent weeks.
In the Kuwait roundabout incident, Mohammed Ghurab, the director of emergency services at a hospital in northern Gaza, said there were “direct shots by the occupation forces” on people waiting for a food truck.
An Israel Defense Forces statement said a preliminary review overnight had found “no tank fire, airstrike or gunfire was carried out toward the Gazan civilians at the aid convoy” and blamed “armed Palestinians” for the incident.
It said: “On Thursday 14 March 2024, the IDF facilitated the passage of a convoy of 31 humanitarian aid trucks … Approximately one hour before the arrival of the convoy [at] the humanitarian corridor, armed Palestinians opened fire while Gazan civilians were awaiting the arrival of the aid convoy. The Palestinian gunmen continued to shoot as the crowd of Gazans began looting the trucks. Additionally, a number of Gazan civilians were run over by the trucks.”
Mediators including Qatar, Egypt and the US had hoped to conclude a ceasefire deal before Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, which began on Monday. In Jerusalem, authorities deployed thousands of police around the Old City for Friday prayers.
Despite fears of clashes, by late afternoon an estimated 60,000 people had worshipped without incident. Israeli authorities placed a series of restrictions on worshippers, only issuing day permits for those travelling from the occupied West Bank, for example, and saying that some men under 60 years old would not be allowed to worship.
Hiyam Ashab, 63, said she had been afraid to travel from her home in East Jerusalem. “We have all been feeling tense because of the tragedy in Gaza. The previous years were better. This is supposed to be Ramadan but there are no lights, no decorations, no festivities. It makes me very sad,” she said.
Jowdat Ashab, 42, said it had taken nearly three hours to travel the 4 miles from the family’s house to the Old City. “I was afraid to bring my 15-year-old boy with me because we might have been stopped … Our soul is all the time in the mosque as Muslims. But the occupation is being very hard on us since the war began,” Ashab said.
Hamas leaders have called for massive protest marches by Palestinians during Ramadan, and analysts say this may be aimed at putting pressure on Israel to offer concessions in ceasefire negotiations.
