Netanyahu says that an operation will happen if the cease-fire is not renewed
Gazan Tents and Camps: A Case Study in the First Major Israel-Palestinian War of 1948 – Egypt as a Key Mediator
More than 1 million Palestinians who were displaced by Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip are currently stuck in tent camps on the Gaza side of the border. On the left is Egypt’s vast, thinly populated Sinai Peninsula, where the tightly controlled frontier has a heavy security presence.
This territory could provide a temporary safe haven for Palestinians from Gaza, where more than 29,000 people have been killed and nearly 70,000 wounded since the war began in October, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Egypt, one of the few countries that talks to both sides in the current war, is a key mediator between Israel and Hamas and is working to broker an end to Israel’s war in Gaza. Efforts have taken on greater importance since Israel threatened to launch a major offensive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah.
The cease-fire is the main focus of the talks, according to Egyptian officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
The current crisis is linked to the painful history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the first major Israeli-Palestinian war of 1948, many of Gaza’s 2.2 million people are descendants of Palestinians who were forced out.
The possibility of another Nakba, or catastrophe, as Palestinians refer to their displacement more than 70 years ago, makes many today determined to stay put in Gaza.
The Israeli Red Line Has No Displacement: The Case for a Refugee Family in Rafah, Egypt, As Revealed
In recent weeks, Egyptian diplomats have told their counterparts in the West that they could call off their peace treaty with Israel if an offensive in the Sinai is launched. The security agreement brokered by the U.S ushered in peace between the two neighbors after several wars.
Israel’s government says it doesn’t have that intent. But a few of the more extreme members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition have called for Palestinians to be forced out. Some have even spoken about rebuilding Jewish settlements in Gaza, which Israel dismantled in 2005.
“I’ve never heard anybody say, ‘We want to go to Egypt.’ They don’t want to be bombarded in this place. She tells NPR where they can sleep and wake up the next day. Some people have mentioned that they would like to return to their home. And even if it’s destroyed, I’ll put my tent there and it’ll be safer. I will die at my home.
Over the last couple of weeks, Rafah has been the scene of a number of Israeli strikes, including one that hit the home of a family, killing seven and wounding 18. While neighbors helped the family dig out and carry out the bodies of their friends,NPR producer Anas Baba watched them search the debris for whatever they could find.
“What we have indicated is that the displacement [of Palestinians] into our territory is a red line,” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry recently told the PBS Newshour. “And we appreciate all those who have also indicated that they refuse displacement into Egyptian territory.”
The Palestinian Refugees in the Gaza Strip: Israeli and Palestinian Planned Plans for a Military Offensive against the Last Hamas Stronghold
Netanyahu and Israeli security officials say they’re planning for a military offensive against Gaza’s southern border town of Rafah, which they say is the last Hamas stronghold in the territory.
In a Saturday post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Netanyahu said he’s also meeting with his cabinet this week to “approve the operational plans for action in Rafah, including the evacuation of the civilian population from there.”
President Joe Biden, a staunch supporter of Israel throughout the war, has warned Netanyahu against an offensive in Rafah without a clear plan for relocating the more than 1 million civilians there first.
Egyptian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss security arrangements, tell NPR that a cement-walled security perimeter is being built near the border to hold up to 150,000 people in the event of a breach of Egypt’s border during an Israeli assault on Rafah.
Egypt has made limited exceptions to people trying to flee Gaza throughout the war. Some war-wounded have been given permission to cross into Egypt for treatment. Palestinians with second passports and those with ties to the West have been allowed to leave Gaza, even if they’ve not raised money for visas.
In the aftermath of the Syrian civil war, millions fled to other countries. They included an estimated 120,000 Palestinians, who were already refugees in Syria before they sought shelter elsewhere, according to the U.N. agency that handles Palestinian refugees.
Egypt already hosts around 9 million refugees from the region, though it does not have formal refugee camps. In big cities like Cairo, the refugees live long-term. This is very different from the Palestinian refugee camps in several other Arab countries.
Netanyahu says Israeli operation in Rafah-netanyahu-shtayyeh: With or without cease-fire, Israeli operations will happen
Sullivan said representatives from Israel, the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar met in Paris last week and had an understanding of what the basic details of a hostage deal would look like.
There has been at least two cease-fires since October, when 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 were taken hostage by Hamas. The Gaza Health Ministry said more than 29,000 Palestinians had been killed by Israel’s military response.
“Only a combination of military pressure and firm negotiations will lead to the release of our hostages, the elimination of Hamas and the achievement of all the war’s objectives,” Netanyahu wrote.
It will be delayed a little but it will happen if we have a deal. The prime minister said that they would do it if there wasn’t a deal.
“If Hamas doesn’t release hostages taken from Israel by March 10, then the fighting will continue everywhere, to include the Rafah area” said a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet last week.
According to UNRWA, the U.N. agency that aids Palestinians, 500 truckloads of aid are needed to meet the basic needs of Palestinians. Less than half that amount has been getting in since Oct. 7. According to the U.N., the most trucks have ever entered is 300. The World Food Program had stopped aid distribution in the northern part of Gaza due to security issues.
UNICEF, the U.N. agency advocating for the protection of children, says that one in six children under the age of 2 in Gaza are “acutely malnourished.”
Source: With or without a cease-fire, Netanyahu says Israeli operation in Rafah will happen
The Israeli-Netanyahu-Mohammad: a cease-fire threatens Israeli operations in Rafah, Netanyahu says
The government of the Palestinian Prime Minister resigned on Monday. The move is intended to create a pathway to a new technocratic government to oversee the West Bank as well as the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Authority hasn’t had power over the Gaza Strip since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the strip from the rival Palestinian group.
But both the the Palestinian Authority – which is dominated by Fatah, a secular party – and its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, are unpopular among Palestinians, who see them as riddled by corruption.
Even if Abbas accepts the resignation of Shtayyeh’s government, the matter of creating a new one, bringing various factions together, will be complex. The United States and Israel want a technocratic government to rule Gaza that isn’t controlled by Hamas.
The government is being pressured to bring back the hostages. There have been steady anti-government demonstrations in Israel — with protesters including relatives of hostages — since the start of the war. But Saturday night saw a crowd of thousands in Tel Aviv.
Police and demonstrators clashed, with police using cannons and horses to break up the crowd. 18 people were arrested, according to the Associated Press. Protests were also held in Jerusalem.
Source: With or without a cease-fire, Netanyahu says Israeli operation in Rafah will happen
The Palestinian “Day After Hamas” – Israel’s Last Attempt to See the Good, Evil, and Evil in the Gaza Strip –
Netanyahu’s “Day After Hamas” plan included an Israeli military presence in Gaza for an indefinite period of time, and a buffer zone inside Gaza.
