Israeli forces muster near Rafah
Trump: Biden leading the world into WWIII
About 80,000 people have fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah this week as Israeli tanks mass on the edge of the city and humanitarian aid is choked off by border closures, U.N. agencies said Thursday.
“The toll on these families is unbearable,” the U.N. Relief Works Agency posted on social media. “Nowhere is safe.”
Talks in Cairo were paused Thursday as hopes dimmed that a cease-fire agreement would be reached to end the suffering. Matthew Hollingworth, Palestine director of the World Food Program, said no aid had entered through the southern border crossings in two days.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said the intensification of Israel’s military operations and the closure of key border crossings have severed access to fuel, threatening to grind humanitarian operations to a halt.
Hospitals, primary health care centers, water desalination plants, water wells and sewage pumps could run out of fuel “within days, if not hours,” Russell said.
Israel, which has said about 100,000 people live in the area of Rafah where it plans a “limited” military operation, is directing evacuees to Khan Younis and Al-Mawasi.
Russell said neither is suitable: Khan Younis has been nearly destroyed and Al-Mawasi is a narrow strip of beach that lacks basic infrastructure such as toilets and running water.
White House warned Israel ahead of weapons pause
White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stressed Thursday that Biden’s public promise to pause the delivery of certain weapons to Israel was first communicated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in private.
The Israeli government “has understood this for some time now,” Kirby told reporters. Biden remains committed to ensuring Israel has what it needs to defend itself against all enemies, he said. But the president does not want American weapons to cause significant civilian casualties.
“We’re going to keep working with them on our part to develop alternative approaches that we think will have a better chance of strategic success, a better chance at eliminating the threat that the Israeli people still face from Hamas,” Kirby said.
“The arguments that somehow we’re walking away from Israel fly in the face of the facts,” he said.
Israeli president stands by Biden
Biden has taken severe criticism for pledging to curb the sale of certain weapons to Israel if the southern Gaza city of Rafah is invaded.
Former President Donald Trump on Thursday accused Biden of “leading the world straight into World War III,” and Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted “Hamas loves Biden” on social media early Thursday.
But Israeli president Isaac Herzog urged Israelis not to make “irresponsible and insulting statements and tweets that harm the national security.” Allies – including Israel and its “greatest ally, the U.S.” – can work through disputes, he said.
“I would like to say thank you to President Biden, who is a great friend of the state of Israel, and who proved as such from the first day of the war,” he said.
Some nations already have cut off some or all weapons supplies to Israel:
• Italy, one of Israel’s biggest arms suppliers, halted new export approvals when the war began.
• Canada stopped licensing arms exports to Israel in January pending assurances the weapons are used in accordance with humanitarian law.
• The Dutch government halted shipments of F-35 jet parts to Israel in February after an appeals court ruled there was a risk they were being used for violations of humanitarian law.
Ireland, Spain poised to recognize Palestinian state
Ireland Prime Minister Simon Harris told Ireland’s national broadcast station RTE on Thursday that he and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have a “clear plan” for recognizing the state of Palestine.
The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that Spain could join Ireland, Slovenia and Malta in announcing formal recognition of Palestine on May 21.
“There is never a wrong time to do the right thing and the right thing to do right now is to recognize the State of Palestine,” Harris told RTE. The two-state solution is the only way to achieve peace and stability in the region, Sanchez said earlier this week.
Israel has said recognition would reward Hamas for leading the Oct. 7 assault on Israeli civilians that killed almost 1,200 people and ignited the war.
First aid ship sets sail for US-built pier
A ship carrying aid to a pier built by the United States off Gaza set sail Thursday from Cyprus, Cypriot officials said. The U.S. flagged Sagamore, which left the port of Larnaca, will be used to offload supplies onto a floating pier built to expedite aid into the besieged enclave.
Cyprus opened a sea corridor in March to ship aid directly to Gaza, where deliveries via land have been severely disrupted by border closures and Israel’s military offensive.