Netanyahu: Israel cannot be forced into a two-state solution – the night at a glance “Don’t stand in court”: Trump accuser defends himself

Criticism of a possible ground offensive in Rafah is growing

Israel’s planned military offensive against the city of Rafah, which is overcrowded with Palestinians in the south of the closed Gaza Strip, is drawing increasing international criticism.

According to a media report, Egypt is now building a massive refugee camp in the desert surrounded by high concrete walls for tens of thousands of people, fearing a mass exodus from the adjacent coastal strip.

In a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden again called for the protection of more than one million civilians in Rafah bee. He reiterated that “a military operation should not proceed without a credible and feasible plan to ensure the safety and support of the civilian population in Rafah,” the White House said Friday evening.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, meanwhile, joined international warnings about the consequences of military action in Rafah. The government in London said Sunak spoke to Netanyahu by telephone on Thursday. Sunak said Britain is deeply concerned about the loss of life in Gaza and the “potentially devastating humanitarian consequences of a military intervention in Rafah”. The priority is to negotiate a humanitarian pause to allow the release of the hostages and significantly increased aid deliveries to Gaza. Sunak also called on Israel to fully open the Kerem Shalom crossing.

100,000 people in camps in Egypt

For weeks, Egypt has been trying to increase security along the Gaza border with soldiers, fences and armored vehicles to prevent a rush of desperate Palestinians to the Sinai Peninsula. According to the Wall Street Journal, Egypt has even threatened to terminate the peace treaty with Israel if it comes to that. As the US newspaper reported on Thursday, citing Egyptian officials and security analysts: Egypt is now building a 20 square kilometer reception camp in the desert near the border, which can accommodate more than 100,000 people.. This corresponds to the population of Cottbus. The planned camp was said to be far from Egyptian settlements.

If Israel decides to launch the offensive, the Israeli army will try to move Rafah’s civilian population north – out of the combat zone but inside the Gaza Strip, the newspaper quoted a senior Israeli military official as saying. Netanyahu recently ordered the military to submit plans for an offensive on Rafah and the evacuation of civilians there. It is about destroying the last fighting units of the Islamist Hamas. According to the UN, about 1.3 million people currently live in Rafah. Most fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, some on orders from the Israeli army.

The Israeli army begins operations at a clinic

Meanwhile, the Israeli army said it began an operation on Thursday at a clinic in Khan Yunis, which like Rafah is in southern Gaza. Soldiers entered Nasser Hospital to recover the bodies of hostages, the army said. Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said Thursday evening that dozens of suspects had been arrested. Some were involved in the massacre in Israel. Through interrogations with the suspects and statements from the released hostages, the army was able to confirm that people kidnapped from Israel were being held on the clinic grounds. There is also information that there are also bodies of hostages there.

The United Nations human rights office made accusations against Israel after the operation. “The operation appears to be part of a pattern: Israeli forces are attacking vital civilian infrastructure, especially hospitals,” UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in Geneva on Thursday evening. Israeli Army spokesman Hagari emphasized that the army had and would continue to act in accordance with international law in all operations in hospitals in the Gaza Strip. “It is not our intention to disrupt the operation of the hospital.”he said.

Netanyahu: Israel cannot be forced into a two-state solution

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated his rejection of a two-state solution after the phone call with Biden. “Israel categorically rejects international dictates regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians.”, Netanyahu wrote on Friday evening on X. Such an arrangement could only be reached through direct negotiations between the parties and without prior conditions. Israel will also defend itself against the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state. This would “reward terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement,” he wrote.

According to Israeli newspaper Maariv, Israel is concerned that the US could recognize a Palestinian state without Israel’s consent as part of its efforts to find a two-state solution. A two-state solution means an independent Palestinian state that coexists peacefully with Israel. The Islamist-Palestinian organization Hamas, which violently seized power in the Gaza Strip a year after the 2007 election victory, also rejects this.

Israel calls on the UN to distribute more aid

Israel has meanwhile called on the United Nations to improve the distribution of aid to the people of the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of truckloads of humanitarian aid have not been collected at the Kerem Shalom border crossing for days, Israel’s Cogat authority, which is responsible for contacts with Palestinians and humanitarian aid, wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on Thursday. Aid groups accuse Israel of blocking the distribution of aid. The Cogat authority denies this: Israel controls more trucks than are ultimately processed and forwarded by the United Nations. On Thursday, Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock spoke out in Israel in favor of significantly more aid deliveries – in particular 500 trucks per day. That’s how many trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered the closed coastal area every day before the start of the war. Baerbock also called for opening additional border crossings in Israel.

What will be important on Friday?

As fighting continues in the Gaza Strip, efforts to broker a ceasefire and release the hostages continue. However, so far there has been no breakthrough. (sda/dpa)