About 110,000 people have fled Rafah as Israeli bombardment there intensifies, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said early Friday. A UNICEF coordinator there said that roads out of the city “are jammed” with “exhausted, terrified” families. Cease-fire talks aimed at pausing the fighting and freeing hostages still held by Hamas have stalled, as the latest round of negotiations in Cairo ended without a breakthrough.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is prepared to “stand alone” against its enemies, after President Biden warned that he would halt the flow of certain weapons if Israel invades Rafah in southern Gaza. In a later interview on U.S. television, Netanyahu said he hoped that he and Biden could overcome their disagreements.
If Israel opts to “smash” into Rafah, Biden would have to make decisions about withholding additional weapons shipments, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “Again, we hope it doesn’t come to that,” he added.
The United Nations General Assembly voted to grant Palestinians new “rights and privileges” at the global body and called on members of the U.N. Security Council to reconsider the Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member state — a resolution the United States vetoed April 18. Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan condemned the resolution, accusing member states of “shredding the U.N. charter with your own hands” as he passed the charter through a paper shredder atop the podium.
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres condemned Thursday’s attack on the East Jerusalem headquarters of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that aids Palestinian refugees. The agency said Israeli residents set fire to the perimeter of the compound twice. “Targeting aid workers and humanitarian assets is unacceptable, and must stop,” Guterres wrote on X.
At least 34,904 people have been killed and 78,514 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 267 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is prepared to “stand alone” against its enemies, after President Biden warned that he would halt the flow of certain weapons if Israel invades Rafah in southern Gaza. In a later interview on U.S. television, Netanyahu said he hoped that he and Biden could overcome their disagreements.
If Israel opts to “smash” into Rafah, Biden would have to make decisions about withholding additional weapons shipments, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. “Again, we hope it doesn’t come to that,” he added.
The United Nations General Assembly voted to grant Palestinians new “rights and privileges” at the global body and called on members of the U.N. Security Council to reconsider the Palestinian bid to become a full U.N. member state — a resolution the United States vetoed April 18. Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan condemned the resolution, accusing member states of “shredding the U.N. charter with your own hands” as he passed the charter through a paper shredder atop the podium.
U.N. Secretary General António Guterres condemned Thursday’s attack on the East Jerusalem headquarters of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that aids Palestinian refugees. The agency said Israeli residents set fire to the perimeter of the compound twice. “Targeting aid workers and humanitarian assets is unacceptable, and must stop,” Guterres wrote on X.
At least 34,904 people have been killed and 78,514 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says the majority of the dead are women and children.
Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, including more than 300 soldiers, and says 267 soldiers have been killed since the launch of its military operation in Gaza.
