Israel-Gaza war live: UN convoys looted in Rafah as Palestinian police absent, says UNRWA
Philippe Lazzarini says security guards are standing down in fear of their lives
Sunniva Rose reports:
UN lorries delivering aid to Rafah in southern Gaza were looted because Palestinian police officers have refused to protect them out of fear for their lives, the commissioner general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said.
"The coming days will tell us if, yes or no, we'll be able to continue to operate in an extraordinarily challenging environment," UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in Brussels on Monday.
Mr Lazzarini was in the Belgian capital to tell the EU's 27 development ministers of the agency's difficult financial situation since a number of donors suspended funding, after Israel alleged that 12 of its 30,000 staff in Gaza contributed to the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.
"For the first time, the UN couldn't operate with a minimum of protection, which was the local police. Because we had no local police, our convoy trucks at the border have been looted," he said.
"Trucks have been vandalised by hundreds of young people.
"The last remaining protection to keep a minimum of civil order that was local police might not be functional any more, since many of them have been killed in the past few days and [others] are more and more reluctant to be seen in these convoys."
Bodies 'left on hospital floors' as morgues fill up in Rafah
Nada AlTaher reports:
The morgues at Gaza's European Hospital and Abu Yousef Al Najjar Hospital are full and bodies have been left lying on floors after 93 people were killed in overnight Israeli strikes on the southern city of Rafah, Ministry of Health spokesman Dr Ashraf Al Qudra told The National.
"Every square kilometre in Rafah contains between 25,000 to 27,000 people, which means a military operation would be catastrophic," Dr Al Qudra said from the city's Al Helal Emirati Maternity Hospital.
He said the number of casualties exceeds the capacity of the small hospitals available, with emergency units still pulling people out of the rubble.
At least 164 people were killed in overnight strikes across Gaza, the enclave's Health Ministry said.
The total death toll in Gaza since October 7 is 28,176, with 67,784 injured.
France evacuates 42 people from Gaza
France on Monday evacuated 42 people from Gaza including French nationals and staff of the French cultural institute, the foreign ministry said.
"After a request from France, 42 people today left the Gaza Strip through the Rafa border crossing" into Egypt, said a ministry statement.
More than 200 people have now left the stricken territory following official French requests, it added.
The foreign ministry said the latest evacuation was secured with the help of French authorities at "the highest level".
The evacuees were handed over to French diplomatic staff in Egypt and most would be repatriated to France.
"We remain ready to facilitate the departure of other people whose situation in Gaza France is following, in order to allow their evacuation to our country," the ministry statement said.
- AFP
UN says it won't participate in forced displacement of Palestinians
The United Nations says it will not participate in the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza, stressing that there is no safe place to go in the territory where Israel is still carrying out a military offensive.
Mr Dujarric said the vast majority of Palestinians in the south can’t be sent back to northern and central areas and where the humanitarian situation is exceedingly challenging with very few supplies of food and other necessities.
He added that “the deconfliction process that we have in place with the Israeli authorities is also not working.”
Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy, speaking Monday, accused UN agencies of being more concerned about pressuring Israel to end its war with Hamas and resisting “our efforts to vacate civilians from Hamas strongholds, libelously characterizing those measures in pursuance of our obligations under international law as forced displacement” than helping protect civilians.
“We urge UN agencies to cooperate with Israel’s efforts to protect civilians from Hamas and evacuate them from a war zone where terrorists are trying to use them as human shields,” Mr Levy said.
“Don’t say it can’t be done. Work with us to find a way.”
Pressed later by The Associated Press on whether Israel was seeking UN help, he appeared to backtrack, saying Israel was not asking for help to evacuate Rafah, “We are asking the UN to work towards helping protect Palestinian civilians rather than helping Hamas.”
Mr Dujarric stressed that “there is no place that is currently safe in Gaza” and the United Nations wants to ensure “that anything that happens is done in full respect of international law, in full respect of the protection of civilians.”
- AP
US government calls for investigation into death of Palestinian girl, 6
Willy Lowry reports from Washington:
The US government is calling on Israel to investigate the death of Hind Rajab, 6, the Palestinian girl whose body was found in a car on Saturday, nearly two weeks after she went missing.
Hind spoke to her mother by phone pleading for help after the vehicle she was in with extended family members was fired on by Israeli forces.
“We were devastated about the reports of the death of Hind Rajab,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
“I will tell you that I have a little girl that's about to turn six myself, and so it is just a devastating account, a heartbreaking account for this child.”
Mr Miller said the State Department has asked Israel to investigate the circumstances leading to Hind’s death.
“We've asked the Israeli authorities to investigate this incident on an urgent basis.
“We understand that they're doing so. We expect to see those results in a timely fashion and they should include accountability measures as appropriate.”
Hezbollah official wounded in Israeli strike on Lebanon, says security source
An Israeli air strike on Monday seriously wounded a local Hezbollah official in his car in Lebanon's south, a Lebanese security source said.
The source said an Israeli strike "targeted a local Hezbollah official in the town of Bint Jbeil" and the official was "seriously injured".
Lebanon's official National News Agency said "an enemy drone targeted a car near the hospital" in Bint Jbeil, near the country's southern border with Israel.
The car was severely damaged with a hole punched through its roof.
The Israeli military said in a statement on X that "an aircraft struck a vehicle in which Hezbollah terrorists were identified in the area of Maroun El Ras", which is on the edge of Bint Jbeil.
In Tayr Harfa, further west of Bint Jbeil, two people were seriously wounded in an Israeli strike on a house, according to NNA.
Israel's military said it struck "military structures and a military site" there and in Maroun El Ras.
Hezbollah later announced the death of two of its fighters "on the road to Jerusalem", which is the phrase the group has been using to refer to militants killed by Israeli fire since hostilities began.
Al Quds Brigades, the armed wing of militant Palestinian group Islamic Jihad whose fighters are present in Lebanon, said two of its members were killed.
They died "at the border with occupied Palestine, in the south of Lebanon," the group said.
- AFP
Washington repeats reservations over Israeli military operation in Gaza
Willy Lowry reports from Washington:
The US State Department on Monday again expressed concern about Israel pressing ahead with a military operation in Rafah, one of the last places of refuge for Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip.
“We do not support any military campaign in Rafah going forward as long as they cannot properly account for the 1.1 million people who are in Rafah,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Israel launched a round of devastating air strikes overnight that killed at least 164 people, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
Israeli forces also rescued two hostages kidnapped by Hamas militants from their homes in Nir Yitzhak kibbutz on October 7.
Mr Miller said the air strikes did not necessarily indicate that Israel had begun a military operation in Rafah.
“It is not our assessment that this air strike is the launch of a full-scale offensive happening in Rafah,” he told reporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that he plans to press on in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have been forced to take shelter as a last refuge in the densely populated enclave.
White House says US must accept that some Hamas hostages may have died
The US does not have specific locations of hostages being held by Hamas and may need to accept that some might have died, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Monday.
- Reuters
ICC's prosecutor 'deeply concerned' by situation in Rafah
International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan is "deeply concerned by the reported bombardment and potential ground incursion by Israeli forces in Rafah", he said on social media platform X on Monday.
He said that the ICC was "actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed" in Gaza and that "those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable".
Mr Khan also called for the immediate release of all hostages held in Gaza after Hamas's October 7 attacks on Israel, adding that this "also represents an important focus of our investigations".
Israel is not a member of the Hague-based court and does not recognise its jurisdiction.
But in October, Mr Khan stressed that his court had jurisdiction over potential war crimes carried out by Hamas in Israel or by Israelis in the Gaza Strip.
- Reuters
'Stop saying please': Josep Borrell says US must use weapons to influence Israel
Sunniva Rose reports:
The US should use its influence as Israel's top weapons provider to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into lowering civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday.
International concern is mounting over a planned Israeli incursion into Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than half of the enclave's two million inhabitants have sought shelter.
“Netanyahu doesn't listen to anyone," said Mr Borrell. "They are going to evacuate. Where? To the moon? Where are they going to evacuate these people?"
"In 2006, in the war against Lebanon, the US already took this decision ... of pausing the supply of arms to Israel, because Israel didn't want to stop the war – exactly the same thing as today," Mr Borrell said.
"This is a little bit contradictory to continue saying too many people are being killed, please take care of people, please don't kill so many people. Stop saying please, and do something."
Prospect of full Israeli incursion into Rafah ‘terrifying’, UN rights chief says
Adla Massoud reports:
The UN’s human rights chief said on Monday that a full Israeli military incursion into Rafah could kill and injure an “extremely high” number of people, adding that the prospect of such an operation was “terrifying”.
Volker Turk called for the international community and those with influence “to restrain rather than enable” Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to send ground troops into Rafah to eliminate the last remaining Hamas stronghold in the enclave.
“A potential full-fledged military incursion into Rafah, where some 1.5 million Palestinians are packed against the Egyptian border with nowhere further to flee, is terrifying, given the prospect that an extremely high number of civilians, again mostly children and women, will likely be killed and injured,” Mr Turk said in a statement.
“Sadly, given the carnage wrought so far in Gaza, it is wholly imaginable what would lie ahead in Rafah.”
Three hostages succumb to wounds from Israeli air strikes, Hamas says
Three hostages who were wounded in Israeli air strikes on Gaza have died, Hamas's armed wing said on Monday.
"We will postpone the announcement of the names and pictures of the dead for the coming days until the fate of the remaining wounded becomes clear," the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades said on its Telegram channel.
On Sunday, it said Israel air strikes on Gaza had killed two hostages and wounded eight in the previous 96 hours.
The Israeli army rescued two hostages from the southern city of Rafah early on Monday morning, in an operation the authorities in Gaza say killed dozens of Palestinians.
Netanyahu lauds Rafah hostage rescue as one of Israel's 'most successful operations'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has praised an operation to rescue two Israeli hostages from the southern city of Rafah, which left dozens of Palestinians dead.
Mr Netanyahu described the mission as "one of the most successful rescue operations in the history of the state of Israel”.
He was speaking at Israel's National Counter-Terrorism Unit on Monday, accompanied by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“At 01.40 this morning, I saw you placing the charge and seconds later I heard: 'We have the hostages'. You eliminated the abductors, the terrorists, and made your way back without injury – a successful operation, a perfect operation,” Mr Netanyahu said.
Mohamed Zoghroub, a Palestinian living in Rafah, said he saw a black Jeep speeding through the city followed by clashes and heavy air strikes, which are estimated to have killed more than 90 people.
“We found ourselves running with our children, from the air strikes, in every direction,” he told AP from an area flattened by the strikes.
Footage circulating on social media from Rafah's Kuwaiti hospital showed dead or wounded children.
A young man could be seen carrying the body of an infant who he said was killed in the attacks. He said the girl, the daughter of his neighbour, was born and died during the war.
“Let Netanyahu come and see: Is this one of your designated targets?" he said.
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Iran minister says attacks on Rafah will have 'severe consequences' for Tel Aviv
Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has warned Israel against further attacks in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, saying it will result in "severe consequences" for the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
"Extending the scope of war crimes and genocide of the occupying Israeli regime to the Palestinian refugees in Rafah will have severe consequences for Tel Aviv," he wrote from Doha on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday night.
Iran-backed proxies including Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels have been active in spreading the war in Gaza across the Middle East.
Oil prices drop amid hopes of diplomatic resolution in Gaza conflict
John Benny reports:
Oil prices fell on Monday amid hopes that the Israel-Gaza conflict may be moving closer to a diplomatic solution.
Brent, the benchmark for two-thirds of the world’s oil, was trading 1.2 per cent lower at $81.14 a barrel at 5.01pm UAE time.
West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was down 1.3 per cent at $75.83 a barrel.
At the weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian visited Beirut for talks with senior figures, including Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri, and Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah.
“Iran and Lebanon confirm that war is not the solution and that we absolutely never sought to expand it,” Mr Amirabdollahian said after meeting Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib.
Meanwhile, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the kingdom had a “huge cushion” of spare oil capacity in case of major disruption to global supplies.
Israel says Hamas numbers 'halved' with more than 12,000 killed
An Israeli government representative said on Monday that Hamas's fighting force had been reduced to half in the Gaza war, with more than 12,000 fighters killed and large numbers wounded or captured.
"We're talking about three-quarters of Hamas's battalions that have been shattered ... with over 12,000 terrorists who have been killed," Eylon Levy told a briefing.
"When you take into account the number of terrorists who have been wounded or apprehended, that is more than half of Hamas's fighting force knocked out of action."
-Reuters
UNRWA chief Lazzarini has 'no intention to resign'
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, the UNRWA, said on Monday he had "no intention to resign" after allegations that some staff members took part in the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7.
The comments were carried by Reuters hours after Israel banned UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese from entering Israel, after she said the attack was a result of Israel's oppression of Palestinians.
Several Israeli ministers have called on Mr Lazzarini to resign.
The UNRWA has launched an investigation and dismissed staff accused of involvement in the attack.
The UN has warned of dire consequences for civilians after a number of western nations froze funding for the agency after the allegations.
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Gaza war 'deeply troubling' for region, says Iraqi Kurdistan PM
Mina Aldroubi reports:
Iraqi Kurdistan's Prime Minister, Masrour Barzani, said on Monday that the Gaza crisis is “deeply troubling” for the region.
Mr Barzani said the war’s “humanitarian toll on civilians, its capacity to fuel chaos ... well beyond Gaza” is “deeply troubling for many of us”.
Speaking during the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Mr Barzani said the crisis would have been avoided “had the foundational rights of Palestinians been dealt with 80 years ago”.
Updated: February 12, 2024, 12:38 PM