Israel-Hamas war latest: Egypt builds walled border enclosure as Israeli Rafah offensive looms

Egypt builds walled enclosure as Israeli offensive looms

By Staff Writers

Egyptian authorities, fearful that an Israeli military push further into southern Gaza will set off a flood of refugees, are building an 8-square-mile (20.7sq km) walled enclosure in the Sinai Desert near the border, according to Egyptian officials and security analysts.

For weeks, Egypt has sought to bolster security along the frontier to keep Palestinians out, deploying soldiers and armored vehicles and reinforcing fences.

The massive new compound is part of contingency plans if large numbers of Gazans do manage to get in.

More than 100,000 people could be accommodated in the camp, Egyptian officials said. It is surrounded by concrete walls and far from any Egyptian settlements. Large numbers of tents, as yet unassembled, have been delivered to the site, these people said.

With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying his army will need to fight Hamas in Rafah, a Palestinian city on the Egyptian border, Egyptian officials think a broad Israeli offensive could happen within weeks.

In the event of a major exodus of Palestinians from Gaza, Egypt would seek to limit the number of refugees to well below the capacity of the area – ideally to around 50,000 to 60,000 – Egyptian officials said.

Egypt has long sought to avoid a flood of refugees from spilling over its borders, even threatening to abandon its decades-old peace treaty with Israel if that occurs as a result of its offensive against Hamas.

The fact that Egypt is now urgently proceeding with contingency plans signals that Egyptian officials see a rising danger of such a scenario.

The governor of Egypt’s North Sinai region on Thursday denied initial reports of the construction of a potential refugee camp for Palestinians, saying the activity in the area was part of an effort to take an inventory of houses destroyed during Egypt’s past military campaign against Islamic State extremists in the area.

Israel pulled out of the negotiations over a potential cease-fire deal on Wednesday, heightening fears that the country will move forward with its Rafah offensive. On Thursday, CIA Director William Burns met with Netanyahu and Mossad director David Barnea to continue talks, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Biden, UN officials and Palestinian leaders have also sought to avoid a mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, fearing that many wouldn’t be able to return. Israel has said those who leave their homes in Gaza will be allowed to come back.

The concern over displacement is especially sensitive for Palestinians because of the exodus from their homes during the war at the creation of Israel in 1948.

“You cannot imagine the terror and fear in the hearts of civilians here in Rafah,” said Fatima Majdi Hamouda, a woman from Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip who like thousands of others fled to the south in the early days of the war following an Israeli evacuation notice.

“Some people are already on the Egyptian border, and if the bombing intensifies, they will go directly to Sinai. It’s the worst of decisions, ” said Hamouda, who is 32 and sheltering with her family in a tent on the edge of Rafah near the Mediterranean.

If Israel does proceed with the offensive on Rafah, the military would seek to move the civilian population northward – out of the battle zone but within the Gaza Strip – a senior Israeli military official said. Israel has also assured the US that it would create a safe corridor to the north, according to a former US official. Israel hasn’t publicly outlined any plan for what it would do with the civilians in the area.

Palestinians who enter the enclosed area wouldn’t be allowed to leave unless they are departing for another country, Egyptian officials said, outlining contingency plans discussed within the government.

If Egypt were to begin accepting a large number of Palestinian refugees, it would tighten entry and exit restrictions on a larger area of the northern Sinai, including the regional capital of Al-Arish, Egyptian officials said.

Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, a nonprofit organisation monitoring events in the region, published a report this week documenting the construction of the concrete enclosure, including photos of what it said were concrete walls more than 7 yards (6.4m) high.

The report cited witnesses on the ground and included a map of the rough area of the enclosure. Egyptian officials confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the area identified by the foundation was the general location of the planned enclosure.

Though many Palestinians living in the enclave are desperate to leave for their own safety, many also oppose any mass migration to Egypt, fearing that they wouldn’t be allowed to return home. Egyptian officials have taken a hard line against Palestinian refugees but some privately concede that an exodus on some level may now be inevitable.

The fortified camp being set up by Egypt could ultimately be used in different ways, said regional officials and analysts. In one scenario, it could serve as a safety net if Palestinians rush the border. In another, Egypt could agree to accept a limited number of Palestinian refugees in return for financial or other incentives, they said.

“It’s a multipronged effort from Egypt to counter any scenario that is not according to its accepted conditions,” said Mohannad Sabry, an Egyptian security analyst and author of a book on Sinai.

The enclosure could serve as a backstop to prevent refugees from flooding over the border unabated. “Even if the Israelis push a million and a half people to spill over the border, Egypt can throw the ball back into Israel’s lap by simply limiting the movement of Palestinians further in,” he said.

Israeli military officials say that they must expand the military operation into Rafah to pursue Hamas leaders and militants who have fled there. Palestinian officials and relief groups have warned that large-scale fighting in the area could result in a humanitarian catastrophe because of the huge civilian population, which includes many thousands of people crammed into tent cities, schools and abandoned buildings in the area.

Within Gaza, 1.7 million people have fled their homes during the war, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Israel has issued evacuation notices urging civilians to leave roughly two-thirds of the strip, according to the U.N. Israel says the evacuations are necessary to protect civilians and give the military a freer hand to fight Hamas.

Israel has been pressuring Egypt to accept a military operation in Rafah, arguing that Israeli forces have to cut off Gaza’s border with Egypt to block Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons. Egypt has urged Israel not to carry out such an operation, saying that it has already clamped down on underground smuggling tunnels in the area.

– Summer Said and Jared Malsin /WSJ

Biden-Netanyahu relationship at boiling point over Rafah

By Staff Writers

The looming Israeli military plans to invade Rafah have exacerbated tensions between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the Biden administration, which has grown increasingly frustrated with its attempts to rein in Israel’s military campaign.

The consequences of the distrust between President Joe Biden and Netanyahu, who have spoken 18 times since Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault, have grown only starker in recent days.

Biden now appears to be trying to draw a line with Israel’s proposed military operation on Rafah where 1.1 million Palestinians – many of them displaced – now reside.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, has vowed to forge ahead, saying Wednesday that Israel would mount a “powerful” operation in the city once residents are allowed to evacuate.

The US has communicated that it wouldn’t – under any circumstances – support a plan for a full-scale invasion of Rafah, and that it would prefer to see targeted operations, US officials said.

The Biden administration has asked the Israeli military to produce a “credible plan” that included both a military and humanitarian component if it decides to disregard Washington’s advice and invade the city, U.S. officials said.

The growing clash between the two governments over Rafah underscores the Biden administration’s waning leverage over Netanyahu as his military continues to hammer Gaza, even as pressure grows inside the U.S. government to rein in Israel.

The State Department has launched a probe looking at several Israeli airstrikes in Gaza that killed dozens of civilians and the possible use by Israel of white phosphorus in Lebanon, to determine whether the Israeli military misused American bombs and missiles to kill civilians, U.S. officials told The Wall Street Journal.

Talk of a Rafah operation came as the U.S., together with Qatar, Egypt and Israel, continued to work on fragile plans for a sustained pause in fighting to secure the release of some of the remaining hostages in Hamas captivity while also ensuring that desperately needed humanitarian aid gets to the people of Gaza. Those efforts appeared to collapse Wednesday when Israel said it wouldn’t return to Cairo for further negotiations.

In recent weeks, U.S. officials have been exploring different ways to exert pressure on Netanyahu, but Biden has shown no willingness to use the biggest tool in his arsenal: weapons sales to Israel. The president has dismissed any talk of slowing arms sales to Israel, U.S. officials said, and instead has largely relied on the bully pulpit to try to express discontent.

U.S. officials have pushed the White House to take a more critical public approach to Israel’s war in Gaza, and Biden has in recent days expressed more concern about the way Netanyahu is leading the campaign, repeatedly calling Israel’s military campaign “over the top.” In a tense phone call Sunday over the potential for a full-scale Rafah invasion, Biden pushed Netanyahu to continue negotiations for a hostage release.

Sitting alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday, Biden again emphasized the U.S.’s desire for a hostage deal, which would cease fighting for at least six weeks, as a path to a longer-term resolution. “The key elements of the deals are on the table,” Biden said. “There are gaps that remain, but I’ve encouraged Israeli leaders to keep working to achieve the deal.” On Wednesday, Netanyahu’s office said the government wouldn’t send a delegation back to Cairo to continue negotiations.

Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think tank, said the Biden administration’s public messaging so far is having very little impact on pushing Netanyahu to develop an exit strategy for Gaza or embracing the Biden administration’s goal of advancing talks to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

“The gap between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government on a range of key issues has widened in recent weeks as the war between Hamas and Israel continues,” Katulis said.

Tensions between Biden and Netanyahu had been rising for months. In mid-December, Biden angered Netanyahu and Israel’s government when he told attendees at a campaign fundraiser that Israel was starting to lose support around the world because of its “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza.

At that same event, Biden recalled something he once said to Netanyahu, whom he has known for nearly 50 years: “I said, ‘Bibi, I love you, but I don’t agree with a damn thing you have to say.’ That remains to be the case.”

The relationship reached a boiling point later that month, according to U.S. and Israeli officials, when Biden abruptly ended their Christmas-week call following a tense exchange about civilian casualties and, in Washington’s view, the need for Israel to shift to a new phase in its war, focused on targeted operations.

Biden, who was so angry that he was almost shouting in the Dec. 28 call, according to officials, declared the conversation “over” and hung up.

Some of Biden’s senior aides are becoming increasingly worried that his support for Israel’s war in Gaza risks damaging his re-election prospects amid cratering support from young voters.

– Dion Nissenbaum and Vivian Salama / WSJ

Kibbutz says man thought hostage was killed Oct. 7

By Agency Writers

An Israeli man seized in the October 7 Hamas attack was killed the same day and his body taken to Gaza, his kibbutz and an activist group said.

Yair Yaakov, 59, was believed to be alive and held in Gaza by Palestinian militants, but his kibbutz Nir Oz confirmed on Thursday that he was “murdered” on October 7 and his body is being held in Gaza.

Yaakov was abducted along with his partner Meirav Tal and his two children Or and Yagil. Tal, Or and Yagil were released in a prisoner exchange during a truce in November.

Campaign group the Hostages and Missing Families Forum also confirmed his death. “Yair was a humble, simple man who loved his family, working on his land and music,” kibbutz Nir Oz said in a statement.

“He enjoyed listening to music, sitting in the sun with a cold beer,” the campaign group said in a separate statement.

Yaakov was among some 250 people taken hostage from Israeli border communities and military posts during the Hamas attack.

Kibbutz Nir Oz had more than 70 of its around 400 residents abducted in the attack, the highest number for a single community.

More than 100 of those abducted have been freed, many exchanged for Palestinian prisoners during the week-long truce that ended on December 1.

Israel says some 130 captives are still held in Gaza, including at least 30 believed to be dead.

At least three hostages have been mistakenly shot dead by soldiers in the Gaza Strip, according to the Israeli army.

Two hostages were rescued in a raid in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis earlier this week.

– AFP

UK leader ‘deeply concerned’ at Gaza civilian losses

By Agency Writers

British prime minister Rishi Sunak has told Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is “deeply concerned” about the loss of civilian life in Gaza, Downing Street said.

The two leaders spoke by phone on Thursday afternoon with Sunak telling the Israeli leader that negotiating a humanitarian pause in the conflict that started on October 7 was an “immediate priority”.

“The prime minister said the UK was deeply concerned about the loss of civilian life in Gaza and the potentially devastating humanitarian impact of a military incursion into Rafah,” Sunak’s spokesman said.

The call came after Israel launched a new wave of deadly strikes on southern Gaza on Thursday after vowing to push ahead with a “powerful” operation in the overcrowded city of Rafah despite growing international condemnation.

Netanyahu has vowed to crush militant group Hamas in response to its October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

At least 28,600 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Sunak told the Israeli leader that “more must be done” to ease restrictions on humanitarian supplies and ensure the UN and aid agencies could reach civilians in need throughout Gaza.

“He (Sunak) reiterated that the immediate priority must be negotiating a humanitarian pause to allow the safe release of hostages and to facilitate considerably more aid going to Gaza, leading to a longer-term sustainable ceasefire,” Sunak’s spokesman said.

– AFP

Al Jazeera slams Israel over ‘Hamas’ charge

By Agency Writers

Qatar-based satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera said it rejected what it called an Israeli attempt to justify targeting its journalists covering the war in the Gaza Strip.

The broadcaster issued a statement after the Israeli army on Wednesday said an Al Jazeera journalist wounded in an air strike in Gaza was a Hamas militant who filmed himself at a kibbutz during the October 7 attack.

“The network condemns the accusations against its journalists and recalls Israel’s long record of lies and fabrication of evidence through which it seeks to hide its heinous crimes,” the Al Jazeera statement said on Thursday.

The channel had itself reported on Tuesday that Arabic language reporter Ismail Abu Omar and his cameraman Ahmad Matar were both seriously injured north of Rafah and taken to hospital for treatment.

But Israel’s military described Omar as “a deputy company commander in Hamas’s Eastern Battalion of Khan Younis”.

“Abu Omar even filmed himself in Kibbutz Nir Oz during the October 7 massacre and published it on social media platforms,” an Israeli statement said.

On Thursday, the Al Jazeera statement said: “Al Jazeera’s employment policies stipulate that employees are not to engage in any political affiliations that may affect their professionalism.” It accused Israel of systematically targeting Al Jazeera employees working in Gaza.

Two other journalists with the broadcaster have been killed during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, while bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh was wounded.

His son and fellow journalist Hamza Wael al-Dahdouh was killed when Israeli forces targeted a car last month, along with another video journalist, Mustafa Thuria.

The network’s cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was killed in a separate strike in December.

– AFP

‘Dire’ conditions at hospital raided by Israel

By Agency Writers

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said patients and medics were enduring “dire and frightening conditions” at a major hospital raided by Israeli soldiers.

Hundreds of medics and patients remain inside the Nasser Hospital in the main southern city of Khan Younis after thousands of displaced civilians who had sought refuge in its grounds were forced to leave by Israeli troops.

“Nasser medical complex is witnessing a catastrophic and alarming situation, as a result of the lack of medical resources,” the health ministry said on Thursday.

Earlier this week a nurse at the hospital said multiple people had been shot dead by Israeli snipers, tanks had opened fire on the complex and people were forced out at gunpoint.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) described a “chaotic situation” in the hospital after it was shelled early Thursday, killing and wounding multiple people.

“Our medical staff have had to flee the hospital, leaving patients behind,” MSF said on X, formerly Twitter, with one employee unaccounted for and another detained by Israeli forces.

The Israeli military said it was carrying out a “precise and limited operation” at the hospital, which is a major health facility.

Citing “credible intelligence” without publishing evidence, a military statement said “there may be bodies of our hostages in the Nasser hospital facility”.

But later on Thursday evening military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the army “have not yet found any evidence of this” but added that forces had found “weapons, grenades and mortar bombs” from the hospital complex.

– AFP

‘Unjustifiable’: Israel slams S. Africa court appeal over Rafah

By Agency Writers

Israel has hit back at what it described as an “unjustifiable” South African appeal to the United Nations’ top court to apply more legal pressure over a threatened offensive on the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

Pretoria has already filed a complaint against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that its assault on Gaza amounts to a breach of the UN Genocide Convention.

The court has yet to rule on the underlying issue, but on January 26 it ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent genocidal acts during its campaign and also to allow in humanitarian aid.

On Tuesday, South Africa filed a new application to the ICJ, arguing there had been a “significant development” since the court’s January ruling, namely an announced offensive on Rafah.

In its response posted on the ICJ website late Thursday, Israel said: “South Africa’s unjustifiable claims make clear that its request is not driven by any change in circumstances, nor does it have any basis in fact or law.”

It described Pretoria’s request as a “cynical effort … to manipulate the court to protect South Africa’s longtime ally Hamas, a global terrorist organisation.” Israel said it was “unwavering” in its commitment to international law including the Genocide Convention during the current conflict.

Israel launched more deadly strikes on southern Gaza on Thursday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted it would push ahead with a “powerful” operation in the overcrowded city of Rafah for “complete victory”.

Meanwhile, efforts underway in Cairo to secure a ceasefire entered a third day, with negotiators from the United States, Qatar, and Egypt trying to broker a deal to suspend the fighting and release hostage held by Hamas.

– AFP

Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel after strikes

By Agency Writers

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said it had fired dozens of rockets into northern Israel, a day after Israeli strikes killed 15 people, including one of its commanders.

“Islamic resistance fighters fired dozens of Katyusha-type rockets at Kiryat Shmona,” an Israeli town near the Lebanese border, Hezbollah said in a statement on Thursday.

It said the rocket fire was “a first response” to the deadly Israeli strikes on the southern city of Nabatiyeh and Sawwaneh.

Hamas ally Hezbollah and its arch-foe Israel have been exchanging near-daily fire across the border since the Israel-Hamas war broke out on October 7.

In the bloodiest day for Lebanon since then, the Israeli military said it had killed Hezbollah commander Ali al-Debs, his deputy and another fighter in Nabatiyeh on Wednesday.

A security source in Lebanon said that along with Debs and two other Hezbollah members, the strike had killed seven civilians from the same family. The source requested anonymity, not being authorised to speak to the media.

The deaths brought to 10 the total number of civilians killed in Israeli strikes on Wednesday, the highest single day toll since the cross-border hostilities erupted.

The Israeli army said it carried out Wednesday’s strikes after a soldier was killed by rocket fire from Lebanon.

Debs had already been targeted and wounded in an Israeli drone strike in the southern city on February 8.

– AFP

Blinken says he believes deal on hostages ‘possible’

By Agency Writers

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he believed an agreement on a truce in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of hostages were still “possible”.

Mediators are racing to secure a pause to the fighting before Israel proceeds with a full-scale ground incursion into the Gaza Strip’s far-southern city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are trapped.

“So we’re very focused on it and I believe it’s possible,” Blinken said at a joint press conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama in Tirana, as negotiations between mediators continue in Cairo.

“We’re now in the process, with our counterparts from Qatar, from Egypt, from Israel, in working on that and working very intensely on that, with the goal of trying to find an agreement.”

Blinken said there were “some very, very hard issues that have to be resolved. “But we’re committed to do everything we can to move forward and to see if we can reach an agreement.” Roughly 130 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza following the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants.

– AFP

Israeli forces enter Gaza hospital to search for hostages

By Staff Writers

Israeli troops entered the main hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, after Israel said it had intelligence indicating that hostages kidnapped by Hamas had been held there and that the bodies of some of them could be on the grounds.

Israel had urged patients, medical staff and thousands of people sheltering in the grounds of Nasser Hospital earlier this week to evacuate in anticipation of military operations against Hamas militants it said were hiding there and using it for military activities.

“We have credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages,” that Hamas held hostages there, Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.

“There may be bodies of our hostages in the Nasser Hospital facility.” The Israeli military said it arrested suspected militants during the operation.

Amira Assouli, a doctor at Nasser Hospital, said the intensive-care unit was hit by artillery fire at around 4 a.m. local time. Shortly after, the Israeli army ordered the thousands of displaced people sheltering there to evacuate. Assouli remained inside the hospital early Thursday with around 1,000 patients and healthcare workers.

“The army said there is a safe corridor for those who want to leave, but it isn’t safe at all,” she said by phone, as the sound of shooting and shelling could be heard in the background. “Can you hear that sound? It’s very dangerous, we can’t even look out of the window.”

Doctors Without Borders said its medical staff left behind patients when they fled Nasser Hospital. One of its staff members was detained by Israeli forces at a checkpoint set up outside the hospital and intended to screen those leaving, the medical charity said.

“We call on [Israeli forces] to immediately stop this attack, as it endangers medical staff and patients who are still stuck inside the facility,” it said.

Several people were killed and injured during the operation, said Doctors Without Borders. MedGlobal, a U.S.-based medical charity, said the victims include a patient who was killed when the orthopedic department was bombed.

Israel’s search of Nasser Hospital comes days after Israeli troops rescued two hostages held in the town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt. Dozens of Palestinians were killed in that operation, according to local health authorities.

Talks brokered by Egypt and Qatar aimed at securing a cease-fire and the release of about 130 hostages still held in Gaza have stalled. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he wouldn’t send a delegation back to Cairo to continue the discussions unless Hamas softens what he called “delusional demands.”

On Thursday, Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns met with Netanyahu and Mossad Director David Barnea in Israel to continue the hostage release and cease-fire talks, according to people familiar with the matter.

– Margherita Stancati, Abeer Ayyoub and Dov Lieber/ WSJ