ISRAEL on Wednesday said that the US Senate’s approval of US$13 billion in military aid sent a strong message to its enemies, with attacks hitting Gaza in its war once morest the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will soon follow through on repeated threats to send troops to the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people have taken refuge, many of them in makeshift encampments.
Israel says Rafah is Hamas’ last stronghold, but aid groups warn any invasion would create an apocalyptic situation.
Wednesday (24/4) morning, hospital and security sources in Gaza reported Israeli air strikes on Rafah, as well as the central refugee camp of Nuseirat.
“Everyone seems to be counting down to the war in the world’s largest refugee camp, Rafah,” Norwegian Refugee Council chairman Jan Egeland told AFP.
Israel’s foreign minister on Wednesday thanked the US Senate for approving the military aid package following approval from the House of Representatives.
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“The Israeli aid package now approved by both houses of Congress is a clear testament to the strength of our alliance and sends a strong message to all our enemies,” wrote Israel Katz on the social media site X.
US Campus Protests
The aid comes amid growing protests once morest Israel’s actions in the war once morest Hamas, which have turned much of Gaza into rubble and sparked fears of famine.
Hundreds of students have been arrested in recent days in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on the campuses of leading universities in the United States, Israel’s main ally and military supplier.
Also read: Israel calls US military assistance a ‘strong message’ to the enemy
The UN said “numerous obstacles” continued to hamper the delivery of urgently needed aid to civilians in dire need of food, water, shelter and medicine.
But Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead with a planned offensive on Rafah, on the besieged border region with Egypt.
Citing Egyptian officials’ explanation of Israel’s plans, the Wall Street Journal said Israel planned to move civilians from Rafah to nearby Khan Yunis within two to three weeks.
Also read: US Students Take to the Streets to Support Palestine
Satellite images shared by Maxar Technologies show tents recently erected in the area.
The Journal reported that Israel will then send troops to Rafah in stages, targeting areas where Hamas leaders are thought to be hiding in a military operation expected to last six weeks.
The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of around 1,170 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
In retaliation, Israel launched a military offensive that has killed at least 34,183 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The Israeli army announced the death of a soldier in Gaza, raising the death toll to 261 since the ground operation began.
Israel estimates that 129 of the approximately 250 people kidnapped during the Hamas offensive are still in Gaza, including 34 people thought to have died.
Stuck in the Sand
Public pressure is mounting on Netanyahu’s government to reach a ceasefire deal that would guarantee the release of the remaining hostages.
Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas’ armed wing, said the enemy was still trapped in the sands of Gaza and the hostages were unlikely to return home soon.
On Tuesday, the UN human rights office said it was “horrified” by reports of mass graves discovered in two of the largest hospitals in the Gaza Strip following Israel’s siege and raid.
Israel has repeatedly targeted the hospital during the war, accusing Hamas of using the hospital as a command center and taking hostages on October 7. Hamas denies the accusations.
The Gaza Civil Defense Agency said nearly 340 bodies were recovered from people killed and buried by Israeli forces at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.
The Israeli army said that its claims of burying the bodies of Palestinians were “baseless”, without directly addressing accusations that Israeli forces were behind the killings.
The army said that bodies buried by Palestinians had been checked by Israeli forces for hostages and then returned to their places.
AFP images from the scene showed many bodies wearing white shrouds in front of the bombed Nasser Hospital.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said some of the bodies found at Nasser Hospital were allegedly discovered with their hands tied and stripped of their clothes, adding that efforts were being made to corroborate the reports.
The White House said it would discuss the issue with Israel.
“Obviously the sight of mass graves in general is very concerning, but I don’t have anything to confirm whether that’s true,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Calls to renew UN agency funding European Union Humanitarian Chief Janez Lenarcic called on donor countries to fund the Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, which plays a key role in aid operations in Gaza.
His comments came following a highly anticipated independent report found that Israel had not provided supporting evidence for its claim that UNRWA employed terrorists.
The report found problems with neutrality, such as agency staff sharing biased posts on social media.
After the report was released, UNRWA Chairman Philippe Lazzarini called for an investigation into the blatant disregard for UN operations in Gaza, adding that 180 of the agency’s staff had been killed since the war began.
Although several countries have renewed funding for the agency, the United States and Britain are among those who have refused.
“The White House must see real progress before restoring funding,” concluded Kirby.
The Gaza war has sparked violence across the region, with deadly cross-border clashes on Tuesday between the Israeli army and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement, an ally of Hamas. (AFP/Fer)
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