Middle East latest: IDF 'poised to take Rafah'; Israel to receive billions from massive US aid package (2024)

Hundreds marched in Tel Aviv last night to demand Israeli officials strike a deal to free hostages taken by Hamas.

Marking 200 days since the 7 October attacks, hostage families and protesters also urged Benjamin Netanyahu to resign as prime minister.

Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped 253 Israelis and foreigners during their attacks on the south of the country.

According to Israel, around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 are still unaccounted for.

Israeli fighter jets and artillery have struck around 40 Hezbollah targets in a south Lebanon village, the IDF says.

Targets included storage facilities and weapons and other infrastructure.

The Israeli military and the Iran-backed, Lebanon-based group have traded almost daily fire across the border since the war broke out.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant said that half of Hezbollah’s commanders have been killed in IDF strikes since October, according to Haaretz.

He added that the "other half is hiding and abandoning southern Lebanon to IDF operations".

Israel will move ahead with its planned ground operation in Rafah, a government spokesperson has said, according to Reuters.

The IDF is poised to launch an offensive on the southern Gaza city immediately, a senior defence official told the news agency.

It hasconducted all necessary preparations to take Rafah, which itdeems the last Hamas bastion in Gaza, and can launchan operation the moment it gets government approval, the official said.

Israeli sources also told Reuters that 40,000 tents have been procured for Palestinian civilians - with capacity for 10 to 12 people - who they intend to evacuate during the assault on the city.

They added that Benjamin Netanyahu's war cabinet planned to meet in the next two weeks to authorise evacuations, which are expected to take around a month.

While not sharing details on the invasion, Brigadier-General Itzik Cohen, commander of the IDF's 162nd Division, told Kan public TV yesterday: "Hamas should know that when the IDF goes into Rafah, it would do best to raise its hands in surrender.

"Rafah will not be the Rafah of today… There won't be munitions there. And there won't be hostages there."

The Palestinian foreign ministry in the West Bank has welcomed Jamaica's decision to formally recognise the State of Palestine.

The state is recognised by the United Nations and comprises the West Bank and Gaza.

Jamaica became the 142nd country to formally recognise the state yesterday amid concerns over Israel's war in Gaza.

The UK, US and other Western countries do not recognise Palestine as a state, taking the position that recognition is dependent on negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.

In a statement, the ministry called for all countries that do not formally recognise Palestine as a state to do so as soon as possible "to end the suffering of the Palestinian people".

The Arab League's secretary-general has demanded all funding to the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza (UNRWA) be restored.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, head of the regional bloc, said all countries that suspended funding must urgently resume it, calling funding a "humanitarian necessity and a moral duty".

Israel had alleged in January that a dozen of UNRWA staff were involved in Hamas's 7 October attacks.

A report on Monday found Israel had not provided evidence to support its claim and had not raised concerns about anyone on the UNRWA staff lists it received every year since 2011.

The claims against the UN aid agency prompted a host of countries to pause support for the agency while a probe took place.

Germany said this morning that it would resume cooperation with the agency (see post at 9.20 for more details).

The director of the World Food Programme has said Gaza could be in famine within six weeks.

Gian Carlo Cirri said "we are getting closer by the day to a famine situation" in the besieged enclave at a launch of a report by the Global Network Against Food Crises.

"As for Gaza, the conflict makes it difficult and sometimes impossible to reach affected people," Mr Cirri said.

"We need to scale up massively our assistance… But under the current conditions, I’m afraid the situation will further deteriorate."

A UN-backed report said in March that famine was imminent, was likely to occur by May in northern Gaza and could spread across the territory by July.

Palestinians said they fled their homes after cities across Gaza were hit by shells and air strikes overnight.

Most of the strikes were focused on Beit Lahiya in the north of Gaza, where four neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate by the IDF.

The IDF said it was targeting areas where the armed wing of Hamas-aligned Islamic Jihad launched rockets at two Israeli border settlements yesterday.

Residents also reported shelling in central Gaza around Al-Nuseirat and Khan Younis - where the IDF withdrew forces in March.

Mohammad Jamal, a 29-year-old resident of Gaza City, near Zeitoun, said: "We don't know why this is all happening."

He added: "It is as if the war started again. As if it is just happening, they burnt up the place."

At least 34,262 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's military offensive in Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave has said.

A further 77,229 people have been injured in the campaign, it said.

The health ministry's figures do not distinguish between civilians and militants.

Israel's foreign minister has thanked the US Senate for approving a $95bn security aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

Most of the fund will go to Ukraine, but around $26bn (£20bn) will provide wartime assistance for Israel and humanitarian relief for the citizens of Gaza (see post at 8.52 for more details).

Posting on X, minister Israel Katz thanked the Senate and said the package was "a clear testament to the strength of our alliance and sends a strong message to all our enemies".

Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law later today.

Former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi has called on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign.

She told Ireland's RTE News that while "we recognise Israel's right to protect itself", the number of Palestinians who have died in Gaza was "too many".

"We reject the policy and practice of Netanyahu - terrible," she said. "What could be worse than what he has done in response?

"His intelligence person has resigned - he should resign. He's ultimately responsible."

Major General Aharon Haliva, the head of Israeli military intelligence, resigned on Monday over failures that led to the deadly 7 October Hamas attack.