Israel-Hamas war: Israeli army has the weapons it needs to press ahead with its offensive in the city of Rafah, the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza, military spokesperson said. Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari remarks came at a news conference on a query if the army can conduct the operation without the US arms. This comes after US President Joe Biden said he would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an all-out assault on Rafah, expressing concerns for the civilians there.
“The army has armaments for the missions it plans, and for the missions in Rafah too -- we have what we need,” Hagari said. He said that the Israel-US relations remain close and the disagreements should be resolved behind closed doors.
UN on Gaza
The United Nations said that 2.3 million Palestinians suffer from hunger and the northern Gaza is already experiencing “full-blown famine”.
Humanitarian workers fear an even more dire situation if Israel launches a long-promised invasion of the southern city of Rafah, which is the main distribution point for aid and where some 1.3 million Palestinians have sought refuge, most having fled from fighting elsewhere.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, and it's unclear when it will reopen. Israel reopened its side of the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing — Gaza's main cargo terminal — after a rocket attack over the weekend, but the UN's main provider of humanitarian assistance said aid cannot be brought in on the Palestinian side because of the security situation.
A recently reopened route in the north is still functioning, but only 60 trucks entered on Tuesday, far below the 500 that entered Gaza each day before the war.
International aid groups warned this week that a distribution network is at risk of collapse across the territory because of the closure of Rafah, which was used to import fuel. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said it only has enough stocks to maintain operations for a few days and has started rationing.
Biden-Netanyahu rift
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the United States would not supply offensive weapons for an all-out invasion, in the latest escalation of tensions between the two close allies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off the threat in a statement issued Thursday, saying “If we have to stand alone, we will stand alone.” “If we need to, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails,” he added.
(With AP inputs)
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