February 17, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that his forces have a "realistic" plan for their ground operations in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah, where he is facing growing international pressure to protect civilians.

Roughly 1.5 million Palestinians are seeking shelter in the southern Gaza city near the border with Egypt — many of them already displaced from elsewhere in the enclave. The United Nations aid chief has said an operation there could lead to "a slaughter." Palestinians in the city say they have nowhere left to go.

“Our ability to enter Rafah has been proven as realistic,” Netanyahu said in a news conference Saturday, claiming there is room for the displaced to move north, but "we have to do it in an orderly way."

He said he told US President Joe Biden this week that, "Israel is going to fight until we reach total victory, and that includes also ground offensive in Rafah — of course after we let citizens there to evacuate to other safe places."

When Biden spoke with Netanyahu Thursday, he urged him not to proceed with operations without a "credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the civilians," according to the White House.

On hostage talks: Netanyahu also echoed the remarks of his hostage coordinator, who told CNN on Saturday that Hamas' demands for a ceasefire and hostage release — such as stopping the war and releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners — are "delusional."

Pressure at home: The prime minister's comments came as thousands took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Caesarea on Saturday, calling for the dismissal of Netanyahu and his government. The prime minister called for "unity," saying, "The last thing we need now is a new election."

The US says it made two successful strikes on Houthi rebel targets in the Red Sea out of self-defense on Friday.

The targets included one mobile anti-ship cruise missile and one mobile unmanned surface vessel belonging to the Iranian-backed group in Yemen, according to US Central Command. The US identified the missile as an "imminent threat" to US Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region.

Remember: The Houthis have frequently targeted shipping in the Red Sea in response to Israel's war on Gaza. The rebels have maintained that attacks will continue until the “aggression stops” on Gaza.

Hamas' demands for a hostage deal are “delusional” and need to be “close to reality,” Israel’s Coordinator for the Captives and the Missing Gal Hirsch told CNN on Saturday.

Hamas’ proposal for a ceasefire and hostage deal envisaged a three-stage process over four-and-a-half months, during which Israeli troops would gradually withdraw from Gaza, hostages would be released and Palestinian prisoners in Israel would be freed, according to a copy of the group’s counteroffer obtained by CNN. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed this proposal as “delusional.”

The Israeli leader has repeatedly said the war in Gaza will continue until Israel destroys Hamas leadership and rescues the hostages.

There were further talks this week, but a number of sticking points emerged. CNN previously reported that US officials are increasingly concerned whether Netanyahu is genuinely interested in reaching a hostage deal at the present time, given the opposition to any form of compromise with Hamas from within his government.

After being trapped in a building for more than a week in a neighborhood of Gaza City besieged by Israeli troops, a group of Palestinian women told CNN they were forced to flee south with their children, leaving other family members behind, and some walking barefoot for more than 12 miles along a stretch of coastline to escape.

One woman said she had no choice but to abandon her elderly stepmother on the beach, and feared she’d since been attacked by dogs that were roaming the area.

CNN spoke with the four women at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza, where they arrived on February 3 with their 16 children — ages 9 months to 12 years — after walking for about eight hours in the cold rain from Gaza City. The group of relatives and neighbors, who are from Abu Eskandar, a neighborhood in northern Gaza, said they had sought shelter in Gaza City on their journey south, holing up in an apartment building in the Al-Rimal neighborhood.

In extensive interviews, the women alleged that Israeli forces abducted their husbands and sons, older relatives, and one sister, a female doctor, from the apartment building where they were sheltering in Gaza City. They accused the Israeli military of blowing up the building, as well as others nearby.

Read the full story here.

The world is once again talking about a Palestinian state.

The issue has caused a deep rift between Israel and its closest ally, the United States. US President Joe Biden keeps pressing for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects any talk of an independent Palestine. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom said it would consider recognizing a Palestinian state, while Saudi Arabia insists that without a resolution to the statehood question, there can be no normalization of ties with Israel.

In all that back and forth about their future, the voice of the Palestinian people has been largely missing. Watching world leaders debate their fate, many Palestinians are not holding their breath. They’ve heard it all before.

Khalil Shikaki, the director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR), said that most Palestinians are beyond the point of putting their hopes into statements made by foreign leaders, regardless of how friendly they might sound.

“What they need to see is action on the ground,” he said. “They want to see Israeli occupation ending – and the two most important signs of Israeli occupation are the settlement construction and the control over land.”

Read the full story here.

A “large number” of medical personnel, patients and displaced people remain trapped inside southern Gaza’s Nasser Medical Complex, the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health said in a statement on Friday night local time.

It said those trapped in the maternity building of the enclave's largest functioning medical center had been subjected to “interrogation in harsh and inhumane conditions” by Israeli forces.

Electricity also remains cut off to the complex as a result of generators not working, increasing the chances of death for cases requiring oxygen.

Five medical personnel and 120 patients remain in the old building of the compound without food or water, it said.

The statement also claimed Israeli forces had prevented the evacuation of serious cases to other hospitals.

About 100 people detained: In a statement issued Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said operations were still underway in Khan Younis, where Nasser Hospital is located, with “approximately 100 individuals suspected of terrorist activity being apprehended.”

Israeli special forces entered the hospital complex on Thursday, with the IDF saying, “Hamas terrorists are likely hiding behind injured civilians inside Nasser hospital."

The IDF also claimed there was "credible intelligence from a number of sources, including from released hostages" that bodies of deceased hostages may be present there. The military did not publicly release evidence to back up its claim.

Hamas said it had “no business” in the hospital. 

Displaced Palestinians in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah are fleeing toward northern Deir al-Balah as Israeli airstrikes intensify and the prospect of ground operations in the city approaches, according to a UN body.

What Israel is saying: On Friday, former Israeli alternate prime minister and current war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Israel “won’t stop” until all hostages are returned, even if that means continuing hostilities during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. 

He added that Israel is preparing for a military incursion into Rafah, and will act “in dialogue” with its partners, including Egypt, and “direct the population to protected areas.”

In a separate statement on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters Israel had “no intention” of sending Palestinians into Egypt as part of an evacuation of Rafah. Gallant provided no further details about a potential evacuation.

This post has been updated to specify Gantz’s former role in an Israeli emergency government.

Five patients at Nasser Hospital, Gaza's largest functioning medical facility, died on Friday after power was lost at the hospital, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The death comes as Israeli special forces raided the hospital on Thursday after laying siege to the facility for days. Israel's military claimed it apprehended more than 20 suspects from the October 7 attack by Hamas and found weapons amid their continued raid of the hospital in Khan Younis. António Guterres, the United Nation's secretary-general, condemned the raid.

Here are the latest developments in the conflict:

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided on Friday that the “perilous situation” in the Gaza strip does not demand further provisional measures beyond those already in place.

On January 26, the ICJ ordered Israel to “take all measures” to limit the death and destruction caused by its military campaign, prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and ensure access to humanitarian aid. This was in response to South Africa previously accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel has denied.

The ICJ’s Friday decision is in response to an urgent request from South Africa asking the court to consider whether the escalating situation in Rafah — where millions of Palestinians have sought shelter from nonstop bombardment across the territory — calls for additional provisional measures.

Subsequently, Israel’s lawyers filed a series of statements in which they argued that “the provisional measures already indicated by the Court cover the situation of hostilities in Gaza as a whole.”

The ICJ decided the measures were sufficient, noting their decision accounted for the recent developments in Rafah.

Reacting to the latest urgent request at the ICJ, Israel accused South Africa of trying to deny Israel's right to defend itself and its citizens.

"South Africa's legally and factually unfounded submission proves once again that it is the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization," Lior Haiat, Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson, said Wednesday.