February 12, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

Palestinians in Rafah are frantically trying to figure out whether to stay or evacuate after deadly Israeli strikes rained down on the southern city overnight, a displaced aid worker in the city told CNN on Monday. 

“It was one of the most terrible nights,” Jamal al Rozzi said. “Not because of the number of martyrs of the number of injuries, but also because everybody was just asking themselves what to do.” 

Israel’s bombardment since October 7 has forcibly displaced 1.7 million people in Gaza, according to the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees, which says nearly 1.5 million civilians are crammed into the tiny territory of Rafah alone. 

The attacks on Monday, carried out during a raid to rescue two Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas, killed dozens of Palestinians and reignited fears that a looming Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would cause a devastating bloodbath, with those trapped there having no remaining escape route. 

"This is the question that nobody answers for the other. If you ask your brother or your father or your son or your daughter ... they cannot tell you because they don't want to feel guilty if anything happens to you,” added al Rozzi.  "I look at the faces of the people in the street. Of course, after 120 days or more of war, they are really sad, angry and so on. But today they are ... totally confused." 

 CNN's Helen Regan and Abeer Salman contributed reporting.

US President Joe Biden is growing increasingly frustrated behind the scenes with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, telling advisers and others that the prime minister is ignoring his advice and obstructing efforts to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, according to people familiar with the matter. 

So far, Biden has stopped short of directly criticizing Netanyahu in public. But he has become increasingly critical of Israel’s tactics, saying last week he believes the campaign in Gaza is “over the top,” one of his sharpest condemnations to date of the military campaign against Hamas.

In private, Biden has been more willing to offer unvarnished thoughts on Netanyahu, including his deep irritation that Netanyahu has not followed through on American recommendations to de-intensify military tactics in Gaza. Some officials now wonder how much longer Biden will withhold public criticism of Netanyahu as the war in Gaza rages.

The tension between the Biden administration and Netanyahu’s government has only intensified in recent days over Israel’s preparations for a ground incursion into Rafah, where thousands upon thousands of Palestinians have fled to over the course of the war.

US officials have been direct in their conversations with Israeli counterparts that the estimated 1.3 million people currently in Rafah simply “have nowhere to go,” according to a senior administration official. The Biden administration is highly skeptical about whether Netanyahu’s direction to Israel’s military for an “evacuation of the population” out of Rafah before Israel forces go in is even remotely feasible.

“We have made very clear that an operation under current conditions is not something that we could envision,” the official said.

CNN's Arlette Saenz contributed reporting to this post.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron says it is "impossible to see" how Israel can launch an offensive in Rafah with so many civilians sheltering there.

"We are very concerned about what is happening in Rafah," Cameron told reporters on Monday, noting that many of the people currently in the southern city of Gaza "have moved four, five, six times before getting there."

He urged for an immediate pause in fighting.

"We want Israel to stop and think very seriously before it takes any further action. But above all, what we want is an immediate pause in the fighting, and we want that pause to lead to a ceasefire, a sustainable ceasefire without a return, to further fighting. That's what should happen now," he added.

The Dutch government has lodged an appeal after a court ruled on Monday that The Netherlands must stop the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.

According to a government statement, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Geoffrey van Leeuwen, decided to appeal the decision made by The Hague Court of Appeal.

“The government is lodging an appeal in cassation because it believes the Court of Appeal did not take sufficient account of this.”

The Dutch government said it believes that F-35 aircraft are “crucial for Israel’s security, in particular with regard to threats emanating from the region,” which it said includes Iran, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon.

Despite lodging its appeal, the government said that it will respect the court of appeal’s judgement and will implement its decision. It stressed its appeal is “separate from the situation in Gaza,” which it called “extremely serious.”

“It is clear that international humanitarian law applies in full and Israel, too, must abide by it,” the Dutch government said.

Two hostages have been rescued in an overnight Israeli military raid on Hamas targets in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson told reporters on Monday.

Here's what we know so far:

Who are the hostages? The hostages are 60-year-old Fernando Simon Marman and 70-year-old Louis Har, who were both taken 128 days ago during Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. They are dual Israel-Argentine nationals, according to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum.

The rescue operation: IDF spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said that special forces entered a building in the center of Rafah at 1:49 a.m. local time (6:49 p.m. ET).

Status of hostages: The hostages are in good medical condition and have been transferred to Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer. Their family members say they are in relatively good condition, but are showing signs of what they went through, including weight loss.

Deadly airstrikes in Rafah: The IDF confirmed Monday that they conducted "a series of strikes" on targets in the area of Shaboura, a district of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. 

The Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza told CNN Monday that at least 94 people were killed in overnight Israeli strikes on the city of Rafah. The Ministry also said it is still in the process of retrieving and identifying bodies, and that the death toll is expected to increase.

The intense bombings were part of an operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to free two hostages held captive by Hamas. Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said more than 100 people had been killed by overnight strikes, in Rafah. The PRCS added more people are still trapped under rubble and that the death toll may increase.

Egypt has increased fortifications along its border with Gaza and deployed more troops and machinery in North Sinai as a “precautionary measure" ahead of an expected Israeli ground operation in Rafah in Gaza, two security officials told CNN.

Checkpoints leading to the Rafah border crossing on the Egyptian side were boosted with more soldiers and the areas around the main road were being prepared for the deployment of tanks and military machinery, an eyewitness told CNN. 

A CNN team documented parked military vehicles along the road leading to the border back in November, but it’s unclear how large the new deployments will be.

Egyptian military helicopters were also seen flying on the Egyptian side in the past three days, according to an eyewitness in Egypt and social media videos shot from the Gaza side of the border.

The Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza told CNN Monday that at least 94 people were killed in overnight Israeli strikes on the city of Rafah.

The Ministry also said it is still in the process of retrieving and identifying bodies, and that the death toll is expected to increase.

The intense bombings were part of an operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to free two hostages held captive by Hamas.

Earlier, the Palestine Red Crescent Society said more than 100 people had been killed by overnight strikes, in Rafah. The PRCS added more people are still trapped under rubble and that the death toll may increase.

The Ministry of Health in Gaza only updates death toll numbers after the bodies have been identified, which explains a discrepancy with the numbers reported by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. 

The United Kingdom has announced new sanctions against four “extremist Israeli settlers,” saying they have committed human rights abuses in the West Bank against Palestinian communities.

The statement from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the settlers “violently attacked Palestinians in the occupied West Bank,” using physical aggression, threatening families at gunpoint, and destroying property in a “targeted and calculated effort to displace Palestinian communities.”

The four individuals sanctioned are all males aged between 21 and 31. They have been named as Moshe Sharvit, Yinon Levy, Zvi Bar Yosef, and Ely Federman.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the sanctions “place restrictions on those involved in some of the most egregious abuses of human rights.”

He said settlers are forcing Palestinian people off land that is “rightfully theirs.”

Israel has rescued two hostages in an operation in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza, where its air force has also carried out strikes that have killed at least 100 people, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

Concerns are growing over the fate of more than a million displaced Gazans in the city, where Israel is planning a ground operation.

Here are the latest developments: