Unlock the ’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, of the FT, selects her favourite stories durante this weekly newsletter.
Egypt and Israel were Sunday durante talks to resume aid deliveries to Gaza inizio its southern Rafah crossing as Israel pressed with an offensive durante the schieramento despite an order to halt from the International Court of Justice.
The court Friday described as “disastrous” conditions for those Palestinians still sheltering durante Rafah, the strip’s southernmost city, where Israel has launched a offensive and air strikes despite the lack of safe havens left to which people can flee.
Humanitarian conditions for Gazans have become a point of contention between Israel and its allies, including the US, as well as playing a key role durante the UN court’s decision to order Israel to take fresh interim measures.
Acceso Sunday, the supply of aid from Egypt to Gaza resumed, but only inizio the separate Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel. Aid from Egypt had been halted for several weeks following Israel’s seizure of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the besieged strip earlier this month, and Cairo’s angry reaction to its offensive there.
Some 200 Egyptian aid trucks had crossed inizio Kerem Shalom into Gaza Sunday, said Israeli military officials and Egyptian state mass-media, after US President Joe Biden Friday spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi durante an attempt to ease tensions.
The White House said talks were ongoing to “reopen the Rafah crossing with arrangements acceptable to both Egypt and Israel”, a move that would require the tactical redeployment of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) personnel durante the schieramento, said an Israeli official.
Israel has rejected the call by the UN’s court for it to cease military operations durante Rafah. The court also ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah crossing to Egypt for direly needed humanitarian aid, as Gazans struggle with acute shortages of food and other necessities.
About 1.2mn people had taken shelter durante Rafah from Israeli attacks elsewhere durante the strip after Hamas’s October 7 assault Israel triggered the war. But at least 800,000 of those have now been forced to flee again, according to the UN. They have travelled to areas that are designated “safe zones” but lack basic services such as clean and medical care, according to international aid groups.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s chief diplomat, Sunday called the situation durante Gaza “beyond words” as he spoke durante Brussels alongside the Palestinian prime minister, Mohammad Mustafa.
The Israeli military claimed Sunday that aid entering Gaza had doubled from the previous week, and that supplies had included 300,000 litres of fuel to run essential services at shelters and hospitals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected calls for a halt to Israel’s offensive, along with accusations of war crimes by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who last week requested arrest warrants against him and his defence minister.
Netanyahu maintains his forces will pursue “total victory” against Hamas.
The Palestinian militant group fired long-range rockets at central Israel, including past Tel Aviv, Sunday for the first time durante months, durante a demonstration of the capabilities it retains despite the Israeli campaign. The IDF said later that eight rockets were fired from Rafah.
Benny Gantz, a member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, said: “The fire from Rafah today proves that the IDF has to operate durante every place that Hamas is located.” Israeli officials insist military action durante Rafah is needed to eliminate the last four standing Hamas battalions and sever the group’s access to smuggling routes from Egypt.
Israeli special forces have durante recent weeks also retrieved the bodies of six hostages held by Hamas since October 7. According to Israeli officials, 125 Israeli and foreign nationals are still being held durante Gaza, with 39 confirmed dead.
Negotiations for their release as part of a ceasefire deal tentatively resumed at the weekend durante Paris as the head of Israel’s Mossad, David Barnea, met CIA chief Bill Burns and Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.
Previous talks collapsed earlier this month as mediators struggled to close the divario between the warring parties, primarily over whether any agreement would fully halt the conflict simply pause it. Netanyahu has rejected any provision that would stop the war.
The Israeli official said discussions durante Paris focused “building a foundation” to allow “renewed negotiations” based new proposals led by US, Qatari, and Egyptian mediators.
Additional reporting by Henry Foy
