Live blog: Israeli troops 'prepare to operate' in Gaza's Rafah — Netanyahu

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

1801 GMT –– Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he had ordered troops to "prepare to operate" in Rafah in southern Gaza and that a "total victory" by Israel over Hamas was just months away.

He said accepting the Palestinian group's "bizarre demands" for a ceasefire would not lead to the return of hostages.

"It will only invite another massacre," he said in a televised briefing to journalists.

In response, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has said the remarks by Netanyahu show he intends to pursue conflict in the Middle East.

“Netanyahu’s comments are a form of political bravado, indicating his intention to pursue the conflict in the region," Abu Zuhri said. "The movement (Hamas) is prepared to deal with all options."

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1750 GMT –– Nearly 3,000 houses burnt out by Israel in Gaza, media office says

Nearly 3,000 residential units have been burnt out by the Israeli army in Gaza since October 7, the government media office has said.

“These houses were set on fire upon clear and direct instructions from army commanders to render these housing units uninhabitable,” it added in a statement.

It called on the international community to hold Israel accountable “for these ongoing crimes against the Palestinian people.”

1736 GMT –– Aid cuts to UN refugee agency to fuel extremism, violence: Lebanon

Lebanon’s foreign minister has warned that the halt of funding to the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA) would foment extremism and violence.

"Freezing UNRWA's operations will drive generations of displaced and orphaned Palestinians in Gaza towards extremism and violence,” Abdullah Bou Habib said following his meeting with the UNRWA chief in Lebanon, Dorothee Klaus.

“This poses a threat to regional security and the security of both host and donor countries alike,” he added in statements cited by a Foreign Ministry statement.

1517 GMT –– Israeli assault on Rafah would have 'untold' consequences: UN chief

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that if Israel pushed its Gaza ground invasion into the southern city of Rafah, it would have "untold regional consequences."

"I am especially alarmed by reports that the Israeli military intends to focus next on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been squeezed in a desperate search for safety," said Guterres.

He added that "such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences."

1503 GMT –– New round of Gaza negotiations to start Thursday in Cairo: Egypt source

Egypt and Qatar are sponsoring a new round of negotiations to start on Thursday in Cairo aimed at achieving "calm" in Gaza as well as a prisoner-hostage exchange, an Egyptian official has said.

A Hamas source with knowledge of the matter confirmed the Palestinian group had agreed to the talks, with the goal of "a ceasefire, an end to the war and a prisoner exchange deal".

Both sources spoke to AFP news agency on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

1358 GMT –– Israeli officials 'looking intently' at new Gaza truce proposal, government spokesperson says

Israel has said officials were "looking intently" at a new Gaza truce proposal presented by Qatari negotiators, a government spokesperson said.

"We have received an update, we have received notification from the Qatari negotiators. We are looking at them. The Mossad is looking intently at what was presented to us," spokesperson Avi Hyman told reporters.

1303 GMT –– Israel claims hostage tunnel found in south Gaza city

Israel's military has said it discovered and destroyed a tunnel used by senior Hamas leaders and to hold hostages in southern Gaza's main city of Khan Younis.

Special forces said it was a "strategic underground tunnel" stretching more than one kilometre in a "targeted raid".

"This tunnel held approximately 12 hostages at different times; three of them have been returned to Israel, and the rest are still being held in Gaza," a statement read.

1146 GMT –– Death toll in Gaza reaches 27,708 amid truce deal negotiations

At least 27,708 Palestinians have been killed in the territory during Israel's war on Gaza, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The latest toll includes 123 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while a total of 67,147 people have been wounded in Gaza since October 7.

1139 GMT –– Israel to discuss Hamas response to hostage exchange, ceasefire deal

Top Israeli political officials are meeting to discuss with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Hamas's response, Israeli Channel 13 has reported, without providing further details.

"We cannot accept the demand to end the war," Israeli news website YNET quoted unnamed Israeli officials as saying.

Israel also opposed releasing 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, including those serving life sentences, according to the website.

1051 GMT –– 35 Palestinians arrested in West Bank, brings tally to 6,900

The Israeli army has detained 35 more Palestinians in various areas of the occupied West Bank.

According to a joint statement issued by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the new arrests bring the total number of Palestinians detained by Israeli forces since October 7 to 6,900.

The new arrests included former Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, the statement said.

1007 GMT –– Blinken meets Israeli PM for talks on Gaza truce plan

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a ceasefire as the Gaza war enters its fifth month.

"There's still a lot of work to be done," Blinken said in Doha late on Tuesday after earlier stops in Saudi Arabia and Egypt on his fifth Middle East crisis tour since October 7.

0954 GMT –– Civilians among 10 dead in Israel strikes on Syria: monitor

Six civilians were among 10 people killed by Israeli air strikes on the central Syrian city of Homs, a war monitor has said.

"Ten people, including six civilians and two Hezbollah fighters, were killed in Israeli strikes on a building in the Hamra neighbourhood of Homs," the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP news agency.

The strikes completely levelled the building in one of the city's most affluent districts, and also hit other targets linked to Iran-backed groups, Abdel Rahman said.

0940 GMT –– Palestine hails Saudi Arabia's stance in rejecting normalisation deal with Israel

Palestine has welcomed Saudi Arabia's stance in rejecting a normalisation deal with Israel without recognising a Palestinian state on lands it had in 1967.

"We thank the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its firm position, and efforts to stand alongside the Palestinian people and t heir just cause," said Hussein al Sheikh, secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), in a statement on his X account.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia announced that it will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established.

0745 GMT –– Hamas proposes 3-stage ceasefire over 135 days

Hamas has proposed a ceasefire plan that would pause the fighting in Gaza for four-and-a-half months leading to an end to the war, in response to a proposal sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and backed by the United States and Israel.

According to a draft document seen by Reuters news agency, the Hamas counterproposal envisions three phases lasting 45 days each.

The proposal would see Hamas exchange remaining Israeli hostages they captured on October 7 for Palestinians in Israeli prisons. The reconstruction of Gaza would begin, Israeli forces would withdraw completely, and bodies and remains would be exchanged.

According to the Hamas counterproposal, all Israeli women hostages, males under 19, the elderly and sick would be released during the first 45-day phase in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails.

Remaining male hostages would be released during the second phase, and remains exchanged in the third phase. By the end of the third phase, Hamas would expect the sides to have reached agreement on an end to the war.

0349 GMT –– Blinken in Israel for talks on truce deal

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Israel, where he was expected to press for what he called an "essential" truce agreement as Tel Aviv's war on Gaza entered its fifth month.

The diplomat was due to meet Israel's leaders as part of a Middle East crisis tour after earlier stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.

Qatar, which mediated a temporary ceasefire earlier in the conflict, said Hamas had given a response to a new proposed ceasefire deal.

0303 GMT — Yemen's Houthis launch missiles on two ships in Red Sea: US

Yemen's Houthi group have launched six missiles toward two merchant ships, reportedly causing light damage to one of the vessels, the US military said.

"Iranian-backed Houthis fired six anti-ship ballistic missiles (ASBM) from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden", US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

Three of the missiles were aimed at the MV Star Nasia, a Marshall Islands-flagged bulk carrier that is Greek-owned and operated, the military command said.

The other three missiles were apparently aimed at the MV Morning Tide, a Barbados-flagged, UK-owned cargo ship, but they exploded in the Red Sea without causing damage.

0131 GMT –– Palestinian journalist killed in Israeli attack on Gaza

A Palestinian journalist was killed Tuesday in Israeli air strikes on Gaza, pushing the death toll for members of the press targeted by Israel since October 7 to 123, the Palestinian Media Office said in a statement.

Rizk al Gharabli, director of the Palestinian Media Center in Gaza, lost his life in Israeli air strikes on the city of Khan Younis, the statement added.

In a previous statement, the media office said Israel has intentionally killed journalists in Gaza with the aim of silencing the Palestinian narrative, concealing the truth and preventing news from reaching regional and international public opinion.

0119 GMT –– Israeli army says another officer killed in Gaza

The Israeli army announced Tuesday that another officer was killed in clashes in Gaza.

Major David Shakuri, 30, the deputy commander of the Combat Engineering Corps' 601st Battalion, was killed while fighting in northern Gaza, the statement said.

With the latest death, the number of Israeli soldiers killed since the war started on October 7 has increased to 563, including 226 who have died since the start of the ground operation on October 27.

0045 GMT — No normalisation with Israel without Palestinian state: Riyadh

Saudi Arabia has told the US its position stands that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem, as its capital, and Israeli "aggression" on besieged Gaza stops the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Tuesday, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said that the Biden administration has received positive feedback that Saudi Arabia and Israel are willing to continue to have normalisation discussions.

The kingdom issued the statement to affirm its steadfast position to Washington on the Palestinian issue in the light of the comments attributed to Kirby, the ministry said.

0035 GMT –– Israel informs families of 31 hostages of their deaths in Gaza

Israel said late Tuesday that it informed the families of 31 hostages that their captured loved ones have been killed in Gaza.

''The Israeli army has so far notified the families of 31 hostages that their loved ones are confirmed to have been killed,'' Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said at a press conference.

"We are working in all ways to return the hostages home and exhausting all information about them and their conditions," he added.

The Palestinian group Hamas is believed to be holding around 136 Israelis following its cross-border attack on Israel on October 7.

2351 GMT — US House rejects Republican-led effort to pass Israel-only aid bill

The US House of Representatives rejected a Republican-led bill that would provide $17.6 billion to Israel, as Democrats said they wanted a vote instead on a broader measure that would also provide assistance to Ukraine, international humanitarian funding and new money for border security.

As voting continued, there were 179 votes against the bill and 249 for it, meaning it could not receive the two-thirds majority needed to pass.

2200 GMT — Israel says studying Hamas response to truce deal

Israel said it was examining Hamas' response to a plan to halt nearly four months of fighting in besieged Gaza after key mediator Qatar said the Palestinian resistance group had given a "positive" reply to the proposed agreement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Hamas' reply had been "shared" with Israel and he would discuss it there on Wednesday.

"We're studying it intensely... and we will be working as hard as we possibly can to try to get an agreement," he said.

Israel's spy agency Mossad also received the Hamas response, the prime minister's office said, and "its details are being thoroughly evaluated".

2149 GMT — Egypt receives Hamas response to Gaza truce proposal

Egyptian officials said they have received Hamas' response to a framework ceasefire agreement for besieged Gaza, a statement from Egypt's State Information Service said.

"We will discuss all the details of the proposed framework with the concerned parties to reach an agreement on the final formula as soon as possible," Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service, was quoted as saying.

Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency that Hamas' response showed flexibility, asking for a specific timeline for the ceasefire to end after the Muslim Eid al Fitr holiday in early April.

"Egypt will continue to exert its utmost efforts in order to reach a ceasefire agreement in the war-ravaged Gaza soon," Rashwan said.

2100 GMT — Israel won't stop in Gaza until 'total victory' — Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will continue its military invasion in besieged Gaza until "total victory" is achieved.

"We are on the way to total victory, and we will not stop. This position represents the overwhelming majority of the people," Netanyahu said as he and his wife met with the representatives of families of killed Israeli soldiers, according to his office.

The statement marks the first official Israeli comment after Qatar said Hamas has officially responded "positively" to a deal proposal.

For our live updates from Tuesday, February 6, click here.