Israel tells civilians to evacuate after taking control of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City

al-Shifa-Hospital-grounds

Important Takeaways:

  • Israeli forces are in control of al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, after an overnight raid on the medical complex, and have told thousands living nearby to evacuate towards the south of the Palestinian territory.
  • Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesperson, said early on Monday that troops were “conducting a high-precision operation in limited areas of Shifa hospital based on … intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists to command attacks”.
  • The IDF has used leaflets and social media to urge civilians around Shifa to leave the vicinity, telling them to head immediately along Gaza’s coastal road to al-Muwasi, an area 18 miles (30km) south.
  • The Israeli military issued grainy drone footage of the Shifa raid that it said showed troops coming under fire from a number of buildings within the hospital complex.
  • The IDF said troops had been instructed on the importance of avoiding harm to patients, civilians, medical staff and equipment.
  • Israeli forces have raided a number of hospitals in Gaza during a military campaign launched after the surprise attack by Hamas into southern Israel in which the militants killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 others hostage.
  • Benjamin Netanyahu has said no amount of international pressure would stop Israel from realizing its war aim of “crushing Hamas” and has pledged to launch a long-anticipated offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza that is now home to more than 1 million people displaced from elsewhere in the territory.

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Biden pushes two-state solution; ceasefire in State of the Union address while Hamas hides behind civilians in the last holdout city Rafa

Biden-State-of-Union-2024

Important Takeaways:

  • Netanyahu Renews Israel Victory Pledge as Biden Calls for Ceasefire, Two-State Solution
  • The U.S. and Israel stand at a diplomatic and military crossroads.
  • Israel says it needs to finish the war against Hamas in the key Gazan city of Rafah, yet the U.S. is threatening that Israel won’t be able to use American weapons if Israel launches its military campaign against the Hamas stronghold.
  • On the northern border, Hezbollah continues to fire rocket volleys on Israeli communities.
  • In his State of the Union address, President Biden put the burden on Israel to protect Gazans.
  • “Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population like cowards under hospitals, daycare centers, and all the like. Israel also has a fundamental responsibility, though, to protect innocent civilians in Gaza,” Biden declared.
  • He added what he says is the solution: “As we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two-state solution (between Israel and the Palestinians) over time.”
  • To increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, the administration announced plans to construct a port in Gaza

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Israeli War Cabinet tells Hamas they have until Ramadan to release the Hostages

Gaza-war-damage

Important Takeaways:

  • Israel sets date for Rafah offensive in ultimatum for Hamas: War cabinet member warns onslaught will begin in three weeks unless all hostages are released
  • Israel has threatened to invade Gaza’s Rafah by the start of Ramadan if Hamas does not return the remaining hostages in a dark ultimatum condemned by international observers.
  • The United States and other governments, as well as the United Nations, have issued increasingly urgent appeals to Israel to call off its planned offensive on Rafah, where three-quarters of the displaced Palestinian population has fled.
  • Some 1.2 million people are now taking shelter in sprawling tent encampments without access to adequate food, water or medicine in the city that used to be home to just 250,000.
  • But the Israeli government says the city on the Egypt border is the last remaining stronghold in Gaza of the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
  • ‘The world must know, and Hamas leaders must know – if by Ramadan our hostages are not home, the fighting will continue everywhere, including the Rafah area,’ Benny Gantz, a retired military chief of staff, told a conference of American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem on Sunday.
  • ‘Hamas has a choice. They can surrender, release the hostages and the civilians of Gaza can celebrate the feast of Ramadan,’ added Gantz, a member of the three-person war cabinet.
  • Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, is expected to begin around March 10.

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Despite being publicly and privately warned, Israel has begun bombing Rafah in the Gaza Strip

Rescued-Israeli-Hostages

Important Takeaways:

  • Israeli forces rescue 2 hostages in Rafah and hammer the crowded city
  • The dramatic rescue of Fernando Marman, 60, and Louis Har, 70, came amid mounting international concerns over a planned Israeli ground assault on Rafah.
  • Israeli forces retrieved the two Israeli men taken captive during the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in a “complex” overnight operation carried out “under fire in the heart of Rafah,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said.
  • The operation included a “wave of strikes” to help “enable the force’s disengagement” and strike Hamas operatives in the area, he said.
  • The strikes set off widespread panic, according to the NBC News crew, with crowds racing to take loved ones, including children, to the Kuwait Hospital.
  • The IDF had confirmed overnight that its forces conducted strikes in the area of Shaboura

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CBS confirms plans for US strikes on Iranian targets

US-Strikes-Iran

Important Takeaways:

  • Plans for U.S. strikes on Iranian personnel and facilities in Iraq, Syria approved after Jordan drone attack
  • U.S. officials have confirmed to CBS News that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets — including Iranian personnel and facilities — inside Iraq and Syria. The strikes will come in response to drone and rocket attacks targeting U.S. forces in the region, including the drone attack on Sunday that killed three U.S. service members at the Tower 22 base inside Jordan, near the Syrian border.
  • Speaking at the Pentagon Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the U.S. won’t tolerate attacks on American troops.
  • “This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Austin said, noting that Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen on commercial shipping in the Red Sea were also happening in the region. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.”
  • Weather will be a major factor in the timing of the strikes, the U.S. officials told CBS News, as the U.S. has the capability to carry out strikes in bad weather but prefers to have better visibility of selected targets as a safeguard against inadvertently hitting civilians who might stray into the area at the last moment.
  • Iran’s Reaction…any strike on Iranian territory or personnel would escalate tension in the tumultuous region, not make U.S. forces safer.

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King of Jordan warns Anthony Blinken of ramification if Israel keeps dropping bombs in Gaza

King-Abdullah-and-Israel

Important Takeaways:

  • King Abdullah of Jordan warns Antony Blinken there will be ‘catastrophic ramifications’ if Israel keeps dropping bombs on Gaza – as secretary of state tells Israel displaced Palestinians must be allowed to return to war-torn Strip
  • King Abdullah II of Jordan has warned Antony Blinken there will be ‘catastrophic ramifications’ if the war in Gaza continues.
  • During a meeting in Amman on Sunday, the Jordanian leader told the US Secretary of State there needed to be an end to ‘the tragic humanitarian crisis in the Strip.’
  • Blinken is back in the region to speak with Arab leaders about a joint mission to contain the violence of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.
  • After speed round visits to Greece, Turkey, Jordan, and Qatar, Blinken will continue his visits later this week with stops in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the West Bank, Egypt, and Israel before heading back to Washington.
  • At the press conference, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani conveyed the country’s desire for stability in the region, which requires an immediate ceasefire, the release of the Israeli hostages, and continued aid into Gaza.
  • Israel has not agreed to a ceasefire, and the US has largely not pushed Netanyahu’s government on the point, rather, advocating for temporary humanitarian pauses in the fighting to allow aid to be delivered.
  • Several weeks back, Israel opened Kerem Shalom up as a second entry point for aid to Gaza.

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Iran threatens to shut down the Strait of Gibraltar, effectively closing a world shipping lane

Strait-of-Gibraltar-map

Important Takeaways:

  • Chemical tanker ‘is hit by drone from Iran off the coast of India – as Tehran threatens to close Strait of Gibraltar and Mediterranean Sea unless Israel stops bombing Gaza
  • The US has accused Iran of being behind a drone attack on a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean.
  • The attack on the Chem Pluto on Saturday resulted in a fire, though no casualties were reported.
  • Though Iran has not commented on the attack, the US military said the ‘one-way attack’ was delivered by a ‘drone fired from Iran.’
  • It is understood to be the first time the US has accused Iran of targeting a ship directly. It is also believed to be the furthest attack undertaken by Iran from its own soil.
  • The accusations come as Iran has threatened to close off the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea if Israel and its allies continue to commit ‘crimes’ in Gaza.
  • Iran, which has backed Hamas, accused the US and other western states of propping up Israel’s alleged war crimes committed during its ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, where more than 20,000 people have died since October 7.
  • ‘They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, (the Strait of) Gibraltar and other waterways,’ Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior member of the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Corps, said on Saturday.
  • While Iran has no direct access to the Mediterranean itself and it was not clear how the Guards could attempt to close it off, Iran-backed proxies in Lebanon and Syria have access to these waterways, which carry around a fifth of the world’s maritime trade.

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IDF secured a network of tunnels uncovering Hamas underground Command Center

Hamas-Tunnel-under-City

Important Takeaways:

  • The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the securing of a vast Hamas tunnel network inside Gaza. The progress comes as several Iranian proxies are stepping up their attacks on Israel and in the region.
  • The tunnel runs under what is called the “Elite Quarter” of Gaza City, including Palestine Square.
  • “You can see behind me, the community college. You can see there the Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children, you can see government buildings, you can see civilian buildings. From outside, everything looks normal – everything looks like a major city,” he said.
  • The square is the center of the strategic tunnel network and a connecting point to some key Hamas leadership strongholds. It joins the underground infrastructure near the Rantisi Hospital and the Shifa Hospital, uncovered earlier.
  • Tunnel shafts are located in residences and offices of senior officials, allowing for covert descent, and enabling Hamas operatives to escape and remain in hideouts for long periods of time.
  • In the north, Israel struck Hezbollah infrastructure and IAF jets flew low over Beirut and the southern Lebanese town of Marjayoun as a warning, after the Iranian-backed terror group fired a rocket barrage that hit the Israeli city of Kiryat Shemona overnight, causing damage but no injuries.
  • To the south of Israel, another Iranian proxy, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, are threatening to target American warships after the U.S. announced an international force in the region to protect global shipping from Houthi attacks.

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Massive tunnel discovered by IDF just inside Gaza border

Hamas-Tunnel-in-Gaza

Important Takeaways:

  • IDF Uncovers Massive Tunnel Complex Built by Hamas Leader’s Brother
  • The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) revealed Sunday that it had discovered a massive tunnel complex built by Hamas just inside the Gaza border, 50 meters underground, wide enough to drive through at some points, and filled with weapons for attacking Israel.
  • The stunning find included a trove of intelligence materials, including videos — taken by Hamas itself — of the construction of the tunnel complex, which shows the massive amount of equipment and manpower devoted to the task, instead of Gaza’s own needs.
  • The construction was reportedly overseen by Muhammad Sinwar, the brother of Gaza-based Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. One portion is near the Erez Crossing, which was used by Palestinian workers to enter Israel, and was attacked by Hamas October 7.

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Where are the hostages? Israel decides best way to clear tunnels; Flooding them may be an option

Pipes-laid-at-Gaza

Important Takeaways:

  • First images ‘show Israel preparing to flood Hamas tunnels with sea water as troops set up pipes and pumps in Gaza’
  • Images have emerged appearing to show Israeli forces preparing to flood the labyrinth of tunnels used by Hamas under the Gaza Strip with sea water.
  • Israel is said to have completed installing at least five pumps about a mile north of the Al-Shati refugee camp that could move thousands of cubic meters of water per hour – meaning they could flood the 300-mile network of tunnels within weeks.
  • Their plan would be to drive out the terrorists from the tunnels and make them inoperable by flooding the system with seawater from the Mediterranean Sea.
  • The tactic would enable Israel to destroy the tunnels and kill any Hamas terrorists hiding within them, the officials told the Wall Street Journal.
  • It was not clear whether Israel would consider using the pumps before all the Israeli hostages captured by Hamas terrorists on October 7 as any move to flood the tunnels would prove fatal for the captives.
  • The Hamas terrorists operate in a complex network of reinforced tunnels, some of which are buried up to 40ft underground and all of which could conceal an ambush, be booby-trapped – or worse – filled with explosives and primed to cave in.
  • This means Israel can bomb Gaza all it likes and launch bunker-busting munitions to clear out some tunnels – but the IDF would still need to deploy thousands of troops to sweep through the ‘Gaza Metro’ to neutralize every last Hamas fighter.
  • But that is no easy task. Subterranean fighting is notoriously lethal work, especially when Israeli soldiers are fighting against heavily armed Hamas terrorists who know every hiding place and have access to a stash of rockets, grenades and guns.
  • US officials said they didn’t know how close Israel was to carrying out the plan, which isn’t being ruled out by Israel.

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