Rafah bombings (Edited by Mumsnet)

Having humanity. Indeed. Do you have the same expectation of Israel or are they exempt?

Uk could host them as well or Europe couldn’t they ?

would Israel allow Palestinians returning to their country after the war is over?

Who has closed the border is actually in dispute -

https://www.msn.com/he-il/news/other/update-1-israel-and-egypt-trade-blame-over-rafah-crossing-closure/ar-BB1mnKTb?ocid=BingNewsSerp

GB was not responsible for the rise of Nazism in Germany but we still took in about 40,000 Jewish refugees.

It's called 'having humanity'.

The guilt or innocence of the IDF isn't relevant to the point I was making.

Egypt could save hundreds of lives of it's Muslim Brothers and Sisters by just opening up the Rafah Crossing.

They have enough space in Sinai for them to be temporarily housed, 23,500 square miles to be precise.
One can only speculate as to why they refuse to enact this humanitarian solution.

It's not the Egyptians that have closed the border. It's the idf encamped there.
The Idf are not allowing any movement if goods or people.
Why should Egypt be blamed for this war & the dreadful position the Palestinians are in?

@onegrumpyoldwoman do you think the IDF are innocent in all this? Do you think they've done nothing wrong?

When you have a government who have been arming Israel with military aid and are complicit in the war crimes being committed, it is necessary to have protests to speak against this and demand a ceasefire.

Instead of criticizing the IDF and clogging up central London with noisy futile marches why don't people picket the Egyptian Embassy? They could complain to Egypt about imposing a siege on Gaza and stopping Gazan residents leaving via Egypt.

After all, as opposed to Israel, Hamas isn't threatening Egypt with anihilation.

Yes heard this on the news this morning. Biden's red line didn't mean much. I was pretty appalled by this decision.

Current strategy of 'defeat and repeat' plus Netanyahu's refusal to discuss Israels plans for Gaza 'after the war' don't bode well for the conclusion to the conflict any time soon

A senior US diplomat is visiting Israel and Saudi in the next few days - not Blinken but can't find tweet with persons name - so extending ground incursion unlikely to happen before the weekend

Fierce fighting and airstrikes continue in eastern Rafah - with many IDF casualties/ Hamas deaths reported but not confirmed

Over half a million people have now left the city

Well Netanyahu gave an interview the other day saying that the war could last 10 years.

Face it, it's not about destroying Hamas, its about giving the Israeli Government the excuse to enter Gaza an anytime and exert control. As a bonus the longer it lasts the longer Netanyahu doesn't face trial and the 2 state solution is left in limbo.

When Rafah has been destroyed will this finally end? Or will it go on for years to achieve the poorly defined goal of defeating Hamas?

US plans to send ONE BILLION in new military aid to Israel

www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/15/us-plans-to-send-1bn-in-new-military-aid-to-israel-reports

Idf celebrating Independence Day (aka nakba) in rafah

https://twitter.com/IsraelHatzolah/status/1790130824391602267

Parts of Rafah now being described as a 'ghost town' by the UN

I really, really hope that when this is over lengthy investigations are done into all of the atrocities commited and that some kind of justice is served for Palestinians. I hate that I have but I've resigned myself to the fact that this is going to play out, no one is going to intervene so the best I feel that we can hope for is justice for the millions of people who have suffered horrifically at Israels hands.

The fact that the international community can sit back and let this happen after all we have seen Israel do in the past 7 months is utterly shameful.

It just gets worse

Charity warns that aid operations could grind to a 'complete halt' in Rafah

One of ActionAid’s partners in Rafah has paused humanitarian operations there, with the charity warning that aid operations could grind to a “complete halt” as aid workers face an “unprecedented” level of danger making their jobs become “impossible”.

The charity says that aid workers in Rafah are “experiencing the same inhumane living conditions as the rest of the population” and that “virtually no aid” has entered Gaza in recent days despite the deepening humanitarian crisis across the enclave.

One of ActionAid’s partners in Gaza, Wefaq, which is based in Rafah, has had to pause its operations after most of its staff were displaced from their homes, the charity said.

Israeli offensives have intensified in Gaza with witnesses reporting helicopter strikes and street battles in Rafah as hundreds of thousands of people flee intense fighting across the city.

It added that a hotline, supported by ActionAid, is still offering support for women and girls experiencing violence, but that the electricity and communication networks it depends on will stop running without sufficient fuel.

ActionAid says the Rafah crossing must be opened “immediately” and the Israeli offensive of the southern city should stop so that urgent supplies of food, fuel and medicine can be delivered safely to Palestinian people in desperate need.

Ziad Issa, head of humanitarian policy at ActionAid UK, said:
Due to fuel shortages and severe security constraints, our aid delivery services in Rafah are temporarily paused. Our partners have received multiple evacuation orders in the past few days, and the ongoing bombardment on Rafah is making it impossible for them to distribute aid safely within Rafah.

The obligation of conflicting parties is not only to ensure that aid gets through the borders but also to reach people inside Gaza.

The UK government must leverage its influence with Israel to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza and facilitate the work of humanitarian organisations to deliver aid safely

.You can read the full press release here.

Updated at
11.39 BST

Red Cross sets up emergency field hospital in Rafah

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and partners are opening a field hospital in southern Gaza to try to meet what they described as an “overwhelming” demand for health services since Israel’s military operation on Rafah began last week.

“People in Gaza are struggling to access the medical care they urgently need due, in part, to the overwhelming demands for health services and the reduced number of functioning health facilities,” the ICRC said.

No. It would be unusual for those carrying out ethnic cleansing to make genuine provision for those they are commiting war crimes against.

Updated estimates of the number of people leaving Rafah this morning 450,000-500,0000 not 400,000 as I posted earlier

US officials say Israel amassed enough troops in Rafah to launch full-scale invasion

Two senior Biden administration officials say the Israeli military has gathered enough troops at the edge of Rafah city to launch a full-scale invasion in the coming days.

The unnamed officials quoted by CNN added that Israel has “not come anywhere close” to making adequate preparations for evacuating Rafah’s population before any invasion, such as “building infrastructure related to food, hygiene and shelter”.

The suffering is incalculable

Indeed, immeasurably so, when this is eventually over and the pictures, videos and testimony is released this whole thing will go down as one of the most cruel, inhuman, vengeful, crimes against humanity.

This thread has been de-railed a million times - it's just boring

I am free to comment on that which is not 'thread policing'

UN are reporting 20% of Gaza's population have been displaced again in the last few days in 'evacuations' from both Rafah and northern gaza- so about ?400000 people have left Rafah for the increasingly overcrowded under-resourced coastal 'humanitarian areas' there

Satellite photos confirm this massive movement of people

The whole humanitarian aid situation is vague - some food and water is reaching people but nowhere near enough according to aid agencies

The suffering is incalcuable

You've already started your own thread about this on 10th May so if I want to discuss it further I'll go and discuss it there rather than de-railing this thread which is about the bombing/invasion of Rafah

Netanyahu has said he’ll not stop until Hamas’s military and government infrastructure is destroyed and all the Israeli hostages are returned dead or alive. That it is Israel against the monsters of Hamas. Against murderers and their “supporters”, and he intends to “sever their arms” and leave most of Gaza in “rubble”. He waved a map around months ago that had Gaza, & West Bank erased off the map, wiped off the Earth. He said “remember Amalek” and said “wipe out the seed of Amalek” (seed usually refers to children)

Unfortunately IDF can’t tell the difference between UN personnel and infrastructure and Hamas terrorists and infrastructure. They’ve also confused hospitals with Hamas command and control centres. They’ve confused schools and universities with Hamas barracks. They’ve confused aid convoys with Hamas terror convoys. They’ve thought paramedics in ambulances and doctors doing surgery were Hamas. That bakeries and water plants were rocket launchers.

Such incompetence is totally unbelievable.