Rafah bombings (Edited by Mumsnet)

Good. That’s what they should be doing.

Israel continues to facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza. According to the IDF, “over 160,000 Liters of Fuel and Diesel, Hundreds of Pallets of Humanitarian Aid via the Floating Pier, and over 1,000 Humanitarian Aid Trucks through the Erez and Kerem Shalom Crossings.”

Israel’s Gallant says Israel will expand operation in Rafah

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that his country is committed to expanding its operation in Rafah in southern Gaza.

“We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages,” a statement from Gallant’s office quoted him as saying during the meeting.

Gallant also said that Israel made adjustments to its evacuation operations in Rafah.

That's a huge number of people moved in a short period of time.

An astonishing 800k people have reportedly left Rafah - the remaining 600k will
disproportionately include the injured, disabled, elderly and their carers who are unable to leave and those with children who couldn't afford to take their tents with them - you have to pay to have your tent dis-mantled/ transport it

A smallish number of tents reportedly coming in via the US floating pier

More than 650k people have now left Rafah

Approx 90 trucks of food and medical aid delivered via US floating pier have been sent to WFP warehouse in Deir-al-balah for distribution to the evacuees but won't be able to reach those left in Rafah because of on-going fighting

White House’s Sullivan to visit Israel on Sunday

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is due in Israel on Sunday after visiting Saudi Arabia today.
Sullivan will meet Israel’s PM, defence minister and war cabinet minister, reports Israel’s Kan broadcaster.
Israel has committed to holding off on any expansion of its Rafah operation until after Sullivan’s visit, reports Israel’s Ynetnews site.

More on the diplomatic row between Israel and Egypt over the Rafah crossing

The Reuters news agency has been told by two Egyptian sources that Egypt has rejected an Israeli proposal for the two countries to coordinate to re-open the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip.

Israel took operational control of the crossing and has said it will not compromise on preventing Hamas having any future role there.

The Israeli proposal included a mechanism for how to manage the crossing after an Israeli withdrawal, the security sources said. Egypt insists the crossing should be managed only by Palestinian authorities, Reuters added.

Thanks @Efacsen for bringing us back to Rafah despite it’s with really bad news

I'm surprised we weren't blamed for the Falklands War 🙄

600000 people forcibly evacuated from Rafah leaving 800000 remaining in the city

WFP and UN aid warehouses in the south of Gaza are now empty - no more food and no more tents

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/15/un-says-it-has-no-more-food-or-tents-for-nearly-2m-people-in-gaza

Everything that ever happened is the fault of The West. Everything, even when it isn't.

As I said, no nuance. You have your angle.

Do you remember the USSR invading Afghanistan?
Absolutely, the Reagan Administration authorised the CIA (MI6 also assisted) to arm and train the mujahideen in order to counter the Soviet Union. They provided weapons that would be used by Al Qaeda in the 2001 killing American and British soldiers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone

The longstanding Iran/Iraq war?
Yup, read up on the Iran Contra affair:
The Iran–Contra affair (Persian: ماجرای ایران-کنترا; Spanish: Caso Irán-Contra), often referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan administration. Between 1981 and 1986, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the illegal sale of arms to Iran, which was subject to an arms embargo at the time.[1] The administration hoped to use the proceeds of the arms sale to fund the Contras, an anti-Sandinista rebel group in Nicaragua. Under the Boland Amendment, further funding of the Contras by legislative appropriations was prohibited by Congress, but the Reagan administration figured out a loophole by secretively using non-appropriated funds instead.
where weapons
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair

Saddam Hussein using nerve gas on kurdish villages.?
https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/08/26/exclusive-cia-files-prove-america-helped-saddam-as-he-gassed-iran/
Never wanting to be on the losing side, Guess who provided Saddam with some of those chemical weapons used to Gas Iranians, yes America. He was a "friend" then to be used against Iran.

Assad using chemical weapons on his own people.
This is still being investigated and the latest from the OPCW from February 2024 is that ISIL likely carried out the attack:

https://www.opcw.org/media-centre/news/2024/02/opcw-identifies-isil-perpetrators-2015-chemical-attack-marea-syria

https://twitter.com/OPCW/status/1760727877354414316

Jamal Khashoggi disappearing into bits in the Saudi embassy in Turkey?
That's on MBS's bodyguards.

The 'war on terror' as a response to 9/11?
Based on a "dodgy dossier" which turned out to be untrue.

The recent migration from the Middle East is due to the West misadventures during the "War on terror". It destabilised the region, we trained and armed extremists groups to carry out regime changes. We carpet bombed countries, and droned bloody weddings. People's whole lives have been destroyed, millions killed and displaced.

interesting analysis, quite a lot of nuance missing.

Do you remember the USSR invading Afghanistan?
The longstanding Iran/Iraq war?
Saddam Hussein using nerve gas on kurdish villages.?
Assad using chemical weapons on his own people.
Jamal Khashoggi disappearing into bits in the Saudi embassy in Turkey?
The 'war on terror' as a response to 9/11?

But it's all 'our' fault, the countries and governments involved had no agency.

OK

So there must be some benefit in this, otherwise they wouldn't pay smugglers £1000s to get to UK.

The benefit is not being dead.
There is a privilege that certain people have that I envy.

Having grown up on a council estate , I know all about this "shadow existence". Cash in hand jobs, exploitation, threats about informing authorities about your status.

So why do it? The recent migration from the Middle East is due to the West misadventures during the "War on terror". It destabilised the region, we trained and armed extremists groups to carry out regime changes. We carpet bombed countries, and droned bloody weddings. People's whole lives have been destroyed, millions killed and displaced. For what?

So they leave, they hustle, struggle and leave. Actions have consequences.

Absolutely, people are desperate, it's heart-breaking, You know Palestinian people, they are a proud people who have survived so much. I also know that most ordinary Egyptian people would do as much to help anyone.

People are having to plead for assistance, knowing the difficulties ahead even if they get out and knowing that they will most likely never be allowed back again. Like the father I was listening to a couple of days ago, he received a message on his phone from the IDF to evacuate from where he was, he stood outside in the street far away from everyone because knowing that the IDF can target using a phones geolocation, he figured if hit at least his family would be safe. It's sick what the Palestinians are going through and a stain on humanity.

So are you suggesting illegal people smuggling is a good option for Palestinians fleeing war?

I also don't think you realise how difficult it is to get out of Gaza at the moment

Having a "shadow existence" is preferable to no existence.

@BelleHathor On your earlier query about Egypt, it's about $5000 per person to bribe unsavoury figures to smuggle people out of Gaza. Being illegal, when they reach Egypt they will not be allowed to work and do other things that require I.D. so will have a shadow existence.

There are hundreds of people coming across the Channel to UK that end up in the same position.

The Home Office has admitted that they have "lost", to date, 5,600 asylum seekers who have disappeared into the "Black Economy".

So there must be some benefit in this, otherwise they wouldn't pay smugglers £1000s to get to UK.
So having a "shadow existence" isn't a deterrent, it seems.

Thank you @BelleHathor for your responses about what I had said about GB and the USA regarding Jewish refugees after WW11, and your answer about the $5000pp smuggling fee to escape from Gaza.

As I think I saw most Palestinians have 4 children, and there will be grandparents too, it must be impossible for most people. Then with no work, what then.

You did and said nothing wrong ScrollingLeaves and you are correct in that history shows that a lot of Western countries failed to assist people fleeing the Holocaust and where they did, put arbitrary restrictions on who could be helped.

On your earlier query about Egypt, it's about $5000 per person to bribe unsavoury figures to smuggle people out of Gaza. Being illegal, when they reach Egypt they will not be allowed to work and do other things that require I.D. so will have a shadow existence.

I think you do not understand the historical context in which the Holocaust was referred to by me.

You don’t even seem to understand that I was criticising the U.K. and America for their lack of support for Jewish refugees at that time after WW11 even in spite of what had happened to them and everyone knowing what had happened to them. Nothing more.

If you consider it inappropriate to discuss under these circumstances, it might be worth addressing your concern to the person who first mentioned it, rather than only to someone who responded to them.

Thanks for posting that BBC link @EasterIssland was going to post something similar from the Guardians Peter Beaumont which explains the diplomatic rift in even greater detail - may post it later if it's edited into a shorter format as it does fill in some of the gaps in the BBC article

More on the same topic

Report: Israeli delegation visits Cairo to cool tensions with Egypt

US news outlet Axios reports that a group of Israeli security officials, led by the country’s domestic serucity agency Shin Bet, visited the Egyptian capital for talks with counterpart senior intelligence officials.

The report, citing an unnamed Israeli source, says that the object of this mission is to relieve growing tensions between Israel and Egypt over the Israeli army’s operation in Rafah and the closing of the Rafah border crossing.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-69012303