(4 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Southern Gaza (looking into Gaza) – 4 May 2024
1. Various of plumes of smoke rising
STORYLINE:
Plumes of smoke continued to rise from the southern Gaza skyline on Saturday, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah.
Israel briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to US officials familiar with the talks.
The officials, who were not authorised to comment publicly and requested anonymity to speak about the sensitive exchange, said that the plan detailed by the Israelis did not change the US administration’s view that moving forward with an operation in Rafah would put too many innocent Palestinian civilians at risk.
Netanyahu has vowed to carry out the military operation despite warnings from President Joe Biden and other western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
The Biden administration has said there could be consequences for Israel should it move forward with the operation without a credible plan to safeguard civilians.
Some 1.5 million Palestinians have sheltered in the southern Gaza city as the territory has been ravaged by the war that began on Oct. 7 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
The United Nations humanitarian aid agency on Friday said that hundreds of thousands of people would be “at imminent risk of death” if Israel moves forward with the Rafah assault.
The border city is a critical entry point for humanitarian aid and is filled with displaced Palestinians, many in densely packed tent camps.
The officials added that the evacuation plan that the Israelis briefed was not finalised and both sides agreed to keep discussing the matter.
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