February 12, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday morning and “reaffirmed” his stance the Israel Defense Forces should not proceed with the military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah “without a credible and executable plan” to ensure the safety of civilians.

Biden also stressed the need capitalize on the progress in the negotiations to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

Some context: Netanyahu has directed the country’s military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah, his office said in a statement on Friday, ahead of an anticipated ground assault on the southern Gaza city.

Many of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians living in tent camps in Rafah have already been displaced from elsewhere in the enclave and say they have nowhere to go.

The plan has sparked concern from many countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry warned of "very serious repercussions of storming and targeting" the city while the United Arab Emirates warned Israel's plan “threatens to cause the loss of more innocent life and exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip.”

The key facilitator of negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Qatar has also condemned the plans, and the Egyptian foreign ministry said Sunday that it strongly rejects Israel's plan, warning of "dire consequences."

Hamas has warned that if the offensive into Rafah takes place, it would spell the end of hostage negotiations.

Lengthy inspections, rejected humanitarian aid and Israeli bombs raining down. Those are some of the hurdles to relief reaching the 2.2 million Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.

The United Nations’ Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief, Martin Griffiths, has described the process as “in all practical terms, impossible.”

Gaza was placed under a complete Israeli siege on October 9, when Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said he would halt the supply of electricity, food, water and fuel to the enclave after Hamas attacked his country, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages. Israel has since begun allowing some aid to enter.

Getting any form of relief into Gaza is a long and arduous process, aid workers and the UN say.

An average of 95 aid trucks per day entered Gaza between October 10 and February 1, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, down from 500 commercial and aid trucks a day before the war, when Palestinians weren’t facing mass displacement and starvation. Some 2 million Gazans are dependent on UN aid now.

Relief operations are expected to be further hampered after the United States and other top donors suspend funding for UNRWA, the main agency responsible for aid distribution in Gaza. The donors pulled their funding over allegations by Israel that some of its staff were involved in the Hamas attacks.

Read more on why aid is slow to get into Gaza.

AnIsraeli ground offensive in the city of Rafah would mean the end of hostage negotiations, Hamas-run television channel Al-Aqsa reported Sunday, quoting a leadership source in Hamas. 

According to Al-Aqsa TV, a Hamas leadership source said that an assault on Rafah would mean the “destruction” of negotiations that have been ongoing for weeks.

In a statement on Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it had directed the military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah in anticipation of a ground assault on the southern Gaza city.

In an interview with ABC releasing Sunday, Netanyahu called Rafah the “last bastion” of Hamas and said Israel was “working out a detailed plan” to secure “safe passage” for civilians but offered few details. 

More than one million people live in Rafah, which is the last major area of Gaza the Israeli military is yet to enter.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that the Israeli military would soon launch an operation into Rafah and pledged to provide safe passage to civilians, but offered few details.

"Victory is within reach. We're going to do it. We're going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we're going to do it," Netanyahu told ABC News' Jonathan Karl in an interview released Sunday.

"We're going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave," he said.

When asked where Palestinians are expected to go, Netanyahu said "we're working out a detailed plan."

The prime minister has directed his military to prepare to evacuate an estimated 1.3 million people in the city. Many have already been displaced from other parts of the enclave and say they have nowhere to go.

The US has warned carrying out such an operation without thorough planning "would be a disaster" while the United Nations, other aid organizations, and several other countries have expressed concern over the impact on civilians.