Middle East crisis: Netanyahu says preparations for ground assault on Rafah will ‘take some time’ – as it happened

Writing in Haaretz, Alon Pinkas has criticised Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a lack of planning for what happens in Gaza after the war. He writes:

At this point in time, over five months into the war, Benjamin Netanyahu is clueless in terms of the war’s attainable objectives but resolute and consistent about one thing: saying no to everything, marinating himself in righteous indignation, accusing everyone, from President Biden, to the IDF and a hostile world of failing him when in effect, he failed himself miserably.

If the war’s only objective was destroying Hamas, a worthy and justified objective, than Israel should have articulated a clear postwar vision. It didn’t. Netanyahu has rejected and derided any idea pertaining to postwar Gaza, he has refused to engage with the US in a dialogue over the governance in Gaza and the power vacuum and chaos that are inevitably forming.

When you choose neither approach, propose no silver lining and think that bombing is strategy you end up with international isolation and fervent anti-Israeli sentiment.

The UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has spoken again about Israel and Gaza while on a trip to Thailand. He said it was vital for a pause in fighting to allow for the release of hostages, but that Israel has to “get Hamas leaders out of Gaza”.

Reuters reports he told the media:

Crucially what we must try to do is to turn that pause into a permanent sustainable ceasefire. We will only do that if a whole lot of conditions are fulfilled. We’ve got to get Hamas leaders out of Gaza, we have to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.

Cameron was visiting a Thai air force base.

View image in fullscreen

In the UK, PA Media reports that trade unionists and anti-weapons campaigners have staged protests outside two factories – one in Edinburgh and one in Cheltenham – in the latest demonstrations calling for an end to arms sales to Israel.

The protesters called on the UK Government to halt arms supplies to Israel before any ground offensive in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Organisers said Wednesday’s demonstrations will form part of a month of disruptive direct action in support of Palestine.

One person at the event told reporters “Israel is on the brink of invading the very area they told the people of Gaza it was safe for them to flee to. Such atrocities could not take place without the political and military support of governments like Britain.

“We’re taking action to stop the flow of arms from Britain to Israel before it launches an illegal assault on Rafah which the UN has made clear will cause catastrophic levels of death and destruction, and plunge Gaza into famine.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published an infographic illustrating attacks on healthcare infrastructure in Gaza it has recorded between 7 October 2023 and 12 March 2024. It says:

Since 7 October, WHO has documented 410 attacks on health care in the Gaza Strip. Attacks have resulted in 685 fatalities, 902 injuries, damage to 99 facilities and affected 104 ambulances. Two-fifths (38%) of attacks were in Gaza City, a quarter (23%) in North Gaza, and over a quarter (28%) in Khan Younis. Health care is #NotATarget. WHO calls for the respect of international law and active protection of civilians and health care.

Earlier we reported that Israel’s representative at the UN, Meirav Eilon Shahar, has written to WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, about Israel’s recent military action at al-Shifa hospital. [See 9.21 GMT]

Haaretz reports that Israel’s high court has passed an Israeli request to demolish the home of Israeli-occupied West Bank resident Khaled Abed Alfatah Almukhtasab. In October he seriously injured an Israeli police officer in a shooting in occupied East Jerusalem.

Chen Maanit writes for the paper that “this will be the first time Isreali authorities demolish the house of a Palestinian attacker whose attack caused no fatalities.”

Also on the news wires are the latest pictures from inside Gaza, and the scenes at al-Aqsa hospital in Deir Al Balah, where the bodies of Palestinians killed by overnight Israeli airstrikes on the Nusairat refugee camp have been taken.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

Here are some more pictures of that protest outside Unrwa offices in Jerusalem, where Israelis appear to have unloaded some fake body bags outside the office, while some are displaying signs which say “Disband Unrwa” and “Unrwa = Hamas”.

View image in fullscreen

View image in fullscreen

Israeli authorities have claimed that 12 of Unrwa’s 13,000 Gaza staff members were directly involved in the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel which killed about 1,140 people.

As well as the protest in Tel Aviv [see 8.19 GMT] by families and friends of hostages being held in Gaza, there is a protest in Jerusalem outside Unrwa offices calling for their release.

View image in fullscreen

Yesterday my colleague Jason Burke, who is in Jerusalem, had this report on documents which reveal an alleged pattern of Israeli harassment of Unrwa workers in the occupied West Bank.

Times of Israel military correspondent Emanuel Fabian has shared some pictures which purport to show suspects that the IDF has rounded up, detained and blindfolded in the vicinity of the al-Shifa hospital overnight.

The Guardian has not independently verified the images.

Israel’s representative at the UN, Meirav Eilon Shahar, has published a letter she has sent to Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, in which she sets out details of Israel’s military operation at the al-Shifa hospital medical complex.

In the letter, she claims the operation is “based on concrete intelligence indicating the renewed use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists”, and says that “I would like to make it very clear that Israel did not issue any obligation for the patients and medical staff to evacuate the site. During the operation, terrorists have opened fire at IDF troops from within the hospital, and the IDF has responded.”

She claims that “Terror funds intended for distribution to Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist operatives, in addition to numerous weapons, were also located in the hospital. In two rooms adjacent to the office of the director of the hospital, grenades, mortar shells and bullets were found.”

She continues:

The evidence uncovered, as well as undeniable proof of Hamas terrorists sheltering in the hospital compound, displays once again Hamas’ systematic abuse of hospitals and civilian infrastructure for its terrorist activities.

Health facilities should never be compromised or exploited. In Gaza, hospitals are used to coordinate terrorist activities, to store weapons arsenals, or as headquarters for terrorist organizations.

International law is clear, these protected sites can lose their protection if they are being used outside their humanitarian function, to commit acts harmful to the other side.

The claims have not been independently verified. Hamas has denied using hospitals as bases.

The letter concludes:

I would … expect you to demand that Hamas cease the abhorrent use of innocent Palestinians as human shields. Israel will continue to act in accordance with international law in Gaza. We will do everything in our power to avoid harming the civilian population. Meanwhile, the International Community must cease to stand aside while Hamas cynically and systematically abuses civilian infrastructure and healthcare facilities.