Release the hostages or we will invade Rafah, Israel demands

Israel will launch an operation in Rafah unless its hostages are freed, an Israeli minister has warned.

Benny Gantz, an opposition leader and a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said: “There will not be a ceasefire of even one day until the hostages are returned.

“The fighting will continue until our goals are achieved. It can continue even in the month of Ramadan. Either the hostages will be returned, or we will extend the fighting to Rafah”.

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, on Friday said an operation in Rafah would trigger an “unprecedented humanitarian disaster”.

Israel has said its army is drawing up a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah to other parts of the Gaza Strip.

04:00 PM GMT

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03:40 PM GMT

Macron says recognising a Palestinian state 'not a taboo' for France

President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that recognising a Palestinian state was “not a taboo for France” in his first such comments since the start of the war in Gaza.

“The recognition of a Palestinian state is not a taboo for France,” he said at a joint press conference in Paris with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

His comments come after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a plan for international recognition of such a state, following reports of such an initiative in The Washington Post.

The US newspaper reported that US President Joe Biden’s administration and a small group of Arab nations were working out a comprehensive plan for long-term peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

03:10 PM GMT

Pictured: Displaced Palestinians camp near the border fence between Gaza and Egypt

02:38 PM GMT

Israel will pay 'with blood' for Lebanon attacks, warns Hezbollah

Israel will pay “with blood” for killing civilians in Lebanon earlier this week, the head of Hezbollah has warned.

Hassan Nasrallah vowed that his group’s response to Israel’s attacks would be an “increase in resistance,” warning Hezbollah has missiles that can reach Israel’s far south.

It comes after Israeli fighter jets launched the deepest airstrikes yet on Lebanon earlier this week, reigniting fears of a regional war. At least 15 people were killed, including 10 civilians.

Nasrallah said Israel could have avoided killing civilians in southern Lebanon. “The enemy will pay with blood” for every woman and child killed by cross-border fire in Lebanon, he said in a televised address.

02:23 PM GMT

Israel has no intention to deport Palestinians from Gaza, says foreign minister

Israel has no plans to deport Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

“We have no intention to deport any Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip,” Katz said, adding that Israel did not want to rule Gaza after it ends its war against the Palestinian military group Hamas that has been governing the territory.

01:54 PM GMT

Netanyahu rejects US plan for Palestinian state

Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a US plan for a Palestinian state, saying it would be a “huge reward” for Hamas.

The Israeli prime minister rallied against “international dictates” regarding a permanent settlement with the Palestinians.

His comments come after the Washington Post reported that the United States was advancing plans to establish a Palestinian state.

The Post quoted US and Arab officials who said that reaching a ceasefire agreement would be the key to launching the plan.

Netanyahu added: “Such recognition in the wake of the October 7 massacre would give a huge reward to unprecedented terrorism and prevent any future peace settlement.”

01:50 PM GMT

Israel will coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees, says foreign minister

Israel will coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees and will find a way to not harm Egypt’s interests, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said on Friday.

“The state of Israel will have to deal with Rafah because we can’t just leave Hamas there,” Katz said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

When asked where refugees in Rafah would go, he suggested Gaza’s second city Khan Younis, but said that Israel would coordinate with Egypt to ensure Cairo’s interests were not harmed. “We will coordinate with Egypt,” he said.

01:21 PM GMT

Pictured: Israeli officials work in aftermath of shooting attack

12:50 PM GMT

Macron: Israeli assault on Rafah would cause 'unprecedented humanitarian disaster'

Emmanuel Macron has said that an Israeli operation on Rafah in the besieged Palestinian territory of Gaza would trigger an “unprecedented humanitarian disaster”.

“An Israeli offensive in Rafah could only bring about an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in this conflict,” he said at a joint press conference in Paris with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.

The French president also said the human death toll from the war in Gaza is intolerable.

12:16 PM GMT

Two dead in attack on southern Israel

Two people have been killed in a shooting in southern Israel, according to reports.

The Kaplan hospital confirmed the death of the two victims after the attack [see post at 12:02].

More follows

12:02 PM GMT

Six wounded in suspected 'terror attack' in southern Israel

A gunman opened fire at a crowded bus stop in southern Israel on Friday, wounding six people, in what Israeli police said was a “suspected terror attack”.

Police said the incident happened in the southern town of Kiryat Malakhi, adding the suspected gunman was “neutralised” by a civilian at the scene.

Eli Levy, a police spokesman, told Army Radio that a suspected shooter fired at people at a bus station at Masmiya junction, wounding several of them.

11:28 AM GMT

Russia invites Hamas and other Palestinian factions for talks

Russia has invited Hamas and other Palestinian factions including Fatah to Moscow for talks on the Israel-Hamas war and other issues in the Middle East, an official has said.

Moscow, which for years tried to court good relations with all major players in the region, has grown increasingly critical of Israel and its Western backers amid the ongoing war in Gaza.

Russia has invited around a dozen Palestinian groups to Moscow for “inter-Palestinian” talks from February 29, the state-run TASS news agency reported, citing Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

“We invited all Palestinian representatives - all political forces that have their positions in different countries, including Syria, Lebanon and other countries in the region,” said Bogdanov, who is President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy for the Middle East.

They include Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, alongside representatives of Fatah and the broader Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

11:01 AM GMT

Pictured: US actress Susan Sarandon (C) speaks to media beside a group of people advocating in support of Palestine

10:34 AM GMT

Palestinian spillover into Egypt's Sinai would be disaster, says UNHCR chief

The UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees said that a spillover of refugees from Gaza’s Rafah into Egypt’s Sinai would be a disaster and that Egyptian authorities had made clear that Palestinians should be assisted in the enclave.

“It would be a disaster for the Palestinians ... a disaster for Egypt and a disaster for the future of peace,” Filippo Grandi told Reuters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering in the southern German city.

When asked whether Egyptian authorities had contacted the UNHCR about possible contingency plans he said: “The Egyptians said that people should be assisted inside Gaza and we are working on that.”

10:20 AM GMT

British-Qatari aid arrives in Rafah

10:11 AM GMT

World Health Organisation trying to get access to Gaza hospital after raid

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was trying to get access to biggest functioning hospital in Gaza, the Nasser Hospital, after an Israeli raid.

“There are still critically injured and sick patients that are inside the hospital,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said.

“There is an urgent need to deliver fuel to ensure the continuation of the provision of life-saving services... We are trying to get access because people who are still in Nasser medical complex need assistance.”

Israel’s military called the raid on Nasser Hospital “precise and limited” and said it was based on information that Hamas militants were keeping hostages in the facility, with some bodies of captives possibly there.

09:44 AM GMT

Pictured: A satellite image shows new construction and earth grading works along the Egypt-Gaza border near Rafah

A satellite image shows new construction and earth grading works along the Egypt-Gaza border near Rafah [see post at 08:32].

09:28 AM GMT

Four intensive care patients die at Gaza hospital

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said four patients died Friday due to lack of oxygen at one of the war-torn Palestinian territory’s few operating hospitals that had been raided by Israeli forces.

“The generators of the complex stopped and the power was cut off,” the ministry said, raising fears over the fate of six other patients in intensive care and three children in a nursery at the Nasser hospital in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

“We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for the lives of patients and staff considering that the complex is now under its full control,” it said in a statement.

The storming by Israeli troops of southern Gaza’s main hospital brought chaos to hundreds of staff and patients inside. The IDF was searching the facility, where the military said it believes the remains of hostages abducted by Hamas might be located.

Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli army,said there was “credible intelligence from a number of sources, including released hostages, indicating that Hamas held hostages at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis and that there may be bodies of our hostages” there.

08:43 AM GMT

'Hostage deal still possible,' says US

Anthony Blinken has said he believes a hostage deal is still possible, but admitted that “very hard issues” remain.

Asked whether an agreement could be reached on a break in hostilities before Ramadan begins on March 10, the US Secretary of State said an earlier response from Hamas on a potential deal had included some “clear non-starters” but offered the possibility of working toward an agreement.

“We’re now in the process with our counterparts from Qatar, from Egypt, from Israel, in working on that and working very intensely on that with the goal of trying to find an agreement and I believe that it is possible,” Mr Blinken said at a news conference during a visit to Albania.

“There are some very, very hard issues that have to be resolved. But we’re committed to doing everything we can to move forward and to see if we can reach an agreement,” he said.

08:36 AM GMT

Pictured: Israeli troops in Gaza

08:33 AM GMT

Israel faces fresh US calls against attack on Rafah

Israel faced renewed calls from key ally the United States on Friday against launching a large-scale attack on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped.

Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted he would push ahead with a “powerful” operation in the overcrowded city to achieve “complete victory” over Hamas.

The White House said Joe Biden had spoken by phone with Netanyahu late Thursday, urging him not to carry out an attack on Rafah without a plan to keep civilians safe.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven into Rafah, seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egyptian border.

The city now hosts more than half of Gaza’s population, with displaced people “crammed” into less than 20 percent of the territory, according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA.

08:32 AM GMT

Egypt reportedly setting up area at Gaza border which could be used to shelter Palestinians

Egypt is preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources said, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo.

Egypt, which denied making any such preparations, has repeatedly raised the alarm over the possibility that Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive could displace Palestinians into Sinai - something Cairo says would be completely unacceptable- echoing warnings from Arab states such as Jordan.

The United States has repeatedly said it would oppose any displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza.

One of the sources said Egypt was optimistic talks to clinch a ceasefire can avoid any such scenario, but is establishing the area at the border as a temporary and precautionary measure.

Three security sources said Egypt had begun preparing a desert area with some basic facilities which could be used to shelter Palestinians, emphasising this was a contingency step.

08:29 AM GMT

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