Amid deepening tensions, White House weighs how to respond if Israel defies Biden with Rafah invasion
WASHINGTON — The White House is considering options for how to respond if Israel defies President Joe Biden’s repeated warnings against launching a military invasion of Rafah without a credible plan to protect Palestinian civilians, according to one former and three current U.S. officials.
The discussions are taking place amid growing concern in the administration and frustration among congressional Democrats that the president’s pleas will simply be ignored. Israel this week inched closer to initiating an incursion into the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip.
“Time and again, President Biden calls upon the Netanyahu government to take certain actions, and for the most part, time and again, Netanyahu ignores the president of the United States. And so I think that makes the United States look ineffective,” said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., in an interview.
“The president has issued increasingly strong words and strong warnings, but I believe that to effectively enforce those warnings the administration has to use these other tools at its disposal,” said Van Hollen, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who is among those pushing the White House to take a harder line on conditioning U.S. military sales to Israel.
Red Cross calls for 'urgent' action to alleviate 'catastrophic' humanitarian conditions in Gaza
Civilians in Gaza are facing "unprecedented" levels of "indignity, misery, and suffering," Jagan Chapagain, secretary general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in a statement on X, describing health infrastructure "on the brink of collapse" and hospitals in dire conditions.
"As Ramadan starts, countless people have nothing to break their fast with," he added, calling on parties to scale up aid efforts and grant aid to "all parts" of the coastal enclave.
He added that the plight of hostages trapped in Gaza was a "serious humanitarian concern," leaving families "caught between despair and hope as they wait for news about their loved ones."
The IFRC is an international emergency medical service charity that counts the Palestine Red Crescent Society in Gaza and Magen David Adom in Israel as members.
New aid shipment to Gaza includes bulk goods, fresh dates
A second boat shipping 240 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza will include over 260 pounds of dates, World Central Kitchen said today.
The shipment will also include bulk products and canned goods, including beans, carrots, tuna, chickpeas, corn, rice, flour, oil and salt.
The dates, donated by the United Arab Emirates, are a "special load." In Islam, it is traditional to break the Ramadan fast with dates.
A crew ship will accompany the cargo boat to Gaza, World Central Kitchen said, with workers to operate machinery and offload food. It did not say when the second aid shipment or the crew would begin their journey.
Palestinians fast amid war, devastation and looming famine
On the eve of Ramadan, Hussein Owda and seven members of his family sat down for suhour — the meal Muslims eat before fasting from sunrise to sunset. On the table in front of them were just 7 ounces of labneh, or yogurt cheese, and some bread.
“We didn’t finish it, because we are used to eating small amounts of food,” Owda, 37, told NBC News in a telephone interview.
The computer engineer, who was displaced to Rafah in southern Gaza, said he has lost about 65 pounds since the war between Israel and Hamas began on Oct. 7. Owda, like others NBC News spoke to, said he and his family had been forced to fast for about six months. Now that Ramadan has started, the only difference is that the fast is scheduled.
In Gaza, the usually joyous season marked by gatherings over traditional food and congregational prayers is unrecognizable. Homes once decorated with lights have been reduced to rubble, and tables once surrounded by families and laden with food are bare.
This year, handmade Ramadan decorations festoon makeshift tents shared by family members. In the north, people are forced to forage for wild plants during the day to break their fast at night. Even this isn't always an option.
Israel weighing the use of private security contractors to protect aid shipments to Gaza, officials say
Israel is exploring using international private security contractors to protect humanitarian aid deliveries in Gaza, according to one former and two current U.S. officials.
Israeli officials have broached the idea in recent weeks with senior officials from the Biden administration, which is shipping the components of a floating dock to Gaza so it can deliver aid by sea. Some U.S. officials are reluctant, however, to have American troops or security contractors on the ground in Gaza, the officials said, and are especially wary of having Americans provide armed security.
The officials said the Israeli government has approached several security companies already, but declined to specify which ones. The Israelis also brought up having other countries pay the hefty costs of the contractors, the officials said.
Hamas presents cease-fire proposal detailing exchange of hostages, prisoners
Hamas has presented a Gaza cease-fire proposal to mediators and the U.S. that includes the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences, according to a proposal seen by Reuters.
Hamas said the initial release of Israelis would include women, children, elderly and ill hostages in return for the release of 700-1,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, according to the proposal. The release of Israeli “female recruits” is included.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday a new Gaza truce proposal presented by Hamas to mediators was still based on “unrealistic demands.”
His office said an update on the issue would be handed to the war Cabinet and extended security Cabinet on Friday.
Egypt and Qatar have been trying to narrow differences between Israel and Hamas over what a cease-fire should look like as a deepening humanitarian crisis has one-quarter of the population in the battered Gaza Strip facing famine.
Acute malnutrition doubled in one month in northern Gaza, UNICEF says
Acute malnutrition has doubled in one month in northern Gaza, according to UNICEF.
Around 31% of children under 2 years old are now suffering from acute malnourishment in the north of the enclave, as opposed to 15.6% in January, the organization said. At least 23 children in the north have died of malnutrition as the impacts of war and restrictions on aid continue in Gaza.
UNICEF conducted nutrition screenings in February that determined 4.5% of children in shelters and health centers are suffering from “severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition,” which can lead to death unless they receive treatment, which isn’t readily available.
Nutrition screenings in Khan Younis in central Gaza determined that 28% of children under 2 years old are acutely malnourished, more than 10% of them with severe wasting, according to UNICEF. In Rafah, the percentage of children under 2 suffering from acute malnutrition doubled from 5% in January to 10% at the end of February.
“The speed at which this catastrophic child malnutrition crisis in Gaza has unfolded is shocking, especially when desperately needed assistance has been at the ready just a few miles away,” said Catherine Russell, UNICEF’s executive director. “We have repeatedly attempted to deliver additional aid and we have repeatedly called for the access challenges we have faced for months to be addressed. Instead, the situation for children is getting worse by each passing day. Our efforts in providing life-saving aid are being hampered by unnecessary restrictions, and those are costing children their lives.”
U.N. organizations have warned of imminent famine in Gaza for months. In January, emergency thresholds for children with acute malnutrition were exceeded, per UNICEF. The organization has treated some children who have the condition and say more supplies to aid in their treatment will arrive this week, but it’s still not enough.
“We are doing everything we can to avert a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, but it is not enough,” Russell said. “An immediate humanitarian ceasefire continues to provide the only chance to save children’s lives and end their suffering. We also need multiple land border crossings that allow aid to be reliably delivered at scale, including to northern Gaza, along with the security assurances and unimpeded passage needed to distribute that aid, without delays or access impediments.”
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