Dismantling the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) would be a “disaster”, said his boss on Tuesday February 13, under pressure after the discovery, according to the Israeli army, of a Hamas tunnel under the organization’s headquarters in Gaza. Speaking to journalists after being heard by diplomats in Geneva, the head of UNRWA, Philippe Lazzarini, also called for a “investigation”, after the end of the war in Gaza, on the Hamas tunnels and on the attacks against the population and UN installations in Gaza carried out by the Israeli army. Follow our live stream.
Two Al Jazeera journalists seriously injured. Two Al Jazeera journalists were seriously injured Tuesday by an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza Strip, the Qatari channel said. According to al Jazeera, correspondent Ismaïl Abou Omar and his cameraman were injured by a strike in the Rafah sector, at the southern tip of the territory. Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army did not immediately comment.
China’s statements. China calls on Israel to stop “as quickly as possible” its military operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, in order to “to prevent an even more serious humanitarian catastrophe”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered his army to prepare an offensive on Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians are massed according to the UN, or more than half of the territory’s total population.
New talks in Qatar. CIA Director William Richard Burns is expected in Cairo on Tuesday for new talks mediated by Qatar, notably on the exchange of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian Islamist movement. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of Israel’s most critical leaders, is also expected in Dubai on Tuesday and in Cairo on Wednesday.
Release of two Hamas hostages. Israel released two of its hostages, two Israeli-Argentinians, in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, during a night commando operation on the night of Sunday to Monday accompanied by bombings which left around a hundred dead, according to Hamas. The condition of the two hostages, Fernando Marman, 60, and Luis Har, 70, is stable.