As Israel prepares a major offensive in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, American President Joe Biden will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “We have made clear to the Israeli government our views on a major ground invasion of Rafah and the president will speak to the prime minister today”, a spokesperson for the National Security Council told AFP on Monday, May 6. Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Authority presidency called on the United States to prevent the invasion of Rafah. Quoted by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, she said she was increasing discussions “intensive” with its international partners on this subject. Follow our live stream.
Palestinian civil defense reports bombings in Rafah. While the Israeli army called in the morning on Gazans present in eastern Rafah to join “humanitarian zones”, the Palestinian civil defense of Gaza assured AFP that the forces of the Jewish state had intensified bombings on two neighborhoods of the city. Israeli aerial and artillery bombardments, “have been going on since last night and have intensified since this morning”, a spokesperson explained, specifying that two of the targeted neighborhoods, al-Shuka and al-Salam, were among those that the Israeli army asked residents to evacuate.
An “unacceptable” offensive for the EU. The head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell judges “unacceptable” the evacuation order given by Israel to residents of the eastern town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. This evacuation order “portends the worst: more war and famine”he reacted. “Israel must abandon a ground offensive” in Rafah, urged Josep Borrell in a message published on X. France, for its part, recalled on Monday its “firm opposition” to an Israeli offensive on Rafah, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizing “that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law.”
Israel evacuates eastern Rafah. It’s an operation “of limited scale”, according to Tel Aviv. The Israeli army on Monday called on Gazans present in the east of the town of Rafah, against which Israel has been hammering out for months its intention to carry out a major military offensive, to join “humanitarian zones”. According to the Israeli army, this operation concerns “around 100,000 people”. Around 1.2 million inhabitants, the majority pushed there by the fighting, are crowding into Rafah, underlines the UN.
Hamas wants to continue talks. While a round of talks has just ended, without progress, theHamas has announced its intention to continue negotiating a truce in the Gaza Strip. “After the last round of negotiations in Cairo, the movement’s leadership is conducting consultations internally and with other groups” Palestinians, a spokesperson for the Palestinian Islamist movement, Abdel Latif Al-Qanou, declared to AFP on Monday May 6. “We will continue negotiations in a positive and open manner to reach an agreement (…) providing for an unlimited ceasefire.”
Deadlocked negotiations. Despite the lack of progress, discussions on a proposed truce associated with the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip should in principle continue on Monday. The Israeli Prime Minister reaffirmed that the Jewish state cannot “accept” the demands of the Islamist movement Hamas, which calls for a definitive ceasefire in the Palestinian territory before any agreement. In today’s edition, the Egyptian media Al-Qahera Newsclose to intelligence, affirms for its part that the bombing by the armed wing of Hamas on Sunday around the Kerem Shalom crossing point in Israel caused “a stalemate in negotiations”. Four Israeli soldiers were killed and a dozen others injured.