Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his army on Friday February 9 to prepare an “evacuation plan” for civilians from Rafah, with the international community alarmed by a possible ground offensive by Israel against this main refuge for displaced by the war in the Gaza Strip.
Information to remember
⇒ Israeli strikes on Rafah, fears of a land operation
⇒ Joe Biden raises his voice against Israel
⇒ Moody’s lowers Israel’s rating by one notch
Israeli strikes on Rafah, fears of a ground operation
The Israeli army bombed the Rafah sector on Saturday, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, with Benjamin Netanyahu ordering the military to prepare an “evacuation plan” for hundreds of thousands of civilians there before a possible ground offensive.
Early Saturday, witnesses reported strikes in the vicinity of this city now populated by around 1.3 million Palestinians, more than half of the population of the Gaza Strip, the vast majority were people who were there are refugees to escape the violence further north.
Joe Biden seriously raises his voice against Israel
The tone has been hardening for weeks. But by deeming the Israeli response in Gaza “excessive”, Joe Biden has put his foot in the problem, at a time when the international community fears a major offensive in Rafah. This is the strongest criticism expressed by the American president towards his Israeli ally since the start in October of the war against Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip, even if the White House has made efforts Friday to minimize its scope.
And it reflects a growing divide between the Democratic president and the coalition government of Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes far-right ministers. Observers agree that this should not affect the billions of dollars in US military aid to Israel – a new package of $14 billion is under consideration in Congress.
Israeli strikes in the vicinity of Damascus
Israeli strikes targeted the area around the Syrian capital Damascus early Saturday, said an NGO and the official Syrian press agency, which reported “material” damage. “Around 1:05 a.m. this morning (10:05 p.m. GMT Friday), the Israeli enemy launched an aerial attack […] targeting a number of points in the vicinity of Damascus. Our air defense systems intercepted some missiles, while others caused some material losses,” a military source told the official Sana agency.
For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), an NGO based in the United Kingdom and with a vast network of sources in Syria, reported Israeli strikes on a “residential complex” in west of the capital Damascus.
Moody’s downgrades Israel’s rating by one notch
Ratings agency Moody’s on Friday downgraded Israel’s debt rating by one notch to A2 due to the conflict with Palestinian Hamas and gave it a negative outlook, meaning that it could lower it again in the months to come.
“The main driver” of this decline, Moody’s said in its statement, is the assessment “that the ongoing military conflict with Hamas, its aftermath and its broader consequences significantly increase political risk for Israel and weaken its executive institutions and legislative as well as its budgetary solidity”. This is the very first time that Israel has experienced a downgrade in its long-term rating, according to the Bloomberg agency. It was previously A1, and, downgraded by one notch, moved to A2. These two ratings are assigned to issuers considered solid.
Hind Rajab, the 6-year-old girl missing in the fighting, found dead
Hind Rajab, a 6-year-old Palestinian girl missing for nearly two weeks amid fighting in Gaza City, was found dead along with other members of her family, Hamas and her family announced Saturday, accusing the forces Israelis for having killed them.
Their remains were found Saturday morning in a car near a gas station in the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, after Israeli tanks withdrew from the area at dawn, his family told AFP.
Israeli forces storm hospital in Khan Yunis
Israeli forces stormed a hospital on Friday in Khan Younes, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip that they have been besieging for several weeks, announced the Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS), which manages the establishment. “The (Israeli) occupying forces stormed Al-Amal hospital and began searching it,” and “we are having difficulty communicating with our teams inside,” the PRCS said in a statement. communicated.
The Israeli army confirmed to AFP that its troops had launched a search operation in the hospital after collecting “intelligence indicating that Hamas was carrying out terrorist activities” in the complex. Al-Amal hospital found itself in the middle of fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters, in power in Gaza since 2007. On Thursday, the PRCS reported “intense bombings” and “heavy gunfire heavy” around the establishment.