Israel-Hamas war: Israel to send team to US for Rafah talks

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that Washington considers that a major Israeli ground operation in Rafah "would be a mistake."

Sullivan said US President Joe Biden reaffirmed the US' support for Israel's long-term security and its right to combat Hamas in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

However, Biden also stressed to Netanyahu that Israel needs a coherent and sustainable strategy to get rid of Hamas, Sullivan said.

Biden told Netanyahu that he was "deeply concerned" over Israel's plans to launch a a major military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

Sullivan said that Netanyahu agreed to send a team made up of military, intelligence and humanitarian officials to Washington to hear US concerns about Israel's plans for Rafah.

He said that Washington would "lay out an alternative approach that would target key Hamas elements in Rafah and secure the Egypt-Gaza border without a major ground invasion."

Sullivan said the two leaders discussed negotiations towards a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages. He said that Washington considers such a deal an "urgent priority."

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the situation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and efforts to increase aid to Gaza, according to the White House.

The White House earlier said that the two leaders spoke over the phone.

"President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah and efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza," the White House said.

Separately, Netanyahu said the two leaders discussed Israel's commitment to achieve all of its war aims: to eliminate the Hamas Islamist militant group, to secure the release of all hostages, and to ensure Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel.

He said that Israel will pursue its aims "while providing the necessary humanitarian aid that helps achieve those goals."

US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have spoken on the phone for the first time since February 17, according to the White House.

"President Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to discuss the latest developments in Israel and Gaza, including the situation in Rafah and efforts to surge humanitarian assistance to Gaza," it said in a statement.

Biden's administration has increasingly voiced criticism of the death toll and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and expressed skepticism over Israel's planned offensive in Rafah in the south of the territory.

Last week, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Israel to hold new elections. Biden hailed Schumer's statements as a "good speech."

Netanyahu denounced Schumer's remarks, saying Israel is "not a banana republic" and will hold elections as it sees fit.

Biden was also heard two weeks ago saying that Netanyahu needed to have a "come to Jesus" meeting with him. The American expression "come to Jesus" refers to a dramatic realization that one must correct course.

Earlier this month, Biden ordered the US military to start airdrops of food into the Palestinian enclave and is sending US forces to build a temporary port for aid deliveries.

The United States is a critical ally of Israel and supplies it with billions of dollars in military aid.

The Israeli army says that 20 militants have been killed in clashes at the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza.

"Twenty terrorists have been eliminated at the Shifa hospital thus far in various engagements, and dozens of apprehended suspects are currently in questioning," the army said in a statement.

Earlier on Monday, the Israeli army announced that it had launched an operation at al-Shifa Hospital and later dropped leaflets telling residents to evacuate the surrounding Rimal neighborhood.

Israel said it killed Faiq Mabbouh during the raid, who it identified as a senior Hamas militant.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a new report showing that 1.1 million people are now starving is an "appalling indictment" of conditions on the ground for civilians.

The UN-backed Integrated Food-Security Phase Classification, or IPC, earlier reported that half of Gaza's population was experiencing "catastrophic" shortages of food, with around 300,000 in certain areas facing the prospect of famine-scale death rates.

"This an entirely man-made disaster," Guterres told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York

He called the report "exhibit A" for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, calling on Israel to ensure access for humanitarian goods throughout Gaza.

"We must act now to prevent the unthinkable, the unacceptable and the unjustifiable," he said. 

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, says he has been barred entry to the Gaza Strip by Israel.

Lazzarini told reporters he "intended to go into Rafah today, but was informed my entry had been declined."

Speaking with Lazzarini at the same news conference in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said: "You were declined by the Israeli government, refused the entry which is an unprecedented move for (a) representative at this high position."

UNRWA coordinates nearly all aid entering the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian enclave is facing a major humanitarian crisis, and a UN-backed report published on Monday suggested famine is imminent in the territory.

"On the day new data is out on famine in #GAZA, the Israeli Authorities deny my entry to Gaza," Lazzarini wrote on the platform X, formerly Twitter.

"This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity," he said.

Lazzarini said that his visit was intended to improve humanitarian operations.

Israel has alleged that 12 of UNRWA's 13,000 staff took part in attacks on October 7 in which Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people and took 253 hostage,  although it has not provided any evidence for these claims.

Sixteen countries, including the United States, paused funding of the organization over the allegations. Several states resumed funding after an independent UN investigation was launched.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "terribly worried"  about the situation at al-Shifa after Israeli forces launched a major assault on the hospital overnight.

He was concerned the fighting was "endangering health workers, patients and civilians."

"Any hostilities or militarization of the facility jeopardize health services, access for ambulances, and delivery of life-saving supplies," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Earlier the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said there were casualties "including deaths and injuries," adding it was "impossible to rescue anyone due to the intensity of the fire."

The Israeli Defense Forces said soldiers had conducted a "precise operation" based on intelligence that senior Hamas leaders were using the hospital.

The Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera said Israeli soldiers have beaten and arrested its correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul during their raid on the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City.

"Our Al Jazeera Arabic colleague Ismail al-Ghoul and his crew who were sheltering inside the hospital were detained," the network's English channel reported on its website.

Witnesses inside the hospital told Al Jazeera that al-Ghoul and his team were beaten before being taken to an undisclosed location.

Many Palestinian journalists used the hospital complex as a base that offered relative safety to report on the Israel-Hamas war. 

The Israeli military did not immediately comment.

As of Monday, at least 95 journalists and media workers had been killed in the war, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), citing "preliminary investigations." 

The Israeli military said it killed a senior Hamas militant during Monday's raid on al-Shifa Hospital.

Faiq Mabhouh was the director general of operations at Gaza's internal security body, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said on X, formerly Twitter.

"Mabhouh was hiding in a compound at the Shifa hospital, from which he operated and advanced terrorist activity," the IDF said.

Hamas did not immediately comment.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas, which is classified as a terror group by the US, the EU, Germany and others, of running its operations from — or under — hospitals and other civilian facilities.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell doubled down on his criticism of the war in Gaza on Monday, saying the territory has become "the greatest open-air graveyard."

"Gaza was before the war the greatest open-air prison. Today it's the greatest open-air graveyard," Borrell said at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels.

"It's a graveyard for tens of thousands of people and also a graveyard for many of the most important principles of humanitarian law," he added.

Earlier on Monday, Borrell accused Israel of using famine as a "weapon of war" by not allowing aid trucks into Gaza. Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz hit back at Borrell and told him "to stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against Hamas' crimes."

The Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said at least 31,726 people have been killed since October 7.

The UN deems figures from the ministry largely accurate, although it does not differentiate between militants and civilians.

The Israeli military said on Monday that 250 of its soldiers have been killed since the start of ground operations. 

A new UN-backed report found "famine is imminent" in northern Gaza, where an estimated 70% of the population faces catastrophic hunger.

"Famine is now projected and imminent in the North Gaza and Gaza Governorates and is expected to become manifest during the projection period from mid-March 2024 to May 2024," the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warned. 

The IPC is an international process for estimating the scale of hunger crises and is compiled by theUN and other aid agencies.

It found people across Gaza are "facing high levels of acute food insecurity."

The report warned that if Israel broadens its offensive, including a ground offensive in the packed southern city of Rafah, "half of the population of the Gaza Strip (1.11 million people) is expected to face catastrophic conditions." 

Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz urged the EU's top diplomat to "stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against Hamas' crimes."

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. He demanded Israel open more border crossings to allow aid in.

"Israel allows extensive humanitarian aid into Gaza by land, air, and sea for anyone willing to help," Katz wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

He tagged the foreign ministers of several European countries in his post.

The Erez crossing in northern Gaza, which aid agencies say will allow for more direct access to the areas where aid is needed most, remains closed. 

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets around al-Shifa Hospital hospital in Gaza, telling people to evacuate immediately.

It follows a morning Israeli raid on the hospital, Gaza's biggest before the war.

The IDF earlier described it as a "precise operation" targeting "senior Hamas terrorists" that it said were using the hospital. 

It said troops had been instructed on the importance of operating cautiously as well as on measures to be taken to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical staff and medical equipment and said patients were not required to evacuate.

But in the airdropped leaflets and on its Arabic accounts on X, formerly Twitter, it said people in Rimal and al-Shifa "are in a dangerous combat zone."

"The IDF is operating hard in its residential areas to destroy terror infrastructure," said the statement, which ordered the people to take the coastal road toward al-Mawasi in the southern Gaza Strip.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.

"We are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people" in Gaza, Borrell said at an international aid conference in Brussels, adding it "is entirely man-made."

"This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine," Borrell said.

The top diplomat demanded Israel open more border crossings to allow aid in.

"It's just a matter of political will. Israel has to do it. It is not a question of logistics. It is not because the United Nations has not provided enough support. The support is there, waiting. Trucks are stopped. People are dying, while the land crossings are artificially closed," he said. 

Aid trucks have been entering Gaza's southern areas through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah Crossing and the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom Crossing. At the same time, the northern parts of the strip have been largely cut off from assistance.

Western and Arab countries have airdropped food into Gaza, while a first aid vessel from Cyprus opened a new maritime corridor for humanitarian relief goods.

But the UN and other aid agencies have said it is enough to address the large-scale shortages in the territory.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it launched a "precise operation" at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza on Monday morning. 

"The operation is based on intelligence information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists," it added.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas, which is classified as a terror group by the US, the EU, Germany and others, of running its operations from — or under — hospitals and other civilian facilities.

Witnesses in Gaza City told the AFP news agency that the al-Rimal neighborhood, where the Shifa Hospital is located, had been hit by airstrikes and that tanks had surrounded the hospital complex itself.

Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry accused Israel of using "fabricated narratives" to "justify the storming" of the hospital, which it called a violation of international humanitarian law. 

"We hold the Israeli occupation responsible for the lives of medical staff, patients and displaced persons inside al-Shifa Medical Complex," the ministry said in a Facebook post. 

"The Israeli military attack aims to continue destroying the health system in northern Gaza," it added. 

In its statement on Monday, the IDF said its troops had been "instructed on the importance of operating cautiously, as well as on the measures to be taken to avoid harming the patients, civilians, medical staff, and medical equipment," before the operation started. 

The Israeli army previously entered the hospital in a military operation at the end of last year, uncovering what it said were tunnels used by Hamas.