Author: France 24

Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah. Meanwhile Israeli forces continued to carry out air strikes across the Strip, killing and wounding dozens in central and northern Gaza. Source link

The Israeli military on Saturday called on people living in the border city of Rafah in Gaza to evacuate as it prepares to expand its military operation closer to the densely populated area. “I think there’s no doubt in the fact and certainly in the mind of Binyamin Netanyahu, whatever happens and whatever it takes, he’s going to push ahead with that ground offensive,” FRANCE 24’s International Affairs Editor Philip Turle said. “The problem here is, we don’t really know, and no one really knows where they’re going to go,” Turle added. Source link

Palestinian militant group Hamas said on Saturday that another one of the hostages abducted during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel has died. Hamas released a video saying that Nadav Popplewell, who was taken hostage from the southern Israeli community of Kibbutz Nirim, died after being wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza. According to a hostages support group, Popplewell’s brother was killed during the Oct. 7 attack, his mother was freed during a brief truce in November. Israeli officials say 128 of them are still held captive in the Palestinian territory, including 36 who are dead. FRANCE 24’s Irris…

The UN General Assembly voted by a wide margin on Friday to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestine’s request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The world body approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions. The United States voted against it, along with Israel, Argentina, Czechia, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea. Source link

Israel ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its operation. However, “there’s nowhere safe for anybody to go to in Gaza and particularly in the southern part of the Gaza Strip where we already have intense overcrowding in some of the makeshift zones that have been designated for humanitarian exit from the Rafah area,” Alliance for Middle East Peace Executive Director John Lyndon told FRANCE 24. According to the Israeli army, some 300,000 people have already evacuated, but an estimated 700,000 to 1.1 million…

Field hospitals are increasingly used to treat patients in Gaza after Israeli forces bombarded the Strip’s main facilities including Al-Shifa, French doctor Zouhair Lahna, who has recently returned after working with NGOs in Gaza, told FRANCE 24. Lahna’s team spent a week in the north of Gaza where Israel had heavily bombarded during the first months of the war with Hamas. Lahna said his team brought medicine and medical supplies to the residents who remained in the area. Source link

Kylian Mbappe confirmed on Friday that he will leave French champions Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season, with Real Madrid widely expected to be his next destination. The announcement brings an end to a prolific association with his hometown team, which began when he signed from Monaco in 2017 in a deal worth 180 million euros ($194 million). Source link

The Israeli army said on Saturday about 300,000 people have left eastern Rafah for a humanitarian area since it ordered an evacuation of the southern Gaza city this week. The military ordered the evacuation of eastern Rafah on Monday as it seized control of the crossing with the Egyptian border ahead of its long-threatened ground assault in the city where some 1.4 million people are sheltering. Source link

Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said Friday. Story by Tom Canetti. Source link

Israel on Saturday called on residents from more areas of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to evacuate and head to an “expanded humanitarian area”, according to a post on social media site X by the military’s Arabic spokesperson. The US State Department said in a report released Friday that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used weapons in ways inconsistent with international humanitarian law during the seven-month Gaza war.  Read our live blog to follow today’s developments. Source link