Biden, Netanyahu speak as Israel prepares for invasion of Gaza's Rafah

“UNRWA did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday. 

Lazzarini’s statement came in response to the IDF discovery indicating that a Hamas tunnel, powered by UNRWA electric infrastructure, ran underneath UNRWA’s Gaza headquarters.

During the IDF raid on the UNRWA headquarters itself, the IDF reported finding guns, ammunition, grenades, and other explosives inside the offices of the building.

- UNRWA did not know what is under its headquarters in Gaza.

- UNRWA is made aware of reports through the media regarding a tunnel under the UNRWA Headquarters in Gaza.

- UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza City on 12 October following the Israeli evacuation orders and as…

— Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) February 10, 2024

The UNRWA chief stated that the UN organization had been notified of the reports of a tunnel under the body’s Gaza headquarters.

“UNRWA staff left its headquarters in Gaza City on 12 October following the Israeli evacuation orders and as bombardment intensified in the area,” Lazzarini wrote. “We have not used that compound since we left it nor are we aware of any activity that may have taken place there.

While the commissioner-general refrained from confirming the IDF report, he did not reject it.

The IDF struck targets belonging to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, including sites near the town of Marwahin, as Hezbollah continued to claim attacks against Israeli forces along the Lebanese-Israeli border on Sunday.

The IDF Spokesperson's Unit stated that terrorist infrastructure and a rocket launcher were hit in the strikes near Marwahin. Additionally, a military outpost, a military structure, and terrorist infrastructure were hit in Israeli strikes near Ramyah, Yaroun, and Chihine in southern Lebanon, and earlier in the day, shots were fired toward a suspect near Kfarkela.

According to the Lebanese Al-Jadeed TV, two individuals from the Hezbollah-aligned Amal movement and the Islamic Risala Scout Association were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Chihine on Sunday afternoon.

A teacher from northern Israel was arrested after providing Hamas with the location of a defense industry plant in the north to help Hamas fire rockets toward the plant, the Shin Bet and police said on Sunday.

The suspect was identified as Rami Habibullah, a resident of Ein Mahil, a town near Nazareth. The Shin Bet and police found that, in light of the conflict in Gaza, Habibullah decided to contact Hamas operatives abroad and offer to help promote terrorist activities in Israel.

Habibullah provided a Hamas operative with a photo of a defense industry plant near his home and the exact location of the plant, intending to have Hamas fire rockets toward the site. He also collected funds for the terrorist group and provided information on several sensitive locations.

The northern resident also worked to recruit other Israeli Arabs to help in promoting terrorist activity within Israel, including Khaled Saleh, a 35-year-old resident of Ein Mahil. Saleh was also arrested and during questioning it emerged that Saleh had agreed to carry out terrorist activities together with Habibullah and had even offered to provide weapons for such operations.

Another suspect connected to the case is being held in administrative detention.

On Sunday, the Northern District Attorney's office filed an indictment against Habibullah and Saleh to the District Court in Nazareth. Habibullah has been charged with a series of national security crimes, including making contact with a foreign agent, making illegal purchases for the purpose of terrorism, and conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, among other crimes. Saleh is charged with conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism.

"This is a serious action by Israeli citizens who hatched a malicious plan with Hamas operatives while the State of Israel is in the midst of fighting against that terrorist organization. This activity was thwarted in the initial stages even before the squad members had time to execute the plan for terrorist activity inside Israel," said the Shin Bet and Israel Police.

A Jewish chaplain for universities in the Yorkshire area and his family were subjected to death threats and harassment after a campaign was launched to oust him from his position over his IDF service during the Israel-Hamas War.

The Daily Mail reported on Friday that Rabbi Zecharia Deutsch and his wife Nava had gone into hiding in response to the campaign. Upon his return to the United Kingdom after reserve duty in Israel, Deutsch was accused by student and Pro-Palestinian groups of "war crimes" and "genocide."

Local politicians denounced the threats against the Deutsch family, as well as the graffiti vandalism against the Hillel House on Thursday that many tied to the campaign against Deutsch.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was involved in a screaming match with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi at Sunday's cabinet meeting, held at the northern Julis military base, Israeli media reported.

Ben-Gvir took aim at the military chief for the IDF's cooperation with Israel Police in foiling daily protests against the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Israeli border crossings led by right-wing groups.

"You cannot contact the Israel Police commissioner directly," Ben-Gvir was quoted by Israeli media as yelling at Halevi. "If you want him, you need to go through me.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly came to the IDF commander's defense, arguing that Halevi was only "carrying out decisions made by the cabinet and is operating within his authority.

Halevi, arguing for the continuation of the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, told the national security minister that "if the aid doesn't enter through Kerem Shalom, it will enter through Rafah, unsupervised. The decision to deliver humanitarian aid was made by the political echelon...you are those who decide.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi attend a cabinet meeting at a military base on February 11, 2024 (credit: DEFENSE MINISTRY)

Ben-Gvir continued to argue that the IDF chief was "making the decisions" rather than the cabinet, calling for the government to "re-examine" entry of aid into Gaza.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said at the Julis base on Sunday, "We've penetrated to the most sensitive core of Hamas - their intelligence is now being used against them. The deepening of the operation brings us closer to a realistic deal for the return of the hostages."

An Israeli victory in Gaza is contingent on a military operation in Rafah to destroy Hamas operations there, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ABC as he pushed back against international pressure to refrain from such a step.

"Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying lose the war, keep Hamas there,” Netanyahu told the US network, in an excerpt of an interview to be published on its Sunday program This Week.

”We're going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we're going to do it, and in this, I agree with the Americans, while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave," Netanyahu stated.  

Israel, he said, is "working out a detailed plan to do so."

“This is part of our war effort to get civilians out of harm's way; it's part of Hamas's effort to keep them in harm's way," he noted.

"Victory is within reach," Netanyahu stressed.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meet on February 6, 2024 (credit: AMOS BEN-GERSHOM/GPO)

Israel's allies have called on Israel not to go into Rafah, citing humanitarian concerns

Israel’s allies have called on Netanyahu not to move forward with the operation, given that over 1.3 million Palestinians are in Rafah. Many of them fled to the southern city, which borders Egypt, to escape Israeli bombing in the north.

The UN, the EU, the United Kingdom, Germany Ireland, the US, and Jordan have all spoken out against such an operation. 

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron posted on X that he was “Deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah – over half of Gaza’s population are sheltering in the area.

“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire,” he added.

United States Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told National Public Radio on Saturday night that, “we have been absolutely clear that under the current circumstances in Rafah, a military operation now in that area cannot proceed. 

“It would dramatically exacerbate the humanitarian emergency that we're all seeking to alleviate right now. Israel has an obligation to ensure that civilians, that [Gaza’s] civilian population is safe and that they're secure and that they have access to humanitarian aid and to basic services.

A boy sits next to hanging clothes, as Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, take shelter at the border with Egypt, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, February 8, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)

“And I think you heard the secretary, [Antony Blinken,] make those statements clearly during his meetings and in his engagements with the press when he was there,” she said.

Egypt, according to the Wall Street Journal, has warned Israel that military action in Rafah could jeopardize the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries.

In an interview with Israel Radio, Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter (Likud) said that Cairo had no say in what happened in Rafah, which was located near Egypt’s border with Gaza.

“Egypt has a lot to say until the Philadelphi Corridor,” Dicter said, as he explained that its treaty with Israel does give it input over actions that occur between its border and that buffer zone, but not in Rafah, which is in Gaza. 

“Egypt has no say about what happens Rafah,” Dicter said.

More to the point, he said, Israel had wanted to place Gaza, certainly Rafah, within Egypt’s borders, when it negotiated that treaty, but “Egypt did not agree to accept the Gaza Strip or part of it."

Troops of the 98th Division eliminated terrorists and cleared terror infrastructure in western Khan Yunis while, in parallel, forces of the 162nd Division conducted raids in the center and north of the Strip, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit announced on Sunday.

They were assisted by the Navy, who attacked several terrorist targets.

Anti-tank missiles fired at the troops

In the center of the Strip, fighters of the Nahal Brigade identified and killed a terrorist who fired an anti-tank missile at them and approached them, the IDF said.

The troops were subsequently attacked by an additional anti-tank missile. The combatants identified a building to be the source of the shooting. As two terrorists came out from the building, the troops directed an aircraft that targeted the terrorists.

The IDF operates in the Gaza Strip. February 11, 2024. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

Furthermore, Nahal troops guided an aircraft that attacked numerous terrorist targets, including a warehouse where weapons were stored. The strike on the warehouse was followed by secondary explosions, indicating the amount of ammunition found in it, according to the military. 

In the west of Khan Yunis, fighters from the Paratroopers Brigade, along with combatants from the Egoz Unit, killed terrorists and raided terror targets, in which they also found weapons.

Additionally, in Khan Yunis, troops of the 98th Division directed an aircraft that targeted three military depots and a terrorist squad that fired at the forces.

The IDF further noted that fighters of the 7th Brigade raided combat structures and killed terrorists while combatants of the 646th Brigade found many weapons.

US President Joe Biden issued a memorandum linking American military aid globally to adherence to international humanitarian law, including for Israel, as he called the IDF’s military operation in Gaza “over the top.”

Forms of military aid could be suspended If reports of violations are found credible, according to the National Security Memorandum issued on Thursday night. 

Statements made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken rejecting any role for Hamas in the days after the war were met with skepticism by Jordanians and Palestinians. They argued that the US official can’t restrict the scope of the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people.

Khaled Shnikat, director of the Jordanian Society for Political Science, believes that the postwar status of Gaza depends in large part on how the fighting will end. “If it ends with an Israeli withdrawal, that would be much different than if it ends with a total Israeli military victory,” he told The Media Line. However, Shnikat said that he believes that Jordan understands that, in all cases, the future status of the Gaza Strip “is a purely Palestinian issue and must be decided by Palestinians. Anything other than that will not lead to stability,” he added.