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Blinken meets Israeli War Cabinet members in Tel Aviv
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Thursday with members of Israel’s war cabinet in Tel Aviv to discuss the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
The U.S. drone strike that killed an Iraqi-based militant leader was a “blatant assassination” that showed no regard for international law, the Iraqi government said Thursday.
The strike blew up a car in a Baghdad neighborhood late Wednesday, killing a commander of the Kataib Hezbollah militia responsible for planning and participating in attacks on American troops in the region, the U.S. military said. Hezbollah in Lebanon condemned the killing as “a continuation to the US’ previous crime and continuous aggression against our people in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.”
Major General Yehia Rasool, spokesman for Iraq’s government, said the strike violated Iraqi sovereignty and showed disregard for the safety of civilians. Rasool said in a social media post that the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq consistently deviates from “the reasons and objectives” for its presence in the country, which is to prevent an ISIS resurgence.
“This trajectory compels the Iraqi government more than ever to terminate the mission of this coalition, which has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict,” he said.
The U.S. has blamed the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose association of insurgent groups, for a series of strikes on U.S. bases in the region − including the attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. military personnel Jan. 28.
Netanyahu calls Hamas plan ‘delusional’: Blinken sees ‘space’ for deal
Developments:
∎ The Senate was poised to vote on a foreign aid bill that included Israel. A stand-alone, $17.6 billion package for Israel was defeated Tuesday in the House. The Senate blocked a broader bill Wednesday that included border security and other funding.
∎ Jordan’s King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein will meet with President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday to mark 75 years of diplomatic relations and discuss the war, humanitarian assistance and a long-term, two-state solution to the conflict, the White House said in a statement.
∎ U.S. forces conducted preemptive strikes against two anti-ship cruise missiles Houthi rebels were ready to launch against ships in the Red Sea, and later against one of their land attack cruise missiles also ready to be fired, Central Command said Thursday. The missiles “presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region,” it said.
∎ Germany is sending the Hessen, a Navy ship with 240 service members, to patrol the Red Sea as part of a European Union mission expected to begin later this month to help defend cargo vessels from Houthi attacks.
An overnight attack that killed at least 13 in Rafah underscored Israel’s determination to defy warnings and press into the southern Gaza city, where more than 1 million Palestinians have fled to escape the fighting.
The deadly airstrikes Wednesday into Thursday came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed Hamas’ cease-fire proposal and said Israel Defense Forces are preparing to pursue militants in the city, which borders Egypt.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thursday the administration has seen no indication Israel has imminent plans for a ground operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering. He said without protection for civilians, such an operation “would be a disaster for those people.” border city.getting ready to
counterms and vowed to expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town.
in the RAFAH, Gaza Strip – Israeli airstrikes killed over a dozen people overnight and into Thursday in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ cease-fire terms and vowed to expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town.
More than half of strip’s population has fled to Rafah, on the mostly sealed border with Egypt, which is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid. Egypt has warned that any ground operation there or mass displacement across the border would undermine its four-decade-old peace treaty with Israel.
The overnight strikes killed at least 13 people, including two women and five children, according to the Kuwaiti Hospital, which received the bodies. At the scene of one of the strikes, residents used their cellphone flashlights as they dug through the rubble with pick-axes and their bare hands.
“I wish we could collect their whole bodies instead of just pieces,” said Mohammed Abu Habib, a neighbor who witnessed the strike.
Israel is willing to allow Oct. 7 attack mastermind Yahya Sinwar and other top Hamas leaders in Gaza flee into exile in exchange for the release of all remaining hostages and an end to Hamas rule in the enclave, NBC News reported, citing multiple Israeli officials it did not name.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed as recently as this week to continue fighting until the Hamas leadership is killed. Israel says Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, leader of the Hamas military wing, directed the rampage that killed 1,200 people in Israel border communities. Over 240 others were kidnapped and spirited away to Gaza, though more than 100 of them were released during a weeklong November truce.
Two sources familiar with discussions inside the Israeli government told NBC that other proposals Israelis raised with U.S. officials included replacing Hamas with hand-picked civilian leaders. The U.S. has lobbied for a revamped Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to take control of Gaza.
The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have been working to broker a cease-fire and long-term peace plan since the war began. Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected a Hamas-proposed cease-fire plan that would include the release of the remaining hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and an end to a war.
Israel’s reported effort to destroy Gaza buildings along the border to create a buffer zone is a war crime, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned Thursday. He said his office had recorded “widespread destruction and demolition” of civilian infrastructure including residential buildings, schools and universities in areas where fighting is not taking place.
The Israeli government has not formally confirmed that a buffer zone is being created, but the military has alluded to it while destroying buildings along the border. The U.S has opposed creation of a buffer zone or any permanent change in Palestinian territory.
“I stress to the Israeli authorities … the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits destruction by the occupying power of property belonging to private persons, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations,” Volker said.
The daily toll Israel’s military operations are taking on innocent civilians remains too high, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a briefing in Tel Aviv late Wednesday. Blinken said that while in Israel he raised “profound concerns about actions and rhetoric, including from government officials, that inflame tensions,” jeopardize international support and add to Israel’s security concerns.
Blinken acknowledged Israelis were “dehumanized in the most horrific way” by the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and that the hostages seized by the militants continue to be mistreated.
“But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others,” Blinken said. “The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks of October 7th. … They’re mothers and fathers, sons and daughters (who) want to earn a decent living, send their kids to school, have a normal life. That’s who they are; that’s what they want. And we cannot, we must not lose sight of that. We cannot, we must not, lose sight of our common humanity.”
At least 27,840 Palestinians have been killed and 67,317 wounded by the Israeli military in Gaza since Oct. 7, the Hamas-run Health Ministry says. Israeli officials say about 10,000 of them were Hamas militants and blame civilian deaths on Hamas using them as human shields.
Contributing: Francesca Chambers, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
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