Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said pressure from other countries’ leaders will not stop his country’s efforts to defend itself. He noted that “if Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.” Netanyahu said on the imminent agreement for the release of the hostages: “Israel cannot accept the option of ending the war and withdrawing troops from the Gaza Strip. This is a surrender.” Netanyahu has always said that Israel will not take a step back and essentially, everything is now ready for the attack on Rafah. As written by AGC in recent weeks. This is the last part of a plan that wants to divide the Gaza Strip into four parts.
According to the Financial Times, in recent weeks several Arab countries have shown themselves open to the possibility of an Arab peacekeeping force in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. An Arab diplomat said several Arab capitals had softened their stance on the possibility, which is intended to allow the withdrawal of IDF forces from the region and give “the Palestinian Authority time to develop its security forces.” Jordan and Saudi Arabia oppose it. Another source said Arab countries are demanding that the decision on Arab peacekeeping forces be approved by the UN Security Council.
In the meantime, despite the failure of the latest negotiations, an agreement is being sought on the ceasefire and the recognition of Palestine is once again being discussed. At the moment, there are 142 states in the world that recognize Palestine.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the creation of a Palestinian state states: “Almost all Palestinian factions, including Hamas, agree with the creation of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Therefore, Israel is willing to stay within the borders of 1967? This is the real question. Israel continues to steal land in the West Bank under the pretext that “Hamas is in the Gaza Strip”
Yolanda Diaz, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Labor and Economy and leader of the left-wing Somar bloc: “We demand that tomorrow Spain finally and officially recognize the Palestinian state. We must stop this barbarism, we cannot wait another day.”
Last week, the Biden Administration suspended the supply of US-made ammunition to Israel. “The suspension of ammunition supplies to Israel by the United States is not linked to a potential Israeli military operation in the city of Rafah, considered the last stronghold of the Palestinian Hamas movement, in the southern Gaza Strip,” reports CNN citing a source.
As CNN notes, a representative of the US National Security Council referred to ongoing American assistance to Israel, adding that the US has made the largest additional appropriations in history to help Israel and has led “a coalition without precedents for protecting Israel from Iranian attacks. It also emphasizes that while US officials remain concerned about a possible Israeli operation in Rafah, they will continue to help Israel defend itself from the threats it faces.
Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Petra de Sutter announced new Belgian sanctions against Israel. “Israel’s call for the evacuation of citizens and refugees from Rafah and the announced invasion will lead to massacres. Belgium is working on further sanctions against the IDF. Today at noon I will meet Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr. Malki.”
According to Reuters, Qatar is considering closing Hamas’s political office in Doha as part of an attempt to reconsider its role as a mediator in negotiations between Israel and Hamas. The agency’s source said that if Qatar decided not to continue acting as a mediator, there would be no reason to continue allowing the presence of senior Hamas officials on its territory.
Israeli police arrested the guard of the Greek consul at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem during the celebration of Holy Saturday, the eve of Orthodox Easter Sunday. Israeli forces had reportedly previously installed iron barriers around the church.
The Houthis have posted the interrogations of alleged Israeli-American spies online. “The security services have revealed that they have managed, with the support of interested parties from the Ministry of Defence, to arrest several spies in recent days, recruited through officers and members of an intelligence entity called (Force 400) led by the wanted spy Ammar Afash”. We read it in one of their television reports A security source explained to Yemen’s Saba news agency that these spies were recruited to work on intelligence gathering and monitoring sites belonging to the Yemeni Armed Forces on the western coast of the Republic of Yemen, for the benefit of the American and Israeli enemies.
And now a look at the Israel – Hamas front updated to May 6th at 3.00 pm.
After the warning in northern Israel, around 30 launches were recorded from Lebanon in the direction of the Golan Heights. IDF forces attack the origins of the shots.
In northern Israel, near the border with Lebanon, Israeli Air Force fighters fly. The IDF said the air force attacked around 15 Hezbollah military buildings and sites at a military camp belonging to Hezbollah forces in the Arab Al-Luizah region of southern Lebanon. Furthermore, an IDF spokesperson said that following alerts activated in the Upper Galilee over fears of infiltration by enemy aircraft, a stray munition was detected crossing into Lebanese territory as far as Metula.
Over the weekend, the Iraqi Islamic resistance claimed responsibility for the launch of Arqab missiles against Haifa. On May 6, a missile attack against Eliat was claimed. And again in northern Israel drones were sent against military sites.
Hamas leader Izzat al-Rishq said that any military operation in Rafah will put negotiations in the balance, and will not be a picnic for the enemy army, and Netanyahu and his government bear full responsibility for this.
The Israeli Air Force attacked Rafah on May 5 and on May 6 leafleting began in which Israel calls for evacuation from Rafah. One post reads: “Ahead of the planned ground invasion, the Israel Defense Forces distributed leaflets to Gaza residents in Rafah, urging them to evacuate the city’s eastern outskirts into an ‘expanded humanitarian zone’.” We are talking about at least 100 thousand people. At 10:04 am, pro-Palestinian posts spoke of a “mass exodus of Palestinians from Rafah”
The Israeli military site Kerem Shalom, east of Rafah, was hit by Hamas rockets. The IDF began evacuating neighborhoods in Rafah: a series of eastern neighborhoods near the Israeli border. At the end of the data collection, reports of recent Israeli raids targeted the project areas, Abu Halawa, the airport and Al-Shouka, east of the city of Rafah.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
