US President Joe Biden’s administration has agreed with Israeli authorities that operations in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, will not be significantly expanded until a visit by presidential national security advisor Jake Sullivan, Axios reports. Previously the portal reported, citing sources, that Sullivan intends to visit Saudi Arabia and Israel this weekend amid growing tensions over the military operation in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
The European Union calls on Israel to immediately end its military operation in Rafah, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said on Wednesday. “This operation further undermines the distribution of humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip and leads to increased internal displacement, hunger and human suffering,” the EU diplomatic chief said in a statement released in Brussels.
In Israel, back and forth between Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu. The former reproaches the latter: “I have raised the issue in the government for several months, without getting a response. Palestinian local government is primarily an Israeli interest. […] A dangerous trend is developing that promotes an Israeli military government in the Gaza Strip.”
“An Israeli military government in Gaza would become Israel’s main security effort for years to come, would cost much blood and needless casualties, and would also carry a heavy economic price. I will not accept the creation of an Israeli military government in Gaza, Israel must not do this.
“I call on Netanyahu to make a decision and declare that there will be no Israeli military government and that an alternative government to Hamas be promoted immediately, right now.”
Netanyahu responds to Gallant: “I am not ready to exchange Hamasstan for Fatahstan. After the terrible massacre of October 7, I ordered the destruction of Hamas. […] No other party will intervene to manage civilian Gaza. Certainly not the Palestinian Authority. 80% of Palestinians [in the West Bank] support the terrible October 7 massacre. The Palestinian Authority supports terrorism, educates about terrorism, finances terrorism.”
On May 15, 5 hospitals in Ashdod, Ashkelon, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv prepared to receive the wounded and dead from the recent clashes in Gaza. Hamas and other factions have successfully adapted and improved their fighting techniques against the Israeli army.
The IDF in a statement states that: “The floating dock to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip has been successfully connected; The trucks will begin to arrive in the next few days. In recent weeks, the IDF and the Ministry of Defense have made extensive preparations to accommodate the floating dock together with the Department of Engineering and Construction of the Ministry of Defense, the IDF, the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories and in collaboration with the forces US armies.
The statement further reads: “The IDF, through COGAT, is continuing ongoing humanitarian efforts and is working in collaboration with the United States Central Command to establish the floating humanitarian dock in the Gaza Strip.”
Like every Thursday, the leader of the Houthis, Abdul-Malik Badruldeen al-Houthi spoke live on TV. Among the messages, the invitation to Western students to continue protests in America and in the West during the summer holidays as long as the aggression in Gaza continues.
Praise to the Qassam and Quds brigades for their activity within Hamas. And then he added: “The resumption of fighting in Jabalia and in the Zaytoun neighborhood in this crucial and critical phase demonstrates the failure of the Israeli enemy. In some camps the fighting has resumed for the fifth time and each time the Israeli enemy announces that it has won the battle.”
Then he spoke about the activity of Ansar Allah: “on the Yemen front and in the battle of the promised conquest and the holy jihad, 40 operations were carried out against Israel with 211 missiles. This week, 7 operations with 13 ballistic, cruise and cruise missiles were carried out in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean” And again he said: “The launch towards the Mediterranean Sea began this week with two operations ”.
“The fourth phase of the escalation is important because it targets ships of all companies that transport goods to Israel to any port.” “It is in the interest of all companies to stop transportation for the benefit of the Israeli enemy to the Mediterranean Sea or in any direction. We want to make our voice heard in all countries and for everyone to understand and realize that our action is human and ethical. Everyone must put pressure on Israel to stop the crimes of genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.” “We will try to strengthen the fourth phase of the escalation in terms of the momentum and strength of the attacks.” Finally an appeal: “we hope that our Iraqi brothers will join us regarding the fourth phase”. In Yemen, according to the Houthi leader, we are already preparing for the fifth phase.
From Lebanon we learn that on May 15th through the official Hezbollah media that there was a meeting between Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and the Hamas delegation, led by Khalil Al-Hayyah. The two would discuss the ongoing war, the negotiations and the efforts made.
On May 16, Hezbollah instead issued a bulletin reporting the death of two of its men while they were traveling in a car hit by an Israeli drone in Lebanon. Ali Fawzi Ayoun, born in 1999 in Ain Qana, son of the late Hezbollah field commander, killed in Damascus, Syria. His father was a prisoner in Israel, who arrived in the West Bank to train the resistance in the early 2000s and Mohammad Hassan Ali Fares, born in 1990 in Beirut, on the way to Jerusalem and in defense of southern Lebanon.
And now a look at the war of attrition between Israel and Hamas updated at 5pm on May 16th.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for a drone attack against an Israeli base, about 50 km from the Lebanese border: Eilana air base where an air force control system was hit. In response, during the night Israel carried out a series of Israeli air strikes in the Baalbek-Beqaa sector. Ten airstrikes took place in Nabi Cheet and Brital, against strategic targets in Lebanon.
Large arsonists were spotted during the night on the hills attacked by the Israeli army, which targeted an important location in the Brital Valley. The attack on the Baalbek headquarters in Lebanon was a daring retaliation and Hezbollah managed to hit the Israeli army’s spy balloon, about 50 km from the Lebanese border. These balloons are worth tens of millions and Israel only has two of them.
After the Israeli attack on Beqaa, 60 rockets flew into Israel from the Golan Heights. Hezbollah appears to have managed to stage an attack on four targets, bases say but Israel has not confirmed, before launching yet another attack on Metulla. It appears that a suicide drone equipped with two S-5 rockets was launched against a group of soldiers and vehicles in Metulla.
At 4pm on May 16th, alarms were activated in the Galilee due to possible infiltration of drones from Lebanon. The Israeli army carried out an attack on the village of Aita al-Shaab, in Hula a car on the Qana road was hit by a drone; several airstrikes on Mount Al-Rayhan. And finally to Al-Naqoura.
In the late afternoon, Israeli jets were active and patrolling the skies over northern Israel, waiting to receive the order to attack.
According to an IDF statement, “around 40 launches were identified as they crossed Lebanon towards the Golan Heights, following the sirens that sounded earlier in northern Israel. Many of the launches were successfully intercepted by the IDF Aerial Defense Array. No injuries were reported. The IDF hit the sources of the fire. Following the sirens sounded a short while ago in the Zarit area, five launches were identified in transit from Lebanese territory. No injuries were reported.” “In response to the launches and following identification of their origin, IAF fighter jets hit one of the military positions from where they were launched. Furthermore, this morning, the IDF struck a Hezbollah military facility where terrorists were operating in the Ayta ash Shab area, as well as an additional military facility in the Halta area.”
Attack in Samaria. The IDF wrote in a statement: “Following reports of a stabbing attack in the Samaria area, a man arrived at the Yitzhar intersection, stabbed an IDF non-commissioned officer who was in his vehicle and fled. IDF soldiers are searching for the attacker and have blocked roads in the area. The non-commissioned officer was moderately injured and was transported to hospital for medical treatment. His family has been notified.”
Bombings and clashes are recorded in the northern area of Gaza at Camp Jabalia.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
