Nasrallah vows south Lebanon clashes with Israel will continue

This live blog on day 133 of Israel's war on Gaza has now concluded. Thanks for following.

The blog will resume at 9am tomorrow.

A number of Palestinians attempted to reach the Rafah crossing with Egypt on Friday evening, The New Arab's sister paper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

Local sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that a number of Palestinian citizens entered the border zone in an attempt to reach an aid convoy.

Skirmishes with local police took place resulting in people setting fire to rubber tires near the crossing and the burning of a security building, according to a source quoted in the report.

It comes as reports suggest that Egypt is bolstering its border wall as a contingency measure if a ground invasion forces Palestinians into a 'buffer area' by the Sinai.

Read more about it here.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh met with deposed Fatah movement leader Mohammed Dahlan, a senior member of Hamas has revealed.

But Mohammad Nazzal told Alaraby TV on Friday that he would not reveal details of the meeting, as he called for general Palestinian elections once the Gaza war ends.

Read more in The New Arab's article here.

Photographs taken by Ashraf Amra from Anadolu agency show a marriage in the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

A Palestinian couple who sought refuge in Al-Durra football stadium and have been living in tented shelters celebrated their marriage on Friday, despite the devastation of the war.

Relatives of the bride and groom and many others attended the ceremony. Deir al-Balah has been repeatedly hit by Israeli strikes since the war began.

Israeli war Cabinet minister Benny Gantz said there would be no ceasefire in Gaza "until the hostages are returned", according to comments reported in Israeli media.

“The fighting will continue until our goals are achieved. It can continue even in the month of Ramadan. Either the hostages will be returned, or we will extend the fighting to Rafah,” Gantz said.

Officials are said to be anxious to get stalled ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas over the line before the start of Ramadan in March, over fears of further violence in the West Bank.

Read more about it The New Arab's correspondent in the West Bank Qassam Muaddi's article here.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres told world leaders attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday that the situation in Gaza was "an appalling indictment of the deadlock in global relations".

“I have repeatedly called for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, and a humanitarian ceasefire. That is the only way to massively scale up aid delivery in Gaza,” he said.

Guterres warned Israel last week that a ground invasion into Rafah, where over a million Palestinians have taken refuge, would be a "gigantic tragedy".

Abu Obeida, the spokesman of Hamas' military wing Al Qassam Brigades, said in an audio message on Friday that losses amongst Israeli hostages were many, and that the remaining hostages are living in extremely difficult conditions.

Israel believes there to be around 136 people still held hostage in Gaza by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups.

A total of 112 hostages, taken prisoner during the 7 October attacks on Israel, have been freed.

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah continues his address in a live televised broadcast.

•  The targeting of Qiryat Shemona is a preliminary response to the attack on Nabatiyeh
• The enemy will pay the price for spilling the blood of our women and children in Nabatiyeh and Souaneh
• We tell the enemy that targeting civilians only makes us more determined to carry on with our resistance
• The resistance has weapons capable of reaching anywhere between Qiryat Shemona (on the border with Lebanon) and Eilat (on the Red Sea)
• Israel’s plan is to expel the Palestinians of the West Bank to Jordan, Gazans to Egypt, and the Palestinians of 1948 lands (Israel) to Lebanon
• We want the Lebanese army to be strong and capable, but the US is preventing this from happening

The Lebanon correspondent for The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Jadeed has reported that Hezbollah announced in a statement that the Israeli Al-Malikiyah was targeted with a Burkan missile and it was hit directly.

It was also reported in two other separate statements that the Lebanese group also targeted the Zibdin and Ruwaisat al-Alam sites in the Sheba Farms using missile weapons and also directly hit them.

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has said that Israel will pay "with blood" for attacks on south Lebanon this week which killed ten Lebanese citizens, during his scheduled address to the nation on Friday.

"If Israel had only wanted to target fighters, it could have avoided the civilians," Nasrallah said in televised speech broadcast on the group's network Al-Manar.

"We are in a real battle with a fierce enemy supported by the United States. We are not symmetrical when it comes to military against military."

Read more of the speech here.

Israel will coordinate with Egypt on Palestinian refugees and will find a way to not harm Egypt's interests, Israel's foreign minister Israel Katz said on Friday.

"The state of Israel will have to deal with Rafah because we can't just leave Hamas there," Katz said on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

When asked where refugees in Rafah would go, he suggested Gaza's second city Khan Younis, but said that Israel would coordinate with Egypt to ensure Cairo's interests were not harmed. "We will coordinate with Egypt," he said.

(Reuters)

France's President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said that an Israeli operation on Rafah would trigger an "unprecedented humanitarian disaster".

"An Israeli offensive in Rafah could only bring about an unprecedented humanitarian disaster and would be a turning point in this conflict," he said at a joint press conference in Paris with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

He also said that recognising a Palestinian state is "not a taboo for France".

Lebanon's Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said on Thursday that he had told Lebanon's Permanent Representative to the UN to lodge a complaint with the UN Security Council against Israel following the attacks which killed civilians on Wednesday.

Ten people were killed, seven of them from the same family, when an Israeli air strike hit a multi-storey apartment block in Nabatieh and a second strike killed a mother and two sons in Souaneh in South Lebanon.

Read The New Arab's story on it here.

Israeli airstrikes killed 10 Lebanese civilians in a single day. Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate 👇https://t.co/nqoparNlFP

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) February 15, 2024

New satellite images have shown huge craters nearby civilian areas in Rafah following Israeli air strikes on the city.

BBC Verify, the broadcaster's verification unit, have analysed imagery showing three large hols in the ground around 130m away from rows of tents where displaced families have taken shelter.

Around 1.5 million people are living in Rafah, five times more than its pre-war population.

Israel-Gaza war: Rafah images show huge blast craters close to camps https://t.co/ECECfcWoOz

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 15, 2024

At a meeting during the annual African Union's summit in Addis Ababa on Friday, Algeria and South Africa pledged to push for greater enforcement of the International Court of Justice ruling aimed at ending the onslaught of Palestinians in Gaza.

South Africa has pursued action against Israel before the ICJ, while Algeria has focused on efforts within the United Nations Security Council, where it is pushing for a vote on ceasefire measures next week.

Read The New Arab's article on the summit here.

Two people were killed in Israel when a gunman opened fire on a crowded bus stop near the southern town of Kiryat Malakhi on Friday, a hospital and police said.

Two people who were brought to Kaplan Medical Center had been declared dead, a spokeswoman for the facility told AFP. 

Six other people were wounded in what Israeli police said was a "suspected terror attack".

Police said the incident happened in the southern town of Kiryat Malakhi, adding the suspected gunman was "neutralised" by a civilian at the scene.

الخبير العسكري والإستراتيجي حاتم الفلاحي: عملية كريات ملاخي تعتبر فشلا أمنيا لإسرائيل في هذا التوقيت الحساس#الأخبار #حرب_غزة pic.twitter.com/YBRUIDMiPU

— قناة الجزيرة (@AJArabic) February 16, 2024

More to follow.

(AFP)

Thousands of Yemenis took to the streets of Saada in northwest Yemen on Friday to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

Since the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza, there have been huge protests in Yemen and shows of support for Palestinians and against US-UK  air strikes on Houthi targets in the country.

Thousands of people gather in solidarity with Palestinians in Yemen's Saada pic.twitter.com/bPzuGJfMto

— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) February 16, 2024

The Palestinian Red Crescent (PRCS) said that 12 of its crew members are still detained by Israeli forces, after two doctors were released on Friday morning.

Seven of the medical workers were arrested and taken by Israeli forces a week ago from Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

PRCS said that Israeli tanks damaged two nursing rooms on the second floor of Al-Amal Hospital, having been stationed outside the hospital gates for two weeks and blocked the entry of aid.

This morning, the occupation forces released doctors Jamal Ayad and Nafith Al-Qarm from the PRCD Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis. They were arrested 7 days ago during the occupation's raid on the hospital, while 12 others from our teams remain under arrest, including 7 who were…

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 16, 2024

The health ministry in Gaza said on Friday at least 28,775 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory during the war between militants and Israel.

The toll includes 112 fatalities over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, while 68,552 people have been wounded in Gaza since war erupted on October 7.

(AFP)

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday it was trying to get access Al-Nasser Hospital, after an Israeli raid which has besieged the compound.

"There are still critically injured and sick patients that are inside the hospital," WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said.

"There is an urgent need to deliver fuel to ensure the continuation of the provision of life-saving services... We are trying to get access because people who are still in Nasser medical complex need assistance."

Read The New Arab's article on the dire situation at the hospital here.

(Reuters)

Ireland announced 20 million euros ($21.46 million) in support for the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) on Thursday and urged countries that have suspended funding to resume and expand support to the agency.

UNRWA, which provides healthcare, education and other services, has been pitched into crisis since Israel alleged that 12 of its 13,000 staff in Gaza were involved in the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel that precipitated the Israel-Hamas war.

Ireland has long been a champion of Palestinian rights and its announcement follows a commitment by Spain last week to send UNRWA an additional 3.5 million euros in aid, and an announcement of an extra one million euros from Portugal.

Today I announced €20 million in support for the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which provides healthcare and other services for those in need, and urged countries that have suspended funding to resume and increase support to the agency. pic.twitter.com/IN9otkr3Y2

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) February 15, 2024

(Reuters)

Yemen's Houthi group said they fired missiles at a "British ship" off the country's coast on Thursday, the latest in a series of incidents that have disrupted global shipping.

The announcement followed reports by two maritime security agencies of an attack east of Yemen's Aden and came after the United States said on Thursday it had seized an Iranian weapons shipment in January destined for Yemen.

The group carried "out a military operation targeting a British ship... while it was sailing through the Gulf of Aden", Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said on social media Thursday, claiming the missiles had made a "direct" hit.

(AFP)

Two fighters from Lebanon's Amal group and three Hezbollah militants were killed during clashes with the Israeli army in south Lebanon, the groups said on Friday.

Fighting has intensified between Hezbollah and Israel this week, with ten Lebanese civilians killed on Wednesday after a salvo of rockets from Israel hit the town of Nabatieh overnight.

Hezbollah reportedly fired rockets on Friday into the disputed Shebaa Farms territory in retaliatory strikes on Israeli targets.

The UN said this week that it was a "dangerous escalation" of the conflict.

In a post on X on Friday morning, Israeli Prime Minister said that Israel "will continue to oppose the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state."

The premier said that such a move would be "a huge reward" for Hamas and "prevent any future peace settlement".

His comments follow a report on Thursday in The Washington Post which said that long-term peace-deal talks which would include a Palestinian state, were underway between Washington and Arab officials.

Read about the report here.

Patients and staff have been trapped inside Nasser Hospital, one of the few functioning hospital's in Gaza in south Gaza, following days of Israeli attacks.

"A fifth patient at Nasser hospital was martyred as a result of the stopping of generators that caused a cut in oxygen supply," the health ministry said in a statement, raising fears for four other patients admitted at the hospital's intensive care unit and three children in a nursery.

The health ministry in Gaza said earlier on Friday that four patients in intensive care had died.

The ministry also noted that two women gave birth “in dire and inhumane conditions without electricity, water, food, and heating".

Thousands of people who had sought refuge in the hospital, including patients, have been forced to leave in recent days after Israeli tanks, troops and snipers surrounded the complex.