- Palestinian Israeli conflict.. Biden holds separate calls with Palestinians’ Abbas, Israel’s Netanyahu
- Israeli troops and military equipment have massed at the border with Gaza as Israel prepares to ramp up its response
- Rafah border crossing with Egypt to be ready for its possible reopening amid the humanitarian crisis in the coastal.
- Several United Nations agencies have warned that mass evacuation under such siege conditions will lead to disaster,
US President Joe Biden held separate phone calls on Saturday with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, statements from the Israeli and Palestinian leaders’ offices said.
Netanyahu told Biden that “unity and determination” were needed to achieve Israel’s combat goals against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, Netanyahu’s office said, adding that he thanked the president for his support.
Abbas’ office said the Palestinian leader told Biden he completely rejects the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza, as Israel retaliates for a deadly Hamas attack on its territory.
A US official confirmed the two calls.
Israel
Biden reiterated unwavering US support for Israel in the call with Netanyahu, the White House said.
“President Biden discussed with Prime Minister Netanyahu US coordination with the United Nations, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, and others in the region to ensure innocent civilians have access to water, food, and medical care,” the White House said in a statement. “President Biden affirmed his support for all efforts to protect civilians.”
Palestine
Biden underscored Palestinians’ “right to dignity and self-determination” while also condemning Hamas in the phone call with Abbas.
“Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” Biden told Abbas, according to a White House statement about the conversation between the two leaders, in which Biden also pledged “full support” to the Palestinian Authority.
US encourages its citizens in Gaza to move closer to Egypt’s Rafah crossing
The US government on Saturday encouraged its citizens in Gaza to move south toward the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to be ready for its possible reopening amid the humanitarian crisis in the coastal enclave after a Hamas attack in Israel drew Israeli military retaliation.
Washington has been working with Egypt, Israel and Qatar to open the Rafah crossing on Saturday afternoon to allow Palestinian-Americans to leave, a senior State Department official said earlier.
“We have been trying to facilitate access for it to be open from 12 to five today. The Egyptians, the Israelis and the Qataris have been working with us on that,” the official told reporters, travelling with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Washington had been in contact with Palestinian-Americans inside Gaza, some of whom expressed a wish to leave via Rafah, but it was unclear if Palestinian militant group Hamas would allow access to the crossing, the official said.
As the window for the crossing to open was about to expire, US officials were unable to confirm whether any US citizens were able to exit, the official added later.
“We have informed US citizens in Gaza with whom we are in contact that if they assess it to be safe, they may wish to move closer to the Rafah border crossing,” a US State Department spokesperson said. “There may be very little notice if the crossing opens and it may only open for a limited time.”
The number of dual-citizen Palestinian-Americans in Gaza has been estimated at several hundred among the strip’s population of 2.3 million, and Washington hopes to get many of its nationals out of harm’s way.
On the third day of his most extensive trip yet to the Middle East, Blinken met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan in Riyadh as the top American diplomat works with regional US allies to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from spiraling into a bigger conflict, and help secure the release of hostages kidnapped by the Hamas.
Speaking before the meeting, Blinken said protecting civilians on both sides of the conflict was “vitally important.”
“And we’re working together to do exactly that, in particular working on establishing safe areas in Gaza, working on establishing corridors so that humanitarian assistance can reach people who need it.
“None of us want to see suffering by civilians on any side, whether it’s in Israel, whether it’s in Gaza, whether it’s anywhere else. And we’re working together to do our best to protect them,” Blinken said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli infantrymen outside the Gaza Strip on Saturday, his office said in a statement, and an accompanying video showed him telling them: “You ready for the next stage? The next stage is coming.”
He did not elaborate in the video, which showed the infantrymen nodding in response to his question.
“Are you ready for what is coming? More is coming,” Netanyahu, wearing a flak jacket, can be heard telling several soldiers in the video the premier’s office said was filmed earlier Saturday.
A new phase in Israel’s deadly war against Hamas is coming, Israeli forces said on Saturday, warning that the past week of crippling airstrikes in Gaza could soon be followed by “significant ground operations.”
Israeli troops and military equipment have massed at the border with Gaza as Israel prepares to ramp up its response to a deadly October 7 attack by the Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls the enclave. Warplanes continued to blast Gaza over the weekend, as civilians fled southward, following repeated evacuation instructions by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Several United Nations agencies have warned that mass evacuation under such siege conditions will lead to disaster, and that the most vulnerable Gazans, including the elderly and pregnant, may not be able to relocate at all.
“The order to evacuate 1.1 million people from northern Gaza defies the rules of war and basic humanity,” wrote Martin Griffiths, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, in a statement late Friday. “Roads and homes have been reduced to rubble. There is nowhere safe to go.”
The IDF said Saturday it would allow people to move south “for their own safety” on specified streets of Gaza during a six-hour window, but it was unclear how widely the messaging was received on the ground, given the widespread electricity and internet blackout, or how safe passage would be.