At least 27 people, including six women and nine children, were killed in Rafah since Monday evening, CNN confirmed through hospital sources in the southern Gaza city, as Israel’s military operation there continues.
Ceasefire and hosting talks are set to resume in Cairo Wednesday with Hamas negotiators arriving in the Egyptian capital. Israel said it would also send a delegation to assess Hamas’ position.
Israel’s military seized control of the Gazan side of the Rafah crossing, an Israeli military official said Tuesday. International pressure is growing against Israel following the seizure and after it refused to rule out a full-scale invasion in Rafah.
And on Tuesday, rockets were fired from the Rafah area in Gaza toward Kerem Shalom and Re’im, southern Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Here are other headlines you should know:
Rafah offensive and hospital crises:
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s military operation in Rafah serves the twin goals of returning the hosts held in Gaza and eliminating Hamas. Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet, said the Israeli military’s operations in Rafah will “continue and expand as necessary.”
- The last remaining operational hospital in Rafah has issued a call for all available medical teams to help with the constant influx of injured patients arriving at the medical facility.
- The remaining field hospitals in the area of an eastern Rafah hospital that was evacuated Monday will only be able to provide less than one-third of its offered services, according to the hospital medical director.
Ceasefire negotiations:
- Hamas’ latest written response in ongoing ceasefire negotiations said the group intends to offer Israel the corpses of dead hostages in addition to hostages who are still alive, during the first phase of any tricke, according to sources familiar with the talks. A senior representative of Hamas said the proposed deal it agreed to includes the “withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip.”
- CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to go to Israel Wednesday for meetings with his counterpart, Mossad Director David Barnea, and Netanyahu, according to a source. Burns returned to Cairo on Tuesday for more talks as the US and other mediators look to revive an effort to bring about a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
Aid to Gaza:
- The US finished the offshore construction of the temporary humanitarian pier system, also known as JLOTS, meant to get aid into Gaza, according to the Defense Department.
- US National security spokesperson John Kirby stressed it is “absolutely critical” that Israel allow humanitarian aid into Gaza after Israel’s military seized control of crossings at Kerem Shalom and Rafah, blocking two vital points for aid into the strip. According to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller, Israel “has committed to reopen” the Kerem Shalom crossing on Wednesday.
Biden on anti-Semitism:
- US President Joe Biden on Tuesday opened a speech on antisemitism at the US Capitol honoring the victims of the Holocaust and warning that the memories of that genocide might be sliding from the public’s perception.
- Biden drew connections between the Holocaust and the October 7 attack on Israel and pointed to a “ferocious surge” in antisemitism in the US since the October 7 attack, while offering a sweeping call for a return to the nation’s values.
Campus protests:
- Students in the Spanish capital set up a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at the Complutense University of Madrid on Tuesday. Like many of their counterparts around the world, the several dozen students are asking the university to divest from Israel-linked businesses and entities, as well as requesting the Spanish government cut diplomatic and commercial ties with Israel, according to a CNN en Español team on the ground.
Tags: IsraelHamas war Rafah crossing bombings Gaza ceasefire deal
