On March 16, during a wartime cabinet meeting, Israeli officials announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approved the military's plan to advance on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
The one who attacks the one who resists.
The Israeli Prime Minister's office did not disclose when the plan would be launched. Netanyahu rejected a ceasefire proposal by Hamas on March 15, which involved exchanging Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas's proposal consists of two phases: the first phase involves releasing women, children, the elderly, and sick hostages in exchange for the release of 700-1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including approximately 100 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli prisons. Hamas will agree on a long-term ceasefire date after the initial hostage and prisoner exchange. The deadline for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza will be decided after the first phase. All detainees from both sides will be released in the second phase of the plan.
Netanyahu criticized the terms offered by Hamas as "still too unreasonable" and announced that a delegation would be sent to Qatar to continue peace negotiations "after the security cabinet discusses Israel's position and viewpoint."
On the same day, senior Houthi and Hamas officials held a rare meeting to discuss coordinating actions against Israel. Xinhua, citing sources from the two armed groups, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), in Gaza, reported that leaders of the two groups and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) held an important meeting with Houthi representatives from Yemen.
During the meeting, they discussed a “mechanism for coordinating resistance actions” for the next phase of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as well as the possibility of Israel launching a ground operation on Rafah. Houthi representatives confirmed that their forces would continue attacking shipping lanes in the Red Sea to support the Palestinian resistance. Hamas and Houthi officials have not commented on this information.
Opening new aid corridors
A ship carrying the first aid shipment to Gaza via a new shipping corridor is now approaching the territory.
Reports indicate that the Spanish-flagged vessel Open Arms is towing a barge carrying 200 tons of food provided by the charity World Central Kitchen to aid the people of Gaza, who are on the brink of starvation after five months of conflict between Israel and the Hamas Islamic movement. The ship departed from the port of Larnaca in the Republic of Cyprus on March 12th, and the Vessel Finder website recorded the Open Arms appearing off the northern coast of Gaza on March 16th.
World Central Kitchen said that over the past several weeks, it has worked with its NGO partner Open Arms to open a shipping corridor that will allow for increased aid efforts in the region.
Cyprus is located just over 320km northwest of Gaza. According to Cypriot authorities, a second, larger vessel is ready to undertake a similar journey. However, in a statement issued this week, 25 organizations, including Oxfam, said that airdrops and sea transport of aid are not a substitute for land transport. Aid organizations are calling on Israel to ensure safe corridors for aid convoys, after these operations have been virtually impossible due to Israeli military restrictions and ongoing hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
VIET ANH compilation
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