On March 16, during a wartime cabinet meeting, Israeli officials announced that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approved the army's plan to advance into the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The one who beats the other
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office did not disclose the launch date of the plan. Mr. Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ proposal on March 15 to cease fire and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas' proposal has two phases: the first phase would release women, children, elderly and sick hostages in exchange for the release of 700-1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including about 100 Palestinians serving life sentences in Israeli jails. Hamas would agree on a permanent ceasefire date after the initial prisoner and hostage exchange. The date for Israel's withdrawal from Gaza would be decided after the first phase. All detainees from both sides would be released in the second phase of the plan.
Mr. Netanyahu criticized the terms proposed by Hamas as “still too unreasonable” and announced that he would send a delegation to Qatar to continue peace negotiations “after the security cabinet discusses Israel’s position and position.”
On the same day, senior officials of Houthi and Hamas held a rare meeting to discuss coordinated actions against Israel. Xinhua news agency quoted sources from the two armed groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Gaza as saying that leaders of the two groups and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PLFP) movement held an important meeting with representatives of Houthi forces from Yemen.
During the meeting, they discussed a “mechanism for coordinated resistance action” for the next phase of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as well as the possibility of an Israeli ground operation in Rafah. The Houthi representative confirmed that the force will continue to attack shipping lanes in the Red Sea to support the Palestinian resistance. Hamas and Houthi officials have not commented on this information.
Open new aid corridors
A ship carrying the first aid shipment to Gaza via a new maritime corridor is now approaching the territory.
The Spanish-flagged Open Arms was towing a barge carrying 200 tonnes of food provided by the World Central Kitchen charity to aid Gazans on the brink of famine after five months of conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement. The ship departed from the port of Larnaca in Cyprus on March 12 and was spotted off the northern coast of Gaza on March 16, according to the Vessel Finder website.
World Central Kitchen said that over the past several weeks, the organization 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 just over 200 miles northwest of Gaza. A second, larger ship is ready to make the same journey, according to Cypriot authorities. But in a statement this week, 25 organizations, including Oxfam, said air drops and sea deliveries were no substitute for overland deliveries. The aid groups called on Israel to ensure safe passage for aid convoys, which have become virtually impossible due to Israeli military restrictions and hostilities between Israel and Hamas.
VIET ANH synthesis
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