Pressure builds on Israel with Macron telling Netanyahu “Israeli operations must cease”

Thousands of internally displaced Palestinians have started to flee from the city of Rafah in Southern Gaza in search of safety amid intensifying Israeli bombardment, as Israel’s deadly war in Gaza entered the 131st day.

The Israeli onslaught continues unabated as international condemnation and opposition to the invasion of Rafah as well as to the wider war grows. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees once again appealed against the invasion of Rafah, saying that it will push Palestinians “further into the abyss,” and that “there is absolutely no safe place in Rafah any more.”

During a phone conversation on Wednesday February 14, French President Emmanuel Macron told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “an agreement on a ceasefire which finally guarantees the protection of all civilians and the massive entry of emergency aid” was urgent. And stated that “The human toll and humanitarian situation were intolerable and Israeli operations must cease.”

According to a press statement released by the French Presidency, Macron also expressed France’s “firm opposition to an Israeli offensive in Rafah, which could only lead to a humanitarian disaster of a new magnitude.”

Meanwhile, talks between US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar on a possible truce took place on Tuesday February 13 in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. The Israeli delegation left Cairo shortly after the talks concluded and reportedly no major breakthroughs were achieved.

South Africa, which in December filed a case of genocide against Israel in the International Court of Justice, once again approached the court asking it to order additional emergency measures to prevent Israel from invading Rafah, where millions of displaced Palestinians have taken refuge and are trapped.

Since October 7, Israel has killed over 28,576 Palestinians, injured at least 68,291, and an overwhelming majority of both those killed and those injured are women and children.

Israeli bombardment and ground attacks continued and in the past day killed and injured dozens of Palestinians. Six Palestinians, including one journalist and three children, were killed in an Israeli bombing of a house in Gaza city. Three others were shot and killed in Nasser hospital in Khan Younis as part of the extended Israeli siege of the hospital which is now in its 18th day.

Palestinian resistance fighters from Hamas and other groups have reportedly engaged Israeli soldiers in intense gun battles to resist the vicious and deadly Israeli assaults in the southern region. Israeli navy ships are also reportedly continuing to target Palestinians on the beach at Deir al-Balah in central Gaza who are desperately trying to fish in order to feed their families.

Israel has also ordered a complete evacuation of the Nasser Hospital. Doctors Without Borders, noted that “People are afraid to leave the hospital because they hear reports of people being shot at.” Latest reports have said that the Israeli army is forcibly evacuating hospital and medical staff, patients, and displaced civilians taking refuge in the hospital from the Northern gate of the hospital. Israeli forces have reportedly also installed face-recognition cameras at one of the hospital gates, with a very heavy military presence surrounding the hospital, equipped with tanks and armored vehicles, and dozens of soldiers, who are reportedly indiscriminately firing at anyone present in the area.

West Bank

Israeli forces continue to carry out hundreds of violent, illegal military raids in the occupied West Bank, killing, injuring, and arresting dozens of Palestinians. Reports today noted that Israeli forces conducted raids in and around Nablus, Ramallah, Jericho, Hebron, Qalqilya, East Jerusalem, Jenin, Bethlehem, among other areas in the last 24 hours. 18 Palestinians were reportedly arrested in these raids. Israeli forces reportedly also attacked Palestinians trying to resist the illegal raids with stun grenades, tear gas as well as firing live ammunition at them, injuring dozens of Palestinians. More than 4,000 Palestinians have been injured, along with more than 370 killed in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza was launched by Israel last October.

The Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society have said that since October 7 Israeli forces have arrested 7020 Palestinians, including 220 women, 440 children and 53 children.

Before October 7, more than 9000 Palestinians were already being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers, among them hundreds of Palestinians being detained under the policy of administrative detention. Additionally, at least eight Palestinians have also died inside Israeli prisons during this time period. Reports and testimonies have consistently revealed that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons are subjected to very harsh conditions, cruel interrogation sessions, abuse, physical assault, threats, torture and other human rights abuses, as well as medical neglect.