Israel’s war on Gaza updates: No victory without Rafah operation – Netanyahu

This live page is now closed. You can follow our ongoing coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza here.

To learn more about Israel’s looming ground invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, read our explainer here.

And you can always read more about the conflict here.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s events.

• Speaking in a televised address, the Israeli prime minister has once again come out against a two-state solution and an independent Palestinian state.
• Netanyahu says Israel’s military “pressure is working” against Hamas and that its soldiers will remain in Gaza until all goals are achieved.
• Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said that there are still some difficulties in the ceasefire deal negotiations between Hamas and Israel, namely humanitarian relief and aid.
• UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini says Israel is waging a concerted campaign aimed at destroying the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, with his resignation being part of the Netanyahu government’s push.
• Nasser Hospital, Gaza’s largest functioning medical complex, remains under siege as Israeli forces carry out dozens of arrests.Egypt denies reports it’s creating a buffer zone near its border with Gaza to accommodate up to 100,000 Palestinians.

Slovenia’s Prime Minister Robert Golob spoke to Al Jazeera about what was discussed at the Munich Security Conference, including Israel’s looming ground invasion on Rafah.

Even before the war, Palestinians have long collected songbirds – canaries, goldfinches, lovebirds and sparrows – for their comforting melodies.

Now, they’re becoming go-to mental health allies.

Abu Jazar, who has been struggling with anxiety since the start of the war, has found great solace in the singing of the canaries he keeps in cages in his bedroom.

“The songs of the canaries can shield any space against the terror that comes with the violent sound of shelling,” he tells Al Jazeera.

“They give me a sense of comfort that helps me endure the fear.”

Prolonged exposure to the horrors of war has taken a great toll on the mental health of the people of Gaza, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

You can read more of this story here.

The streets of Canada’s largest city are seeing masses of people who have come out in support of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Protesters are demanding that the Canadian government implement an arms embargo against Israel and cease contributing weapons to its war effort.

These pro-Palestine demonstrators join hundreds of thousands of others in cities across the world today, such as New York, London and Istanbul.

Earlier, we reported on an Israeli army air attack on the northern area of Rafah, on a piece of agricultural land. The death toll from that attack was unclear.

We can now report that, according to local sources, seven Palestinians were killed in that attack.

Today has been especially bloody as dozens have been killed in Israeli bombardments in all areas of the Gaza Strip.

Health facilities in Rafah are struggling to cope with the number of people now sheltering there.

The strain on infrastructure is further exacerbated by the number of babies born each day.

There has been no let-up in the… air raids in the past few hours.

A little while ago, Israeli fighter jets targeted a residential building in Rafah that was supposed to be empty.

We heard the sound of the explosion while we were reporting. We can also hear the sound of Israeli surveillance drones right now as part of their intelligence operations.

Israeli bombardment is also taking place in the central areas of Gaza.

Yasin Al Shami of the Palestinian youth movement spoke to Al Jazeera’s Heidi Zhou-Castro at a protest outside the US Capitol building in Washington, DC.

When asked about the US Congress’s consideration of sending $14bn in aid to Israel, he had this to say:

“The millions of Americans have made their voices abundantly clear on our position… [on the] demand for a ceasefire, the demand to end US aid for this genocidal assault that aims to wipe out the people of Gaza.

“Those billions [of dollars] that you speak of belong to the people of the United States, the American people, who face crumbling infrastructure, a defunct medical system, rising unemployment and inflation.

“The American people are suffering and once again, members of Congress are putting the wellbeing of our client states, the wellbeing of the American imperial system globally, over the wellbeing of Americans.

“That money should be going towards us and not towards continuing the genocidal onslaught in Gaza.”

Eli Cohen has told Israeli media he would not support any peace agreement if it leads to a Palestinian state.

Earlier, we reported on Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu also reiterating his opposition to a two-state solution and an independent Palestinian state.

“We shall not bow down to international dictates in regards to a future deal with the Palestinians,” Netanyahu said in a televised speech.

Israeli forces injured the Palestinian man in the Shuafat refugee camp, the Wafa news agency is reporting.

According to Wafa, the man was shot in the foot following an Israeli raid on the camp.

Pro-Palestine protesters are marching in Washington, DC, demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, alongside similar demonstrations that have taken place in London, Istanbul, and other cities around the globe.

Mohammed Kasim, one of the co-organisers of the protests in the US capital, says Israel wants to “ethnically cleanse” Palestinians from their homeland as it prepares to launch a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.

“This is unacceptable. And we will persist out here in the streets until we have all of our demands met,” Kasim, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, told Al Jazeera.

Kasim said protests around the world on the same day “demonstrated unity.”.

“The masses want to see a liberated Palestine. They want to see an end to this genocidal campaign. They want to see justice. It’s appalling that this has gone on for this long,” he added.

“But we will continue applying pressure until not only a ceasefire is achieved, but the siege on Gaza is ended and the occupation of Palestine is put to an end.”

Younis al-Khatib, president of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, has participated in a private audience with the Roman Catholic pope, the PRCS says on X.

The organisation said that al-Khatib briefed the pope on the “catastrophic humanitarian conditions experienced by civilians in the Gaza Strip”, as well as the efforts the PRCS is making to alleviate suffering there and provide medical services.

The PRCS’s facilities, staff and ambulances in Gaza have come under constant attack by the Israeli armed during the war in Gaza. Its hospital in Khan Younis, al-Amal Hospital, has been bombarded, besieged and raided by the army.

Reacting to earlier reported comments by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu that ground operations against Rafah will take place, United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese says such a move will lead to “another Nakba”.

“Rafah stands as the last line of Palestinian existence in Gaza amidst the relentless anguish faced by the people trapped therein … Have we really lost our minds??” she posted on X.

The Nakba, or “catastrophe”, refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society in 1948.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said that these rising attacks are part of an Israeli policy to dispossess Palestinians.

“This policy also includes home demolitions in occupied East Jerusalem, and the ethnic cleansing of people in Area C of the West Bank”, which is under full Israeli administrative and security control.

The ministry also said that settlers who are subject to US sanctions are still “persisting in their attacks and violations with support from the Israeli government, including Netanyahu himself”.

Earlier, we reported that two Palestinian children were beaten during a settler attack on a town near Hebron.

President Isaac Herzog says he met the prime minister of Qatar on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

“I met with the Prime Minister of Qatar yesterday,” Herzog said, according to a statement from his office.

“It was a good discussion. And I think he’s doing major efforts. He’s taken major efforts and devoting an enormous focus on this issue.”

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who is also the country’s foreign minister, has been spearheading efforts to mediate a ceasefire in the continuing war in Gaza.

There was no official comment on the meeting from Qatari officials.

The Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli soldiers have arrested a “large number” of the workers at the besieged facility, while they were “performing their professional humanitarian duty in treating the wounded and sick”.

The Israeli army has besieged the facility for weeks, isolating thousands of patients, medical staff and displaced families – many of whom remain trapped inside.

Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have met today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the sidelines of the African Union Summit.

Shtayyeh expressed his appreciation for South Africa’s action at the UN’s court bringing charges of genocide against Israel, saying that “South Africa is trying Israel before the International Court of Justice in the name of all the free people of the world and in victory for justice, truth and humanity.”

Yesterday, the International Court of Justice rejected a request for additional measures against Israel from South Africa, in what amounted to an attempt to get the court to order a halt to Israel’s planned Rafah military operation before it begins.

The court did, however, note that an assault on Rafah “‘would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences’”, citing the words of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.