GAZA LIVE BLOG: Massacres in Rafah | Borrell: Take Action | Brazil: No Weapons | AI: Halt Weapons Now | Soldiers Ambushed – Day 216

May 9, 2024 Blog, News
Israel continues to carry out massacres in Gaza. (Photo: via QNN)

By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Israeli officials are furious over Washington’s decision to postpone an arms shipment while Yair Lapid accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of mishandling the situation. 

An Israeli drone targeted a car in Lebanon, killing at least four people, whose identity has not been revealed yet. 

Meanwhile, 60 Palestinians were killed and 110 others were injured as Israeli strikes in Rafah intensified.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 34,904 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,514 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

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LATEST UPDATES

Wednesday, May 9, 11:30 pm (GMT +2)

ISRAELI TODAY (Citing Israeli War Council minister Benny Gantz): “Israel has a security and moral obligation to continue fighting to return our prisoners and remove the Hamas threat from the south of the country, and the United States has a moral and strategic obligation to provide Israel with the required tools to do so.”

JOSEP BORRELL (EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs): Israeli bombardment would not stop until it ran out of ammunition. Some leaders say, there are a lot of deaths in Gaza, and the question to ask is: how many people should die? Do we have to wait for 50,000 people to die before we take action to prevent more?

ISRAEL TODAY: The Israeli army decided to establish a new battalion of old soldiers over the age of 40, due to the need for the army’s manpower.

What’s Next for Gaza’s Ceasefire Proposal? – Palestine Chronicle Explains

ISRAEL’S CHANNEL 12: The government of Brazilian President Lula da Silva has decided to stop buying artillery weapons manufactured by the Israeli military industries company Elbit at a cost of more than half a billion shekels.

ISRAEL’S KAN TV: Failure to reach an agreement on a prisoner exchange deal between the Palestinian resistance and Israel “threatens the emergency government with collapse.”

KAN: Far-right Public Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir will propose cutting off all aid.

‘Cast off Your Sandals, Moses’: Rola Azar Releases New Song of Resistance

GAZA GOVERNMENT OFFICE:

We warn of a profound humanitarian catastrophe that has begun to take shape as a result of the occupation army’s invasion of the eastern Rafah governorate and its occupation of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings.

During the past two days, the Israeli occupation forces prevented the entry of more than 400 aid trucks.

Wednesday, May 9, 9:00 pm (GMT +2)

US STATE DEPARTMENT: We are consulting with the Israeli side about Hamas’ response.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Governments that supply weapons to Israel are violating the Genocide Convention.

SUNAK: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expressed his dissatisfaction with student protests in solidarity with the Palestinians, claiming that “a group of minorities at universities is affecting the education and lives of other students.”

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: Those who allow Rafah’s situation to worsen are “morally complicit” in the disaster.

ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESMAN: We have ammunition for our mission in Rafah, and what we need is there.

KIRBY: Any major military operation in Rafah will strengthen Hamas’ power through negotiations.

Wednesday, May 8, 7:30 pm (GMT +2)

UNICEF: The recent escalation in Rafah will cause civilians more pain.

ANADOLU: The confederation of Spanish universities (CRUE), which represents 76 private and public universities, announced on Thursday that it will cut ties with Israeli universities and research centers “that have not expressed a firm commitment to peace and compliance with international humanitarian law.”

ISRAELI ARMY: Three Israeli soldiers were injured as a result of an ambush explosion in Rafah earlier today.

HEZBOLLAH: We launched 5 attacks targeting soldiers and Israeli army positions near the southern Lebanese border.

KIRBY: The operation carried out by Israel in Rafah was limited and aimed to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons and money into Gaza. We share Israel’s goal of the sustainable defeat of Hamas.

KAN: There are unbridgeable gaps in the prisoner exchange deal negotiations between Hamas and Israel after the Israeli team returned from the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

Wednesday, May 8, 6:30 pm (GMT +2)

DAVID CAMERON: The UK has a different position from the United States on the issue of stopping arms sales to Israel.

US SOURCE to Al-Jazeera: It was decided to temporarily stop the talks due to the current situation in Rafah. The Hamas delegation headed to Doha, while the delegations of Israel, Qatar and Egypt remained in Cairo.

WALL STREET JOURNAL (quoting Israeli officials): The complete destruction of Hamas is out of reach.

DECLASSIFIED UK: The British Army conducted 200 spy missions over Gaza.

SOURCES to Al-Jazeera: Israeli military ambulance crews were working to transport wounded soldiers from the axis of the incursion into the Zaytoun neighborhood.

KAN: During a call with Netanyahu, Biden expressed his concerns about the operation in Rafah before the residents were evacuated.

NBC: Israel wants to exclude Rafah from the ceasefire agreement. Israel refuses to agree to a deal that does not enable it to continue operations in Rafah even during the ceasefire.

ISRAELI FINANCE MINISTER: The budget’s fiscal deficit amounted to 7% of GDP, or $35.7 billion, during the 12 months ending last April.

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades announced the detonation of “a booby-trapped tunnel in an engineering force of the occupation army, consisting of 3 vehicles, a digger, and a number of soldiers. We killed and wounded them east of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.”

CHAIRMAN OF THE US SENATE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I remain critical of Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza. I support President Biden’s decision to stop the delivery of heavy bombs to Israel.

TURKISH TRADE MINISTER: Turkish Trade Minister Omer Polat confirmed that the trade embargo with Israel will continue until a permanent ceasefire is implemented in Gaza.

Wednesday, May 8, 4:00 pm (GMT +2)

KAN: Ben-Gvir announced the establishment of the first company of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Israeli Border Police.

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: Two Zionist vehicles invading the south of the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City with a Yassin 105 shell and a Shawaz device.”

HEZBOLLAH: Our fighters targeted one of the newly developed technical systems at the Israeli Ramia site.

US Threatens to Stop Weapon Shipments – What Does It Mean?

GALLANT (in response to US President Joe Biden):

We tell our enemies and friends that the State of Israel cannot be subjugated.

We will achieve our goals in the north and south, and we will paralyze Hamas, destroy Hezbollah, and achieve security.

We will preserve the existence of the State of Israel at all costs.

IZZAT AL-RISHQ: By invading Rafah, Israel seeks to block the efforts of the mediators.

Wednesday, May 8, 3:00 pm (GMT +2)

HAMAS: Our negotiating delegation left the Egyptian capital, Cairo, returning to the Qatari capital, Doha.

AL-JAZEERA: Sirens sounded in Israeli towns in the Western Galilee.

DAVID CAMERON: There is a fundamental difference between his country and the United States regarding arms deals to Israel.

Wednesday, May 8, 2:00 pm (GMT +2)

ISRAELI OFFICIAL (to Israel Hayom): The war council will meet to discuss Biden’s statements.

AL-JAZEERA: A Palestinian was killed and another injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted a motorcycle on Salah al-Din Street, east of the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

AXIOS (quoting US official): The suspension of an arms shipment to Israel was an expression of Washington’s concern about Rafah.

AL-JAZEERA: The Israeli occupation army artillery launched violent bombardment on the southern areas of the Al-Zaytoun and Al-Sabra neighborhoods in the southern Gaza Strip.

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: The Israeli occupation begins to carry out a new genocide by closing the crossings and preventing entry and exit from them, especially the travel of the wounded and sick, and the entry of aid, medicines, medical supplies, food trucks, and fuel needed to operate hospitals.

Wednesday, May 8, 1:00 pm (GMT +2)

AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We bombed with mortar shells a command and control center for the Israeli occupation army on the supply line to the Netzarim axis, south of Gaza City.

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES:Our fighters targeted an Israeli occupation army D-9 bulldozer with a Yassin 105 shell southeast of the Al-Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City.

ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER: We must establish a large city east of the Ariel settlement in the northern West Bank.

AL-JAZEERA: Three Palestinians were killed and others were injured as a result of the Israeli occupation army’s bombing of a mosque in the Brazil neighborhood, south of the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.

Warplanes, Artillery, Naval Boats – Scores of Palestinians Killed as Gaza Genocide Continues

ISRAELI MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS: I ordered a raid on Al Jazeera’s studios in Nazareth.

AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli raid on the Brazil neighborhood in Rafah results in casualties.

Wednesday, May 8, 12:30 pm (GMT +2)

RUSSIAN DEPUTY FM: Washington’s approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as always being “one-sided and irresponsible.”

AL-JAZEERA: One Palestinian was killed and two injured when occupation aircraft bombed a house for the Abu Sharia family in the Al-Sabra neighborhood, south of Gaza City.

HERZOG (to Ben-Gvir): Irresponsible statements should be avoided.

AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We bombed Israeli military concentrations east of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, with a barrage of 60-caliber mortar shells, amid continued clashes between resistance factions and the occupation forces penetrating the area.

Wednesday, May 8, 11:30 am (GMT +2)

WASHINGTON POST: Israel expressed its deep frustration over the arming delay and the fact that the matter had become public.

SMOTRICH: Smotrich said that what he considered the “danger” of the establishment of a Palestinian state has become more tangible than ever before.

IRANIAN FM: Washington must choose between pressure on Israel or more tension in the region.

Wednesday, May 8, 11:00 am (GMT +2)

AL-QASSAM BRIGADES: We targeted with mortar shells the occupation forces penetrating east of the city of Rafah

GAZA HEALTH MINISTRY: 34,904 Palestinians have been killed, and 78,514 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.

CNN (quoting US defense official): Three mortar shells fell near an unloading site designated for the Gaza dock on Wednesday, without causing any casualties.

HAARETZ (citing Israeli official): Tel Aviv must listen to American warnings, otherwise it will find itself facing a complicated situation.

BEN-GVIR: In response to US President Joe Biden’s threat to stop arms exports to Israel, Ben-Gvir wrote on X that Hamas loves Biden.

Wednesday, May 8, 10:00 am (GMT +2)

UNRWA: 80,000 people have been displaced from Rafah since the intensification of the Israeli operation.

LEBANESE MEDICAL SOURCE: Four Lebanese were killed when an Israeli drone targeted a car in the town of Baflih, southern Lebanon. Their identities are not yet clear.

AL-QUDS BRIGADES: We bombed with heavy-caliber mortar shells Israeli army military concentrations east of the Al-Shoka neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, where the resistance is engaged in fierce clashes with the occupation forces.

KAN (citing Israeli officials): It is impossible to start an operation inside Rafah without coordinating with Washington.

AL-JAZEERA: Israeli vehicles are stationed in Madinat Al-Zahra in the central Gaza Strip.

ANSARALLAH: Two Israeli ships were targeted in the Gulf of Aden and a third in the Indian Ocean with ballistic missiles and drones.

AL-JAZEERA: A woman and her son were killed in an Israeli bombing of Deir al-Balah, amid the intensification of the occupation since the early hours of dawn.

CHANNEL 12 (quoting prominent Israeli official): The army will enter Rafah in any case and can do so without aid.

Wednesday, May 8, 09:00 am (GMT +2)

LAPID (to Maariv): Netanyahu was offered a safety net, but he did not make the deal because he is a prisoner of the insane Ben Gvir and Smotrich. Biden’s threat to prevent the supply of weapons comes as a result of the failed management of the Netanyahu government.

AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli drone targeted a car in the town of Baflih, southern Lebanon, while local media reported injuries, without identifying its owners.

AL-JAZEERA: An Israeli raid targeted a house on Al-Madhaa Street in the Al-Geneina neighborhood, east of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, where the occupation is intensifying its bombing of homes.

ISRAELI ARMY: The occupation army’s vehicles made a limited incursion near the Wadi Gaza Bridge, north of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip.

Wednesday, May 8, 08:00 am (GMT +2)

GILAD ERDAN: Joe Biden’s position would prevent the achievement of one of Tel Aviv’s goals in its war on Gaza, which is toppling Hamas.

AL-JAZEERA: an Israeli artillery bombardment targeted the Rafah municipality building in the southern Gaza Strip, saying that the bombing also targeted the eastern neighborhoods of the city.

SYRIAN MINISTRY OF DEFENSE: Syrian air defenses shot down Israeli missiles launched from the occupied Golan towards the Damascus countryside, adding that the missiles were targeting a building whose nature was not determined.

Wednesday, May 8, 07:00 am (GMT +2)

ISRAELI ARMY: An Israeli soldier was killed and another wounded in a bombing from Lebanon yesterday.

Wednesday, May 8, 06:00 am (GMT +2)

ISRAELI ARMY: The occupation army announces the bombing of “targets” in central Gaza.

THE GUARDIAN: Pro-Gaza protests at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, ended after the college administration agreed to sever its ties with Israeli companies.

Wednesday, May 8, 04:00 am (GMT +2)

PALESTINIAN MEDIA: Israeli forces recently penetrated the southern areas of the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, southeast of Gaza City.

Wednesday, May 8, 01:30 am (GMT +2)

Hamas (Izzat al-Rishq, a member of the political bureau of Hamas):

Israel is not serious about reaching an agreement and is using negotiations as a cover to invade Rafah.

Netanyahu is trying to invent pretexts to evade negotiations and blames Hamas and the mediators.

Hamas’s approval of the mediators’ proposal confused Netanyahu and put him in trouble.

Hamas stands by its position regarding the proposal.

(The Palestine Chronicle)

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