UN, Arab officials warn about forced displacement: As the Israeli military’s assault on south Gaza pushes thousands of Palestinians closer to the Egyptian border, Arab and UN officials have voiced fears that the ultimate goal of its war is to displace the territory’s population into Egypt.

  • UNRWA head: “The developments we are witnessing point to attempts to move Palestinians into Egypt,” Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), writes in an op-ed in the LA Times. “If this path continues, leading to what many are already calling a second Nakba, Gaza will not be a land for Palestinians anymore.”
  • Jordan’s foreign minister: Israel is embarking on a “systematic effort to empty Gaza of its people,” an act that falls within the “legal definition of genocide,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said yesterday.
  • UN Sec-Gen: The intolerable conditions in the enclave could “increase pressure for mass displacement into Egypt,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

Israel denies: A spokesperson for the Israeli defense ministry denied the suggestions, claiming that “there is not, never was, and never will be an Israeli plan to move the residents of Gaza to Egypt.”

Remember:Reports published in the Israeli and Western press last month provided evidence of Israeli plans to resettle Gaza’s population in the Sinai, and quoted sources suggesting that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been lobbying European leaders to back the plan. Egypt has reportedly warned Israel that any attempt to displace Palestinian refugees into Sinai could cause a “rupture” in the two countries’ relationship.

ON THE GROUND: 18k Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since 7 October | 130+ UN staff killed | WHO chief: Improving the current health situation in Gaza is “impossible.”

Israel is threatening to take things regional:

  • Netanyahu to Biden: If you don’t hit the Houthis, we will: The Israeli PM reportedlytold US President Joe Biden that his country will take military action against Yemen’s Houthi movement if the US and the international community fail to prevent the Iran-aligned group from targeting Israeli ships.
  • Violence escalates on the Lebanese border: Israeli air strikes leveled multiple areas in southern Lebanon and Hezbollah launched explosive drones and missiles at Israeli positions. The flare up came a day after Israel’s national security adviser warned that Israel “can no longer accept” Hezbollah on its border and will “act” if they continue to pose a threat.
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