Israel strikes Rafah: Israel launched airstrikes in Rafah yesterday, killing at least 44 Palestinians, the Associated Press reported. This came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his military on Friday to plan for evacuating Palestinians from the city, where more than 1 mn displaced Palestinians are currently sheltering. Rafah is the southernmost region of Gaza and borders Egypt.

Egypt +Arab nations warn of disastrous consequences if Israel presses into Rafah: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry warnedagainst storming of the city and called for the international community to intervene to prevent a potential humanitarian catastrophe. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Jordan have made similar statements. Arab foreign ministers met in Riyadh on Thursday to discuss the situation.

Egyptian officials have reportedly gone as far as threatening the suspension of our peace treaty with Israel if Israel forces Gazan refugees residing in Rafah into Sinai.Egypt has in the last two weeks sent around 40 tanks and armored personnel carriers to northeastern Sinai and as part of its measures to scale up security across its border with Gaza, Reuters reports, quoting what it says are two security officials.

US pushes back against operation in Rafah, voicing its sharpest critique of Israeli conduct yet: White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that a military operation in Rafah under the current circumstances could be a “disaster.” US President Joe Biden also issued his bluntest criticism of Israel’s handling of the war yet, saying on Thursday that “the conduct of the response in the Gaza Strip has been over the top.”

Egypt refutes Biden’s claims that it was reluctant to open Rafah crossing: Egypt stressed that it has kept its side of the Rafah crossing open since the beginning of the war on Gaza, claiming that it has done so “without any restrictions or conditions and has mobilized massive humanitarian aid and relief.” The statement came in response to remarks by Biden claiming President Abdel Fattah El Sisi “did not want to open the gate to humanitarian material to get in” and that it was Biden who convinced El Sisi to open the gate.

MORE CEASEFIRE TALKS-

Cairo is hosting another round of ceasefire talks this week:Mossad chief David Barnea and the head Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, could be heading to Cairo this week to meet with intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Qatari Prime Minister Mohamed Bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, and CIA head William Burns, high-ranking Israelis told the Jerusalem Post. The officials are meeting on Tuesday “to deliberate on efforts to secure the hostages' release.”

A power move by the US? Axios believes that “sending Burns to Cairo puts pressure on Qatari and Egyptian mediators to press Hamas to agree to a reasonable agreement.”

Where do things stand now? Israeli officials last week told mediators that they are “ready to launch negotiations” based on Egypt’s three-step proposal to end the war put forward late December — and not based on the proposal put forward by Hamas last week, which Israel dismissed as “delusional.”

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