Netanyahu vows to widen Gaza assault despite US warning
Jerusalem, May 10: About 110,000 people have fled Rafah in southern Gaza and food and fuel supplies in the area are critically low, a UN official says.
All crossings into southern Gaza remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing medical evacuations and the movement of humanitarian staff, said Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs working in Rafah.
Some 1.3 million Palestinians – over half Gaza’s population – had sought refuge in Rafah.
The World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday unless more aid arrives, Petropoulos said.
UN officials warn that the lack of fuel is undermining medical facilities, water supplies and sewage systems across Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that a US threat to withhold some weapons would not deter Israel from expanding its offensive in Gaza. A limited Israeli operation earlier this week captured the Gaza side of Rafah’s border crossing with Egypt, throwing humanitarian operations into crisis.
The death toll from the war in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials, and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The UN says northern Gaza is already in a state of “full-blown famine.” The war began October 7 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250 others. Israel says militants still hold around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
Cops arrest over 40; clear protest camps
Police made more than 40 arrests as pro-Palestinian protest encampments were dismantled Friday at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hours after police tear-gassed demonstrators and took down a similar camp at the University of Arizona.
The dismantling at Penn came around 5:30 am, as campus and Philadelphia police moved in to remove protesters from an encampment that had been in place for more than two weeks.
School officials said protesters were given warnings and the chance to leave without being detained. About 33 people, including students and faculty members, were among those arrested without incident and charged with defiant trespass, the school said. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, video showed police roaming through the MIT encampment. Police in riot gear arrived around 4 am, encircled the camp and gave protesters about 15 minutes to leave.
Ten students who remained were arrested, the university’s president said. A crowd outside the camp began gathering and chanting pro-Palestinian slogans but were dispersed by 6 am.
At the University of Arizona in Tucson, campus police in riot gear fired tear gas late Thursday at protesters before tearing down an encampment that included wood and plastic barriers on campus. (PTI)