Biden warns Israel its Rafah offensive plans are 'a mistake'

U.S President Joe Biden has warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's plans for a military offensive on the Gazan city of Rafah. 

In the first phone call between the leaders in over a month, Biden said the operation would be "a mistake" that would deepen the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In a news briefing White House official Jake Sullivan said "Israel has not presented … a plan for how or where they would safely move those civilians, let alone feed and house them and ensure access to basic things like sanitation."

Israel maintains that Hamas leaders are hiding in Rafah. Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter says the ground invasion must go ahead if the Palestinian militants are to be defeated, describing alternatives as a "Hollywood" scenario. 

Teams from both sides will meet in Washington to discuss the situation in Rafah later this week, with the U.S. stressing the need for "an alternative approach".

Meanwhile, Hamas-backed health authorities said 14 people were killed in overnight Israeli air strikes on Rafah on Tuesday (March 19). The Israeli military has not commented on the attacks that reportedly left three children dead. 

Israel says its forces killed more than 50 Palestinian gunmen in raids on Gaza's Al-Shifa hospital on Monday (March 18). Israel says it has also detained 180 suspects at the site, with top Hamas commander Fayeq al-Mabhouh among those reported killed.

On social media platform X, the Israeli military called for Gazans to evacuate the area around the Al-Shifa hospital. It said "all those present" should head to an unspecified "humanitarian area" as fighting continues. 

The chief of the World Health Organization has spoken out over Israel's military operation at the hospital, which is the biggest medical facility in Gaza. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X that he was "terribly worried about the situation at Al-Shifa …which is endangering health workers, patients and civilians." 

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz became the latest world leader to voice concerns over Israel's offensive on Gaza. Speaking after talks with Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Sunday (March 16), Scholz claimed the military operation had come with "terribly high costs". The German leader added that the world could not watch as Palestinians starved to death in the enclave.

A coalition of aid groups has said Gazans are facing "catastrophic levels of hunger" and that a famine in the region is "imminent". The group including the World Food Programme and the WHO claim that over a million people, or half of Gaza's population, is facing starvation. 

The EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell has described the conditions on the ground in Gaza as an "entirely man-made famine" and urged Israel to prioritize the immediate delivery of aid by road. The country's foreign minister Israel Katz, told Borrell he should "stop attacking Israel". The Israeli government claims that it is "facilitating the delivery of unlimited quantities of aid by air, land, and sea."

The U.S. claims another senior Hamas leader has been killed in an Israeli air strike on a refugee camp. White House official Jake Sullivan says Marwan Issa died in a tunnel complex under the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza last week. As deputy commander of Hamas's military wing the Qassam Brigades, Assa would be the most senior militant to lose his life in the conflict since it began five months ago. Hamas has declined to comment on the claims.

Ceasefire talks are ongoing between Israeli officials and Hamas chiefs meeting in Doha. Qatari officials who are brokering the talks, say Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea has left Doha, but "technical teams are still meeting here". 

Israeli officials have said proposals include a 42-day pause in the fighting in exchange for the release of 40 of more than 100 hostages taken from Israel after the Hamas offensive on October 7. Qatar says it is too early to talk about any breakthrough in negotiations, but adds it remains optimistic.

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