WSJ: Israel to move on Rafah in a week if no Hamas deal reached

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In this image provided by the U.S. Army, soldiers assemble a floating pier off the shore of Gaza in the Mediterranean Sea, in late April.Credit: AP

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Israeli Jewish settlers scuffle with Palestinian demonstrators during as they protest against Israeli Jewish settlements and normalizing ties with Israel, in Asira al-Qibliya near the West Bank city of Nablus, Friday, Sept. 18, 2020.(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) הגדה המערבית צהל התנחלות מאבק אבנים מתנחלCredit: Majdi Mohammed/AP

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Palestinians work on rehabilitating the devastated Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 2, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Israel pulled its ground forces from Khan Yunis on April 7 after carrying out a raid at the Nasser Medical Complex, one of the biggest hospitals in the Palestinian territory. (Photo by AFP)Credit: AFP

Hamas official: Hamas confirms its delegation to visit Cairo on Saturday ■ CIA director in Cairo for meetings on Gaza conflict, Egyptian sources say ■ IDF Fighter jets, artillery battery attack Hezbollah buildings in Lebanon ■ NYT: Israel weighs plan for postwar Gaza with alliance of Arab countries and the U.S. ■ ICC prosecutor's office condemns attempts to interfere in work as request for arrest warrants of Israeli officials under review

Hamas official: Hamas confirms its delegation to visit Cairo on Saturday ■ CIA director in Cairo for meetings on Gaza conflict, Egyptian sources say ■ IDF Fighter jets, artillery battery attack Hezbollah buildings in Lebanon ■ NYT: Israel weighs plan for postwar Gaza with alliance of Arab countries and the U.S. ■ ICC prosecutor's office condemns attempts to interfere in work as request for arrest warrants of Israeli officials under review

Report: The US has informed Qatar that it should expel Hamas leadership from its territory if Hamas refuses a deal

According to a report in the Washington Post, the U.S. has told Qatar that Hamas' leadership should be 'expelled' from the country if they continue to refuse a cease-fire deal.

Citing a U.S. official, the Washington Post reported that Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered this message to Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani last month.

The Washington Post also reported that officials in Qatar, which has hosted the political leadership of Hamas at the request of the United States since 2012, had been anticipating the U.S. to request this for months, according to three diplomats familiar with the matter.

UN World Food Programme director tells NBC News: Northern Gaza is in a 'full-blown famine'

Cindy McCain, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme, said that based on what her organization has seen and experienced on the ground, northern Gaza is in a "full-blown famine". Since mid-March, the United Nations has been claiming that northern Gaza is 'nearing' a state of famine, but the organization had not yet officially announced that it has begun.

Eighty-six Democratic lawmakers tell Biden evidence shows Israel is restricting Gaza aid

Scores of lawmakers from U.S. President Joe Biden's Democratic Party told him on Friday that they believe there is sufficient evidence to show that Israel has violated U.S. law by restricting humanitarian aid flows into Gaza.

A letter to Biden signed by 86 House of Representatives Democrats said Israel's aid restrictions "call into question" its assurances that it was complying with a U.S. Foreign Assistance Act provision requiring recipients of U.S.-funded arms to uphold international humanitarian law and allow free flows of U.S. assistance.

Such written assurances were mandated by a national security memorandum that Biden issued in February after Democratic lawmakers began questioning if Israel was upholding international law in its Gaza operations.

The lawmakers said the Israeli government had resisted repeated U.S. requests to open enough sea and land routes for aid to Gaza, and cited reports that it failed to allow in enough food to avert famine, enforced "arbitrary restrictions" on aid and imposed an inspection system that impeded supplies.

"We expect the administration to ensure (Israel's) compliance with existing law and to take all conceivable steps to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza," the lawmakers wrote.

Hamas: Going to Cairo with 'positive spirit' to reach agreement on cease-fire

Hamas emphasized its positive spirit with which the movement had studied the cease-fire proposal received recently and will go to Cairo with the same spirit to reach an agreement, Hamas said on Friday night.

"We are determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfills Palestinians' demands," Hamas said in a statement.

RECAP: Hamas delegation to visit Cairo on Saturday; Israel presents Rafah civilian evacuation plans to U.S.

Here are the latest updates on day 210 of the war:

■ U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, saying: "During these somber days of remembrance, we mourn the lives tragically stolen in the Shoah and on October 7."

■ Palestinians militant group Hamas has confirmed its delegation will visit Cairo on Saturday, a Hamas official told Reuters on Friday.

■ Israel has presented a plan to evacuate the civilian population from Rafah to the U.S. and aid organizations, according to a report on the American site Politico.

■ The body of Elyakim Libman, previously believed to be one of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, was found recently in a grave of another victim of the October 7 attacks, in Israeli territory.

■ Israel notified Hamas that if a cease-fire and hostage release deal is not achieved within a week, it will start a military operation in Rafah - according to Egyptian sources cited in a report in the Wall Street Journal.

Biden ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day: As Jews cope with the trauma of Oct. 7, we've seen an alarming surge in antisemitism

U.S. President Joe Biden issued a statement ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, saying: "During these somber days of remembrance, we mourn the lives tragically stolen in the Shoah and on October 7."

"While Jews across the country and around the world are still coping with the trauma of that day and its aftermath, we have seen an alarming surge in antisemitism at home and abroad that resurfaces painful scars of millennia of antisemitism and hate against the Jewish people. This includes harassment and calls for violence against Jews - in our schools, in our communities, and online," read the statement.

"This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous. Antisemitic hate speech has absolutely no place on college campuses or anywhere else in our country. As Americans, we cannot stay silent as Jews are attacked, harassed, and targeted. We must also forcefully push back attempts to ignore, deny, distort, or revise the history of Nazi atrocities during the Holocaust or Hamas' murders and other atrocities committed on October 7 - including the appalling and unforgivable use of rape and sexual assault to terrorize and torture Jewish women and girls," it continued.

"My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people and the security of Israel is ironclad. Under the first-ever National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, my Administration is mobilizing the full force of the Federal Government to crack down on antisemitism and to ensure hate has no safe harbor in America," read Biden's statement.