Thousands Trapped in Rafah as Israel Says Won’t Stop Until Hamas No Longer Controls Gaza 

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)
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Thousands Trapped in Rafah as Israel Says Won’t Stop Until Hamas No Longer Controls Gaza 

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)
Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, March 24, 2025. (Reuters)

Thousands of people are trapped in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip after Israeli forces encircled part of it on Sunday, Palestinian officials said.

Israel ordered the evacuation of the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, telling people to leave by a single route on foot to Muwasi, a sprawling cluster of tent camps along the coast.

Thousands fled, but residents said many were trapped by Israeli forces.

The Rafah municipality said Monday that thousands were still trapped, including first responders from the Civil Defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government, and the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Israel blames Hamas

Israel’s defense minister said it is trying to avoid harming civilians as it strikes Hamas in Gaza.

Israel Katz’s statement came nearly a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas by launching a surprise wave of strikes that killed hundreds of Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to local health officials.

Katz said Monday that “Israel is not fighting the civilians in Gaza and is doing everything that international law requires to mitigate harm to civilians.”

He went on to blame Hamas for any civilian deaths, saying the group “fights in civilian dress, from civilian homes, and from behind civilians,” putting them in danger.

He said Israel would not halt its offensive until Hamas releases all its hostages and is no longer in control of Gaza or a threat to Israel.

Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed at least 25 Palestinians, including several women and children, according to three hospitals. The strikes come nearly a week after Israel ended its ceasefire with Hamas with a surprise bombardment that killed hundreds.

Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City received 11 bodies from strikes overnight into Monday, including three women and four children. One of the strikes killed two children, their parents, their grandmother and their uncle.

Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis received seven bodies from strikes overnight and four from strikes the previous day. The European Hospital received three bodies from a strike near Khan Younis.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said Sunday that the Palestinian death toll from the 17-month war has passed 50,000. It has said that women and children make up more than half the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

Israel says it has killed some 20,000 fighters, without providing evidence. Hamas-led gunmen killed around 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.

‘Traumatized a second time’

Meanwhile, an American trauma surgeon working in Gaza says most of the patients injured in an Israeli attack on the largest hospital in southern Gaza had been previously wounded when Israel resumed airstrikes last week.

Californian surgeon Feroze Sidhwa, who is working with the medical charity MedGlobal, said Monday he had been in the intensive care unit at Nasser Hospital when an airstrike hit surgical wards on Sunday.

Most of the injured had been recovering from wounds suffered in airstrikes last week when Israel resumed the war, he said.

“They were already trauma patients and now they’ve been traumatized for a second time,” Sidhwa, who was raised in Flint, Mich., told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Sidhwa said he had operated on a man and boy days before who died in the attack.



Lebanon Weighs US Deadline, Seeks Guarantees for Disarmament

President Joseph Aoun meets with US envoy Tom Barrack (Presidency handout)
President Joseph Aoun meets with US envoy Tom Barrack (Presidency handout)
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Lebanon Weighs US Deadline, Seeks Guarantees for Disarmament

President Joseph Aoun meets with US envoy Tom Barrack (Presidency handout)
President Joseph Aoun meets with US envoy Tom Barrack (Presidency handout)

Lebanese officials have been racing to formulate a response to a letter delivered by US envoy Tom Barrack during his visit to Beirut last week, in which Washington pressed Lebanon to take concrete steps towards implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701, including the disarmament of Hezbollah.

According to information obtained by Asharq al-Awsat, the Lebanese presidential committee assigned to handle the matter held a meeting at the presidential palace on Tuesday to review the American letter.

The aim, sources said, was to reach a unified Lebanese position that upholds national interests and affirms the state’s exclusive right to bear arms.

A senior Lebanese official familiar with the committee’s work told the newspaper that President Joseph Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam had all received a copy of the US reply through an American embassy official.

The urgency of the matter prompted an emergency meeting of the three-way presidential committee to coordinate a unified national response ahead of Barrack’s expected return to Beirut later this month.

“The US message was polite in tone but firm in substance,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The Americans want Lebanon to set a clear timeline for the removal of all illegal weapons across the country. They expect the disarmament process to be completed by the end of the year, with the Lebanese army and security forces asserting full control over all national territory.”

While the US side appeared to acknowledge Lebanon’s complex internal dynamics and the need for national dialogue, the official said Washington viewed the six-month grace period already granted as sufficient.

“The Lebanese government is obligated to uphold the commitments made in the president’s oath of office and the ministerial statement that affirm the state’s monopoly over arms,” the source added.

“However, Lebanon will seek guarantees in return – including a full Israeli withdrawal from five occupied points in southern Lebanon, border demarcation with Israel, the release of Lebanese prisoners, a reconstruction plan for war-damaged areas, and an end to Israeli violations by land, air, and sea.”

The official also said Lebanon would demand an end to targeted assassinations of Hezbollah members, which Israel justifies as preemptive strikes.

Sending the US reply ahead of Barrack’s return, the official said, underscores Washington’s pressure on Lebanon to deliver a clear position on the future of Hezbollah’s weapons.

A Lebanese cabinet source told Asharq al-Awsat that the preemptive American move was intended to give Beirut time to study and respond to the proposal, allowing space for amendments or objections.

“The US message is focused on securing a decisive Lebanese stance on a timeline for disarming Hezbollah and Palestinian factions, as well as the removal of all illegal arms,” the source said.

“Washington also wants a concrete implementation mechanism to prevent any backtracking, as happened after Resolution 1701 was adopted in 2006 – when Hezbollah sidestepped its obligations and rebuilt its arsenal.”

The source acknowledged that any final decision will require dialogue with key domestic players, particularly Hezbollah, but stressed that the official stance must ultimately come from the president and the government.