Israel-Gaza War: What to know about the situation in the Middle East this week

financialexpress.com:

As Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks flounder, Israel is vowing to press ahead with its offensive in the southern Gaza Strip despite warnings from the US to work harder to protect civilians. Violence spiked across the volatile Israel-Lebanon border. This is what happened in the Middle East this week.

Israel’s defence minister said Friday that the country’s military was pushing ahead with its planned offensive into Rafah, one of the last population centers in the Gaza Strip that its ground forces have so far mainly stayed out of. He has not said when the offensive will begin but says Israel’s military will prepare a plan first to evacuate the estimated 1.4 million Palestinian civilians who are crammed into the city on the Egyptian border.

There have been growing expressions of concern around the world and repeated warnings by the United States that Israel must come up with a credible evacuation plan. In Rafah, the situation is increasingly desperate. People lack adequate food, water, electricity and medical care, and they are under regular Israeli bombardment. Israel says it targets Hamas fighters and holds the militants responsible for civilian casualties because they operate from civilian areas.

Over the past few days, Israel’s military has raided Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, the main hospital in the southern Gaza Strip, saying it had evidence that Israeli hostages had been held there. It found no hostages but said it arrested 100 militants, 20 of which it claimed had been involved in the attacks that started the war. A surgeon at the hospital said one patient had been killed in the raid.

Israel launched its war in response to a cross-border Hamas attack on October 7 in which militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel