Israel’s war on Gaza live: Abbas warns against looming Rafah offensive

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appeals to the US to help stop Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah, as Israel killed 66 people in the past 24 hours. The invasion of Rafah would be “the biggest disaster in the history of the Palestinian people”, Abbas said at the World Economic Forum meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
• Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya has said it was reviewing a new Israeli truce proposal, as efforts for a ceasefire has ramped up. Israel’s foreign minister on Saturday said a planned invasion of Rafah would be “suspended” if a prisoner swap deal is reached.
• More than a 100 students were detained in the United States in a fresh wave of arrests as pro-Palestine protests sweep university campuses there.
• At least 34,454 Palestinians have been killed and 77,575 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive in Gaza.
• Pro-Palestine protests erupt across US campusesPro-Palestinian students in the US are demanding their universities call for an immediate ceasefire and cut all ties with companies that enable Israel’s military operations.So far, fourteen US universities have seen encampments and protests erupt, including,
  • Columbia
  Last week, pro-Palestinian student protesters set up a tent encampment at the Ivy League university in New York.On Friday afternoon, the protesting students said they had reached an impasse with administrators and intended to continue their encampment until their demands were met, which included Columbia issuing a public statement calling for an immediate ceasefire.
  • Northeastern University
  Massachusetts State Police said about 102 protesters have been arrested and will be charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct after clearing an encampment on the campus on Saturday.Students at the protest have insisted their event was peaceful and, like many across the country, was aimed at drawing attention to the “genocide” in Gaza and their university’s complicity in the war.
  • California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt
  University officials extended the campus closure until May 10 after protesters used furniture, tents, chains, and zip ties to block entrances to an academic and administrative building on Monday.
• Rafah attack the ‘biggest catastrophe in Palestinian people’s history’An Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would force most of the Palestinian population to flee Gaza, says Palestinian Authority President Mahmound Abbas.Abbas told a special meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Saudi capital Riyadh about 1.5 million Palestinians are gathered in Rafah and only a “small strike” would force those people to flee.“The biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history would then happen,” said Abbas. “We call on the United States of America to ask Israel to not carry on the Rafah attack. America is the only country able to prevent Israel from committing this crime.”Abbas reiterated he rejects the displacement of Palestinians into Jordan and Egypt, and said he’s concerned once Israel completes its operations in Gaza, it will then attempt to force the Palestinian population out of the occupied West Bank and into Jordan.
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• Desperate Palestinians line up for food in Rafah [File: Fatima Shbair/AP]
• ‘Completely disfigured’: Children severely wounded in Nuseirat campThe Gaza health ministry reports at least 66 were killed and 138 others wounded in Gaza over the past 24 hours.In the central area, Mohammed al-Hattab said he found his one-year-old son in the rubble after an Israeli air strike hit the Nuseirat refugee camp. The boy is being treated for a fractured skull while his two-year-old daughter’s face was “completely disfigured” in the attack.

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/4/28/israels-war-on-gaza-live-israel-says-rafah-invasion-on-negotiation-table