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President Emmanuel Macron of France said Monday he was “outraged” by an Israeli attack in Rafah that the authorities in Gaza said killed dozens of people. “These operations must stop,” he said, referring to the strike on Sunday. “There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians.” Mr. Macron called “for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire.” His comments came after the International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the city and added to a drumbeat of criticism of Israel over its conduct in the war.
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Aid trucks from Egypt reached the Gaza Strip under a new U.S.-brokered agreement to reopen a vital conduit for humanitarian relief, the Israeli military and the Egyptian Red Crescent said. Some 126 trucks from Egypt containing food, fuel and other necessities made it to the Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza on Sunday, the Israeli military said in a statement. The trucks were inspected by Israeli officials, said Ahmad Ezzat, an Egyptian Red Crescent official. On Sunday, the U.N. trucks sent to Kerem Shalom to pick up the Egyptian aid were forced to evacuate the crossing because of a security issue, according to Sam Rose, a spokesman for UNRWA. Officials including Mr. Rose said the aid had not made it past the crossing as of Sunday.
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Germany’s vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, has said that Israel’s offensive in Rafah is “incompatible with international law.” His comments were reported on Saturday by the country’s public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle. Senior German officials had previously warned Israel against attacking Rafah, but Mr. Habeck’s comments appear to represent a hardening of that tone in a country with a longstanding policy of support for Israel. “Israel must not carry out this attack, at least not in the way it did in the Gaza Strip before, bombing refugee camps and so on,” Mr. Habeck said.
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Israel’s war cabinet met on Sunday night to discuss continuing efforts to reach a cease-fire deal and free hostages held in Gaza, according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the talks. Diplomats are aiming to restart negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas at some point in the next week, according to three officials briefed on the process. According to the officials, preliminary discussions were held this weekend in Paris.
