The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they happen.
Biden to meet congressional leaders with shutdown clock ticking
US President Joe Biden plans to meet with congressional leaders Tuesday to discuss funding the government as a partial shutdown deadline looms on Friday, the White House says.
Biden will meet with top Democrats and Republicans from both the House and Senate on Tuesday, where the president will discuss the “urgency” of passing a government funding bill before midnight on Friday (0500 GMT Saturday). He also plans to discuss a stalled national security bill that provides assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The meeting comes as lawmakers remain at a stalemate to avoid a shutdown. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, says in a statement Sunday that there still was no deal and called on House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, to “step up” and strike a bipartisan compromise, despite objections from his party’s most conservative lawmakers.
Johnson later posted on X that Republicans were still negotiating in good faith and contended many of the points still up for debate were later demands from Democrats. He said he hoped to reach an outcome “as soon as possible.”
Funding is due to run out on March 1 for some federal agencies, including the Department of Transportation, while others like the Defense Department face a March 8 deadline.
IDF presents plan for evacuation of Rafah, gets approval for aid to south Gaza
The IDF presented a plan to the war cabinet this evening for the evacuation of Palestinians civilians from combat zones in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah and its operational strategy going forward, the Prime Minister’s Office says.
The army “presented the war cabinet with a plan for evacuating the population from the areas of fighting in the Gaza Strip, with the upcoming operational plan,” the Hebrew announcement reads.
In addition, the PMO says the cabinet approved the provision of humanitarian aid to south Gaza “in a way that will prevent the looting that occurred in the north of the Gaza Strip and other areas.”
Israel is pressing ahead with plans for a military offensive in Rafah, Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza and also where more than half the territory’s population of 2.3 million have sought refuge.
Humanitarian groups warn of a catastrophe, with Rafah the main entry point for aid, and the US and other allies have said Israel must avoid harming civilians. Under US pressure, Israel’s political and military leaders have said the operation will not begin until the safety of non-combatants has been ensured.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this evening that an Israeli military operation in Rafah could be “delayed somewhat” if a deal for a weekslong truce between Israel and Hamas is reached, as mediators work to secure an outline for a pause in fighting and hostage releases.
Hagari in WSJ op-ed: IDF fights with ‘heavy heart’ over loss of life, Hamas deeply embedded among civilians
IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari says Palestinian terror group Hamas is deeply “embedded” in Gazan civilian areas and that the military is fighting the complex war in the Palestinian enclave “with a heavy heart” and “aware of the tragic loss of civilian lives on both sides.”
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, the military spokesman writes that four months into the ground invasion in Gaza, the army has found that “Hamas has systematically embedded its terror infrastructure inside and under civilian areas in Gaza as part of its human-shield strategy” and deliberately operates in civilian areas and humanitarian zones to stage attacks.
“IDF troops discovered that most homes in Gaza have terror tunnels underneath or weapon caches inside, and the majority of schools, mosques, hospitals and international institutions have been used by Hamas for their military operations.”
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years, “has forced Gazans to stay in active combat zones by blocking their attempts to move out of harm’s way. When civilians manage to reach the safer areas to which we guide them, Hamas then moves to those areas, turning humanitarian zones into staging areas for further attacks.
The terror group’s modus operandi also involves “instructing terrorists to dress in civilian clothes” and “waging war from inside and underneath hospitals” to exploit international law and public sympathy as “a shield for their military activities.”
He notes the contrast of this strategy to the strategy employed by thousands of Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, which he describes as a “meticulously choreographed spectacle of savagery and sadism” that saw Hamas “mercilessly murder, butcher, rape and burn Israeli families alive—documenting their crimes with GoPros and cellphones.
“The terrorists even live-streamed their atrocities on their victims’ social-media accounts,” he says, adding the unprecedented shock onslaught was “arguably the most well-documented attack in history.”
“When the fighting shifted to Gaza, Hamas went from massacring Israeli civilians to hiding behind Gazan civilians,” he points out.
“Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza, which is why we take extensive measures to minimize harm to the civilians Hamas puts in the crossfire. We are fighting this war with a heavy heart, aware of the tragic loss of civilian lives on both sides,” writes Hagari, reiterating Israel’s war goals to “dismantle Hamas and bring our hostages home” and “not to destroy Gaza or displace its people.”
Israel’s strategy, he says, is “consistent and clear: Ensure that Oct. 7 never happens again.”