Day: May 8, 2024

The US last week paused a bomb shipment for Israel over concerns it was going ahead with a major ground operation in Rafah, southern Gaza, a senior administration official says.

The shipment consisted of 1,800 2,000lb (907kg) bombs and 1,700 500lb bombs, the official told CBS News.

Israel has not “fully addressed” US concerns over humanitarian needs of civilians in Rafah, the official says.

Israel made no immediate comment.

Overnight, there were further Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip, hours after Israeli forces backed by tanks took control of the key Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt.

The Israeli bombardment has been particularly intense around Rafah. Local medics say seven members of one family were killed in one overnight strike.

Rafah has been a key entry point for aid and the only exit for people able to flee since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas last October.

On Monday, the Israeli military ordered tens of thousands of civilians to begin evacuating nearby eastern parts of Rafah city, ahead of what it called a “limited” operation to eliminate Hamas fighters and dismantle infrastructure.

At a briefing on May 8, Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili addressed the ongoing protests against the Foreign Agents Law and announced that the Political Council of Georgian Dream has decided to create a database containing information on all individuals who are involved in violence, blackmail, threats and other illegal acts, threats and blackmail, or “who publicly endorse these actions.”

Papuashvili stated that “the state has a responsibility to confront, in accordance with legal principles, any violence and lawlessness that has nothing to do with peaceful protest, assembly and expression.” He accused the “radical opposition” and “violent youth groups” gathered around them” who act according to the “Akerman and Canvas guidelines” in “regularly resorting to violence, stirring up hatred and promoting hostile rhetoric”.

He said that “in recent weeks, the public has seen the violent storming of the Parliament building, attacks on law enforcement officers, illegal restrictions on the movement of citizens and physical and verbal violence against disaffected citizens, as well as threats and blackmail against artists, sportsmen, politicians and other prominent public figures and their families.”

Noting that the GD “has a responsibility” to “protect the legitimate interests of citizens, law-enforcers and prominent members of the society” Papuashvili announced about the launch of the “database” which will be hosted by a special website and will be “public and transparent”. He also announced that “all measures will be taken within the framework of the Constitution and the law so that violations of the law, violence and threats against these persons will not remain without a response from the state or society.”

Papuashvili concluded by saying that the “law on transparency” will make a “significant contribution to ensuring long-term peace and tranquility in Georgia, and accordingly, the so-called in depolarization, which is one of the main demands of the European Union towards Georgia.”

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