Israel-Hamas War Day 231: What's happening in Gaza?

A fire broke out in the area of Safed after a rocket had fallen and no alarm sounded, Israeli media reported Friday morning. 

The fiscal situation of the Palestinian Authority, which runs the West Bank, has worsened in the last three months, "significantly raising the risk of a fiscal collapse," the World Bank said on Thursday amid the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

"The rapidly widening gap between the amount of revenues coming in and the amount needed to finance essential public expenditure is driving a fiscal crisis," it said.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich left a cabinet meeting following a confrontation regarding the delay in purchasing F-15 and F-35 aircraft from the US, Israeli media reported Thursday. 

In a statement, Smotrich wrote, "I left the cabinet meeting early, as the Defense Minster and IDF Chief of Staff refused to establish a public committee to examine the defense budget."

"Since the professional elements of the Finance Ministry were not invited to the discussion, and since it was an attempt to cynically bypass the discussion in the defense budget review committee, I announced that it can be discussed next week with the professional elements, and until then I'm wasting my time," the statement noted.

"This Administration never supports anything we do until we do it," a senior Israeli official told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Thursday. The WSJ editorial highlighted what it called “Israel's successful evacuation” of 950,000 civilians from Rafah, Gaza, despite months of opposition from the Biden Administration.

According to WSJ, for months, the White House insisted Israel had "no credible plan" to evacuate Rafah’s 1.3 million residents. President Joe Biden asserted there was no feasible way to conduct a major military operation with so many civilians present, leading to an arms embargo on Israel. "We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas," Biden said.

Despite these objections, Israel proceeded with its plans. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan both expressed doubts, claiming Israel had "no credible plan" and warning against launching a major operation into Rafah.

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint-session of Congress, Ynet reported on Friday. 

Ynet also noted that Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer intended to sign the letter of invitation. Netanyahu agreed to Johnson's invitation, though a date for the speech has not yet been set. 

Argentina's Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that Argentina rejected the International Criminal Court prosecutor's request for arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

On Monday, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan asked the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Deif.

The Argentinian Foreign Ministry condemned equating "The legitimate authorities of a democratic state" with the terrorist organization of Hamas. 

Three US troops suffered non-combat injuries in the effort to make a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza into a conduit for humanitarian aid, with one in critical condition at an Israeli hospital, US officials said on Thursday.

The injuries were the first for US forces during the latest operation to bring humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

The pier was announced by US President Joe Biden in March and involved the military assembling the floating structure off the coast. Estimated to cost $320 million for the first 90 days and involve about 1,000 US service members, it went into operation last week.