Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
The US State Department on Monday doubled down on its concern over Israel pressing ahead with a military operation in Rafah, one of the last places of refuge for Palestinians trapped in the Gaza Strip.
“We do not support any military campaign in Rafah going forward as long as they cannot properly account for the 1.1 million people who are in Rafah,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.
Israel launched a round of devastating air strikes overnight in Rafah that killed at least 164 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The strikes came as Israeli forces rescued two hostages kidnapped by Hamas militants from Nir Yitzhak kibbutz on October 7.
“We certainly do not want to see any more human suffering among those in Gaza, which is why we continue to communicate actively with their Israeli partners on the importance of taking civilians into account in planning and conducting their operations,” Pentagon spokesman Maj Gen Pat Ryder told reporters at a separate briefing.
But Mr Miller said the air strikes did not necessarily indicate that Israel had begun an expected military operation in the southern Gazan city.
“It is not our assessment that this air strike is the launch of a full-scale offensive happening in Rafah,” Mr Miller told reporters at a regular press briefing.
More than 100 killed in Israeli bombing of Rafah – video
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he plans to press on in Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have been forced to take shelter, as the war has consumed nearly every other corner of the densely populated enclave.
The southern city, which borders Egypt, had a prewar population of about 280,000 but it now hosts another 1.4 million people who have fled their homes from other parts of Gaza, the UN estimates.
“It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war without eliminating Hamas, and by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” Mr Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
“On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat.”
Last week, Mr Netanyahu ordered the military to come up with a plan to expel people from the southern city of Rafah as Israel prepares a new military offensive.
During a weekend phone call, US President Joe Biden expressed his concern to Mr Netanyahu of a potential military operation without proper planning.
“He reaffirmed his view that a military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there,' the White House said in a readout of the call.
Reports in US media suggest that Mr Biden, who has known the Israeli leader for more than 40 years, has grown increasingly frustrated with Mr Netanyahu as the war drags on and the Palestinian death toll balloons to more than 28,000.
Latest from the Israel-Gaza war – in pictures
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Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
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Learn more about Qasr Al Hosn
In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
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