Netanyahu Spurns Biden's Warning

President Biden spoke to Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday and made clear that the US viewed a ground invasion into Gaza's city of Rafah as a mistake. On Tuesday, Netanyahu made equally clear that he would ignore the advice, reports Reuters. Coverage:

• 'No way': "I made it as clear as possible to the president that we are determined to complete the elimination of these battalions in Rafah, and there is no way to do this without a ground incursion," Netanyahu told Israeli lawmakers, reports the New York Times.
• One concession: Netanyahu, "out of respect" to Biden, said he would send a senior team to the US in the coming days to discuss the matter, "especially the humanitarian side."

• Famine: Netanyahu's remarks came a day after a UN report sounded an alarming warning about "imminent" famine for the 2 million residents of Gaza, reports NPR. The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC, said all Gaza residents already faced serious food shortages, a situation that could tip into outright famine anytime between now and May. "People in Gaza are starving to death right now," said World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain.
• Famine, II: "This is the "highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger ever recorded … anywhere, anytime," by the IPC, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, per CNN. The organization began tracking hunger 20 years ago in Somalia and has declared famine only twice since then. It defines the term "as an extreme deprivation of food" in which "starvation, death, destitution and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition are or will likely be evident."
• Scathing line: Josep Borrell, the European Union's top diplomat, said Israel was using "starvation as a weapon of war."

(More Israel-Hamas war stories.)