Hamas warned this Saturday that an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah could leave “tens of thousands dead and wounded” in this southern Gaza Strip town, the last refuge for Palestinians displaced by the war in that territory.
Several witnesses reported bomb attacks in the early hours of Saturday morning around the city, which is home to 1.3 million Palestinians, more than half of the Gaza Strip’s total population. The vast majority are refugees who have fled fighting in other areas of the enclave.
The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007, warned in a statement of the risk of a “catastrophe and massacre that could leave tens of thousands of martyrs and injured.”
Additionally, the group stated that it would hold “the US government, the international community and the Israeli occupation” responsible for the consequences.
Earlier, the Hamas Ministry of Health said 110 deaths were reported overnight.
He also reported “fierce fighting” at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, in the south of the territory, in which one person died. There are still 300 employees, 450 injured and 10,000 displaced people on the site.
On Friday, Israeli forces raided the city’s other major hospital, Al Amal.
After passing through Gaza City and Khan Younis, the Israeli forces would now prepare a ground operation in Rafah on the border with Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday called on the military to develop a “combined plan” to “evacuate” civilians from Rafah and “destroy” Hamas in that city.
“It is impossible to achieve the war goal without eliminating Hamas and leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” the leader said. This requires “civilians to evacuate combat areas,” he added.
In Rafah, Adel al Hajj, a displaced person, said a ground operation would cause “carnage.” “We can now say goodbye to all humanity,” he added.
The head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, told X that an offensive in Rafah would trigger an “expected humanitarian catastrophe.”
The United Nations has also repeatedly expressed concern for the civilian population in Rafah, and the United States warned that it would not support an operation “without planning and without consideration” of the fate of the civilian population.
In a rare criticism of Israel since the war began four months ago, US President Joe Biden judged the “reaction in the Gaza Strip” to the October 7 attack as “excessive”.
– “Positive” conversations –
On the diplomatic front, a “new cycle of negotiations” began on Thursday in Cairo under the auspices of Egypt and Qatar and with the participation of Hamas, with the aim of bringing about “calm in the Gaza Strip” and a hostage exchange at the hands of the Islamist movement of Palestinian prisoners in Israel said a senior Egyptian official.
The Hamas delegation left the city on Friday after “good and positive discussions” with mediators, a source from the group said.
A week-long ceasefire at the end of November allowed the exchange of a hundred hostages for Palestinian prisoners. It is estimated that around 132 people captured on October 7 are still in the Gaza Strip, and 29 of them have died.
According to the portal Axios, the CIA chief will travel to Egypt next week to try to achieve a new lull in fighting and the release of hostages.
The war in Gaza also heightened tensions in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, where Iranian-backed groups launched attacks in support of Hamas, drawing retaliation from Israel, the United States and their allies.
Israel carried out bombings around the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday evening, according to Syria’s official agency Sana, which reported “material” damage. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said three people were killed in this attack.