Israel announced this Friday that it already has a concrete plan to expand its military offensive on Rafah, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, where more than a million evacuees live.
“It is impossible to achieve the war goal of eliminating Hamas Leave four battalions in Rafah” said a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Efe reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israel Defense Forces and the defense establishment to present a “dual plan for both” to the Cabinet Evacuation of the population and dissolution of the battalions”
“It is clear that a massive operation in Rafah requires this Evacuation of the civilian population of the combat areas,” the official statement said.
Israeli attacks on Rafah, where 1.3 million Palestinians live in overcrowded conditions, have increased in recent days and with them fears of a ground offensive by the Israeli army in the area, an option that now has a new dimension following the Israeli announcement receives.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had already hinted at an Israeli advance toward Rafah several times last week as the country ended its operations in Khan Younis, a Hamas stronghold in the south.
That possibility appeared distant while another possible ceasefire agreement to release Palestinian hostages and prisoners was being negotiated. But talks appear to have stalled as Hamas demands a final cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, something Netanyahu strongly rejects.
Both the United Nations and the US have expressed concern about a possible expansion of the Israeli army’s ground offensive on Rafah, the last refuge for more than a million people in the Gaza Strip who have been fleeing fighting for four months.
The Foreign Ministry warned yesterday against a military operation in Rafah. Without proper planning for the evacuation of civilians, it would be “a disaster.”
“Under international humanitarian law, indiscriminate bombing of densely populated areas may constitute a war crime. An intensification of hostilities in Rafah under these circumstances could lead to a great loss of civilian life,” Jens Laerke said this week. , spokesman for the UN humanitarian organization Aid Coordination Office (OCHA).
At least nine people died in two airstrikes in Gaza on Thursday evening as part of the Israeli army’s offensive against the Palestinian enclave, where nearly 28,000 people have already died.
The bodies of four men, three children and two women were taken to Abu Yousef al Nayar hospital in the southern city of Rafah, EFE could confirm.
The airstrikes targeted two residential buildings in the Tal al Sultan and Jerbet al Adas areas.
According to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip Health Ministry, nearly 28,000 people have been killed and about 67,500 injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began on October 7.
