Witnesses reported, on Saturday February 10, new Israeli bombardments in the Rafah sector, in the south of the Gaza Strip. After the city of Gaza then that of Khan Younes, Israel is now considering a ground operation in this city backed by the closed border with Egypt.
On Saturday, Hamas warned that an Israeli offensive in Rafah could “tens of thousands of dead and injured”. According to the United Nations (UN), more than 1.3 million Palestinians (five times the city’s original population) are gathered in the area, the vast majority of them civilians having fled the war. The latter are now massed, in desperate humanitarian conditions, in this city transformed into a gigantic encampment.
The Palestinian Islamist movement added that it held itself responsible for possible repercussions “the American administration, the international community and the Israeli occupation”. On Saturday, the Hamas health ministry counted 117 deaths in twenty-four hours across the enclave. Fighting is taking place in particular in the grounds of the Nasser hospital in Khan Younes, the largest in southern Gaza, now besieged by Israeli tanks, where there are still 300 staff members, 450 wounded and 10,000 displaced. according to the ministry.
After ordering the army on Wednesday to prepare an offensive in Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked it on Friday to submit a “combined plan” of“evacuation” civilians and ” destruction “ Hamas in this city.
“It is impossible to achieve the objective of the war without eliminating Hamas and leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah”and this requires that “civilians evacuate combat zones”affirmed Mr. Netanyahu.
An “excessive response”, according to Joe Biden
The UN and the United States, Israel’s main ally, are concerned about the fate of civilians. “Carry out such an operation now [à Rafah] without planning and thought in an area housing a million people would be a disaster”, warned the US State Department this week. American President Joe Biden seriously raised his tone towards Israel on Thursday, judging “excessive” there “response in the Gaza Strip” to the attack of October 7.
Saudi Arabia warned on Saturday that an Israeli military operation in Rafah would provoke a “humanitarian catastrophe”, calling for intervention by the UN Security Council. Furthermore, the Saudi Foreign Ministry expressed “his categorical rejection and firm condemnation” of “forced displacement” of “hundreds of thousands of civilians forced to flee brutal Israeli aggression” in the Gaza Strip.
Germany has warned of “humanitarian catastrophe announced”while Jordan said it rejected the “displacement of Palestinians within or outside their lands”.
New talks between representatives of Qatar and Egypt, two of the mediating countries alongside the United States, and Hamas to try to reach a truce agreement including an exchange of Palestinian prisoners and hostages have ended Friday in Cairo.
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During the October 7 attack, around 250 people were kidnapped in Israel and taken to Gaza. A week-long truce in November allowed the release of 105 hostages and 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. According to Israel, 132 hostages are still being held in Gaza, of whom 29 are believed to have died.