The Israeli army bombed Rafah on the morning of Saturday, February 10, just after Benjamin Netanyahu spoke yesterday of a possible ground offensive and asked his army for a plan to “evacuate” the hundreds of thousands of civilians from the city. Meanwhile, the Gaza Ministry of Health announced a new death toll of 28,064 in the strip.
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With the idea of achieving “total victory”, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already explained in previous days, the attacks began early on Saturday in the vicinity of Rafah, the last refuge of the displaced populations in the Gaza Strip. Loop.
At least 28 people were killed in the attacks, said a Gaza public health official and AP journalists who saw the bodies arriving at hospitals.
First it was Gaza City, then Khan Younes and now it is Rafah, the area adjacent to Egypt, at the southern end of the Gaza Strip, for which Israel is preparing a ground attack.
The city has been one of the few access points for the movement of people, goods and humanitarian aid to and from Gaza, since November 2023, being the only border crossing to Gaza not controlled by Israel, but by Egypt.
There are currently 1.4 million Palestinians there, including 1.3 million displaced by violence. according to Hamas.
Everyone against the ground offensive, except Israel
Faced with this situation, the Press Office of the Government of Gaza, controlled by the Islamist group Hamas since 2007, issued a notice:
We warn of a global catastrophe and massacre that could leave tens of thousands martyred and injured if there is an invasion of the Rafah governorate. We hold the US administration, the international community and the 'Israeli' occupation fully responsible.
They demanded the immediate and urgent convening of the United Nations Security Council and the adoption of a resolution that guarantees the stopping of the “genocide.”
The president of the Palestinian Authority, which governs small areas of the occupied West Bank, Mahmoud Abbas, denounced yesterday that Israel's offensive in Rafah It is part of a strategy to “displace the Palestinian people from their lands” and also asked the international community to avoid it.
Even the United States administration, Israel's main ally, refuses to support this initiative in Rafah, given the overcrowding of the displaced from Gaza in this area and classifies it as a “disaster” if the military offensive there does not have a clear plan to evacuation of civilians.
The spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, at a press conference last Thursday, stated:
Any major military operation in Rafah at this time and under these circumstances, (…) would be a disaster and we would not support it
Also the head of German diplomacy, Annalena Baerbock, warned of a possible offensive by the Israeli army in Rafah, in the south of Gaza, which would amount to “a foreseen humanitarian catastrophe.”
Israel muss sich gegen den Hamas-Terror verteidigen, aber dabei das Leid der Zivilbevölkerung größtmöglich lindern. Deshalb braucht es eine weitere Feuerpause, auch damit die Geiseln endlich freikommen. Den Weg dahin werde ich nächste Woche erneut in Israel besprechen. 2/2
— Außenministerin Annalena Baerbock (@ABaerbock) February 10, 2024
“The anguish in Rafah is already beyond all comprehension. 1.3 million people are seeking protection from the fighting in a very restricted space. An offensive by the Israeli army in Rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe foretold,” he said on his X account.
Saudi Arabia, in the same vein, affirms that Israel would cause a “humanitarian catastrophe” and requests the intervention of the UN Security Council.
Three people killed in Israeli attacks near Damascus
The Israeli strikes, which targeted the area around the Syrian capital Damascus early Saturday, killed at least three people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) said.
The director of this NGO stated that many other people were injured during the attacks in a neighborhood that houses “villages of soldiers and high officials.”
The number of victims could worsen, added Rami Abdel Rahman, who could not specify whether the victims were soldiers or civilians.
Iran asks FIFA to “suspend” Israel
On the other hand, the Iranian Football Federation announced that it had asked FIFA to suspend its Israeli counterpart due to the war in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement published on its football federation's website, Iran calls on FIFA and football unions to “completely suspend” the Israeli Federation “from all football-related activities.”
The lawsuit also demands “immediate and serious measures” by FIFA and football organizations “to prevent the continuation” of Israel's “crimes” and to provide food, clean water, medicine and medical supplies to innocents and civilians.
With information from local media and this article from France 24 in the original language
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