the Israeli offensive on Rafah and its “incalculable regional consequences” alarm the international community

The Israeli Prime Minister on Wednesday asked his army to prepare an offensive on this town located in the south of the Gaza Strip. The humanitarian situation there is already dramatic.

It became a refuge for civilians who fled the war in the Gaza Strip. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and the border with Egypt, further south, the town of Rafah has become the center of attention of the Israeli army in recent days. The city is for now the last urban center where the Israeli army has not yet launched a ground assault. However, in a television speech on Wednesday February 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “ordered the Israeli Defense Forces to prepare an operation in Rafah as well as in two camps [de réfugiés]the last remaining bastions of Hamas”.

Pending the possible launch of the operation, the city remains under fire from Israeli aircraft and artillery. During the night from Sunday to Monday, the Jewish state carried out new air strikes on Rafah. The Hamas Ministry of Health claims that around a hundred people died. A land commando operation also enabled the release of two hostages held by the Islamist organization.

A population multiplied by six

Rafah constitutes the main entry point for humanitarian aid, which is insufficient to meet the needs of the population. Benjamin Netanyahu assured Sunday on the American channel ABC that his country would ensure a “safe passage for the civilian population so that they can leave” the premises before the assault. “We are developing a detailed system to achieve this. (…) We are not approaching this casually”, he added. Mentioning areas north of Rafah that have been cleared and could be used as safe zones for civilians, he did not, however, give further details on the feasibility of this plan.

This announced offensive on this overpopulated city is causing serious concern abroad. LUS President Joe Biden, Israel’s historic ally, on Sunday urged the Israeli Prime Minister to “to guarantee” the safety of the population. For its part, Paris believes that a “Large-scale Israeli offensive in Rafah would create a catastrophic humanitarian situation of a new dimension and unjustifiable”in a press release published on Sunday.

Since the start of the conflict in early October, the population has increased sixfold in Rafah, according to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). The city is now home to 1.4 million people, out of the 2.3 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip. “One of my colleagues described the situation in Rafah as a ‘pressure cooker of despair’”explained to franceinfo Andrea De Domenico, director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

An assault on Rafah would have “incalculable regional consequences”warned on X the Secretary General of the United Nations and “would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare”. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, estimated Monday, on the sidelines of the 2024 summit of world governments in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) cited by Al-Jazeera, that the aid provided until currently in Gaza in terms of medical supplies is only one “a drop of water in the ocean of needs that continue to grow every day.”

Truce negotiations in danger?

In addition to the humanitarian catastrophe, this offensive on Rafah could undermine the negotiations carried out with a view to a truce and an agreement on the release of hostages held in Gaza. LHamas warned on Sunday that it “would torpedo” any agreement in this direction.

“The targeting of Rafah” as well as “Israel’s continued policy of hindering access to humanitarian aid” constitute “the implementation of the policy of displacement of the Palestinian people and the liquidation of their cause”, worried the Egyptian Foreign Ministry cited by the Turkish Anadolu press agency. In a message published Saturday on Xthe head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, also warned of the “serious tensions with Egypt” what such an assault would provoke.