(Ottawa) Demanding civilians from Rafah to evacuate the town in the southern Gaza Strip to let Israeli forces carry out a military offensive is “unacceptable” because these people have “nowhere to go,” criticizes Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly.
“The current operation is extremely worrying and could be truly devastating for all those seeking refuge,” she said Monday in a press scrum.
“What Prime Minister Netanyahu and his coalition are asking these people to do is move [alors qu’ils n’ont] nowhere to go,” she added.
“They are mothers, children, they are people who have names, who have their own stories; in short, they are human beings. They exist,” insisted M.me Joly.
The head of Canadian diplomacy indicated that she would discuss it this week in Washington during a meeting with her American counterpart, Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
PHOTO MOHAMMED ABED, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Palestinians flee Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, as the Israeli army carries out airstrikes there.
“We need a lasting ceasefire. We need an agreement on the release of the hostages and on the fact that humanitarian aid can be delivered to Gaza,” she stressed.
The Biden administration is opposed to a large-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah without action to protect civilians, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday.
Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the preparation of an offensive on Rafah, where, according to the UN, around 1.4 million Palestinians who fled the war between Israel and Hamas are massed.
He said on Sunday that Israel would provide “safe passage” for the population to leave the city, without specifying where they could take refuge in the ravaged territory.
With Agence France-Presse