The threat of an Israeli offensive persists on Sunday against Rafah, a town in the south of the Gaza Strip where Hamas fears “tens of thousands of deaths” among the civilian population who will benefit from “secure passage” to leave according to the Israeli Prime Minister.
More than 1.3 million Palestinians live in Rafah according to the UN, the vast majority of whom are civilians who have fled the war that has been raging for four months between Israel and Hamas. Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the preparation of a military operation there on Wednesday.
“Victory is within reach. We are going to do it. We are going to take the last terrorist battalions of Hamas and Rafah, which is the last stronghold,” Mr. Netanyahu said in an interview with ABC News which will be broadcast on Sunday and excerpts of which were broadcast on Saturday evening.
“We will do this while ensuring safe passage for the civilian population so that they can leave” the scene, he added.
PHOTO SAID KHATIB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Palestinians mourn their dead in Rafah on February 10.
Hamas warned “against a catastrophe and a massacre which could result in tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded”.
The Israeli operation is causing concern abroad and particularly in Saudi Arabia, whose diplomacy warned on Saturday of “very serious repercussions” on the civilian population of an assault on Rafah.
“The continued violation of international law and international humanitarian law confirms the need for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to prevent Israel from causing a humanitarian catastrophe,” the Riyadh statement added.
On Saturday, new Israeli strikes targeted Rafah, killing five police officers, according to Palestinian security sources. Israeli forces said two senior military officials from the Palestinian Islamist movement were killed in one of the strikes.
Unrwa targeted
The Israeli army and internal security agency also claimed on Saturday to have discovered a Hamas tunnel in Gaza City under the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).
The organization, which Israel accuses of being “totally infiltrated” by the Islamist movement, stressed that the building had been evacuated on October 12.
“We have not used this building since we left it and we are not aware of any activity that could have taken place there,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X, adding that Israel’s accusations “deserve an independent investigation.”
The head of Israeli diplomacy, Israel Katz, requested a “prompt resignation”, as did Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan.
“It’s not that you didn’t know, it’s that you didn’t WANT to know,” Mr. Erdan said on X, adding that “nothing the UN says or asserts about Gaza” can be considered reliable.
” Between life and death ”
The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented Hamas attack in southern Israel, which left more than 1,160 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to “destroy” Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union. The Israeli army launched an offensive which left 28,064 dead in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, according to the Ministry of Health of the Islamist movement, in power in the territory since 2007.
PHOTO FATIMA SHBAIR, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinians view the damage caused by an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 10.
Around 250 people were also kidnapped in Israel on October 7 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, of whom 29 are believed to be dead.
About 1.7 million people, according to the UN, out of a total of 2.4 million inhabitants, have fled their homes since October 7, many of them displaced several times across the devastated territory, besieged by Israel is plunged into a major humanitarian crisis.
Rafah, backed by the closed border with Egypt, is the last major urban center where the army has not yet penetrated. This town, transformed into a gigantic makeshift camp, is the main entry point for humanitarian aid, which is still insufficient.
“We are between life and death. We live in the moment,” says Bassel Matar, a man who took refuge in Rafah.
Forced displacement of more than a million Palestinians “without finding a safe place to go” […] would have catastrophic consequences,” warned Nadia Hardman, migrant and refugee rights expert for Human Rights Watch.
“Humanitarian catastrophe announced”
The UN and the United States, Israel’s main ally, are concerned about the fate of civilians. American President Joe Biden raised his voice against Israel on Thursday, deeming its “response” to the October 7 attack “excessive”.
PHOTO FATIMA SHBAIR, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Palestinians mourn their loved ones killed in the Israeli bombing in Rafah on February 10.
For the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, a possible offensive by the Israeli army in Rafah would amount to “an indescribable humanitarian catastrophe”.
A few kilometers to the north, in Khan Younes, the fighting is concentrated in the grounds of the Nasser hospital, the largest in southern Gaza, besieged by Israeli tanks where there were still 300 employees, 450 wounded and 10,000 on Saturday. displaced, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
PHOTO MOHAMMED ABED, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Women and children queue for water in Rafah on February 9.
Three people, including two civilians, were also killed on Saturday in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, one of which targeted an official of the Palestinian movement Hamas who survived, Lebanese and Palestinian security sources told AFP.