Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Israel had avoided the “humanitarian catastrophe” feared by the international community in Rafah, where 1.4 million people are crowded in the south of the Gaza Strip, and has since targeted a week of an Israeli military operation.
“So far, nearly half a million people have evacuated the fighting zone in Rafah. The humanitarian catastrophe that we have been talking about has not happened and will not happen,” Mr. Netanyahu assured in a statement.
Israeli forces are “fighting across the entire Gaza Strip,” particularly in Rafah, “while evacuating the civilian population and [en] filling [leurs] obligations to meet its humanitarian needs,” he added.
The Israeli army began on May 7 from the east of the city of Rafah a series of military operations on the ground, preceded and supported by aerial bombardments, advancing inside urban areas and approaching the center. city.
Before its operations, the army urges residents of the targeted areas to evacuate via leaflets and messages sent to cell phones. But, according to residents, bombings often follow very quickly, forcing people to flee in panic.
The UN estimated Tuesday that “nearly 450,000” people had been displaced from eastern Rafah since Israel’s first evacuation messages on May 6, recalling that there is “no safe place in Gaza », ravaged by the war.
The land operation on Rafah, announced months ago by Israel, aroused strong opposition from international diplomacy in the face of fears of carnage among civilians.
The European Union on Wednesday urged Israel to “immediately cease” its military operation there or risk “putting a strain” on their relationship. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “appalled by the intensification of” Israeli “military activities” in and around Rafah.
But a week after Joe Biden threatened to limit American military aid to Israel, historic ally, in the event of a ground operation in Rafah, the American presidency informed Congress on Tuesday that it would deliver weapons to Israel for around a billion dollars, sources close to the matter told AFP.
“Eliminating Hamas is a necessary step to ensure that the ‘day after’ [la guerre]no one in Gaza threatens us,” insists Mr. Netanyahu in his press release.
As for the future of the Palestinian territory, he estimated that before “it is clear that Hamas no longer controls Gaza militarily, no entity will want to take care of the civilian management of Gaza out of fear.” “This is why talk about the ‘day after’ while Hamas is in power are just words, and empty words.”