Israel announced today that it already has a plan to expand its military offensive to Rafahat the southern end of the Gaza Stripbordering Egyptwhere more than a million evacuated people live.
“It is impossible to achieve the war’s goal of eliminating Hamas and leave four battalions in Rafah” indicates a statement from the Office of the Prime Minister of Israel.
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The first Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuhas ordered the Israel Defense Forces and the Defense establishment to present to the cabinet a “dual plan, both for the evacuation of the population and for the dissolution of the battalions”
“It is clear that a massive operation in Rafah requires the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat zones”, stated the official statement.
Israeli attacks on Rafahwhere 1.3 million Palestinians survive in overcrowded conditions, have increased in recent days and with it the fear of a ground offensive by the Israeli Army in this area, an option that now takes on a new dimension after the Israeli announcement.
The Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallanthad already suggested several times in the last week that Israel would move towards Rafahwhen it finished its operations in Jan Yunisbastion of Hamas In the south.
That possibility seemed more distant while another possible agreement was being negotiated. truce to release Palestinian hostages and prisonersbut the conversations seem stuck since Hamas It demands a definitive cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave, something that Netanyahu strongly opposes.
Both the UN and the United States have expressed concern about a possible expansion of the Israeli Army’s ground offensive to Rafahthe last refuge for more than a million Gazans who have been fleeing the fighting for four months.
The State Department warned yesterday that a military operation in Rafahwithout adequate planning for the evacuation of civilians it would be “a disaster.”
“According to international humanitarian law, the bombing indiscriminate killing of densely populated areas may constitute a war crime. The intensification of hostilities in Rafahin these circumstances could result in large-scale loss of civilian life”he declared this week Jens Laerkespokesperson for the Office of UN Humanitarian Aid Coordination (OCHA).
At least nine people died Thursday night in Loop in two air attacks that are part of the Israeli Army’s offensive against the Palestinian enclave, where nearly 28,000 people have already died.
The bodies of four men, three children and two women were taken to hospital Abu Yousef al Nayarin the southern town of Rafahas EFE could confirm.
The aerial bombardments targeted two residential homes in the area of Tal al Sultan and in Jerbet al Adas.
Almost 28,000 Gazans have died since the war began on October 7, and some 67,500 have been injured, according to the Ministry of Health of the Stripecontrolled by Hamas.
