- Written by Jacqueline Howard
- bbc news
Children waiting for food aid in Rafah this week
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted his troops will advance on the Gaza city of Rafah, ignoring outside pleas to reconsider.
French President Emmanuel Macron also warned Netanyahu, calling the human cost of Israel’s Gaza operation “unbearable.”
But Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered the military to prepare for a ground attack.
Some 1.4 million Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah, which is already under shelling.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the “strong” offensive and declared that Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, must be removed from the southern city.
“We intend to fight until complete victory and this includes strong action in Rafah after allowing civilians to leave the combat zone.”
President Macron called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and said Israeli operations in Gaza “must stop.”
He expressed France’s “firm opposition to the Israeli military offensive in Rafah, which could only lead to a humanitarian disaster of a new scale.”
The prime ministers of Australia, Canada and New Zealand issued a joint statement expressing “grave concerns” that a military operation in Rafah would be “catastrophic”.
“We urge the Israeli government not to continue down this path,” the statement said, adding: “The impact on Palestinian civilians of expanded military operations would be devastating.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Verbock, who is visiting Israel, warned that the stranded people of Rafah cannot “just disappear into thin air”.
Spain and the Republic of Ireland have called on member states of the European Union to “urgently” investigate whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza under agreements linked to trade rights.
The Hamas-run Palestinian Authority’s Health Ministry reports that at least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, have died as a result of Israel’s attack on Gaza.
Israel took action after Hamas-led militants launched a surprise attack on its territory on October 7, killing at least 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages.
Early in the war, Israel had instructed Palestinians to evacuate to Rafah as Israeli forces moved toward northern cities.
Rafah is the southernmost point of the Gaza Strip and serves as a transit point to Egypt, where humanitarian supplies are allowed to flow into the Strip.
Israeli authorities are now seeking to relocate civilians to what they call the “humanitarian zone,” a strip of mostly agricultural land on the Mediterranean coast known as al-Mawasi.
Among the refugees in Rafah was Ahlam Abu Assi. “I would rather die” in Rafah than return to the famine-like conditions experienced by her relatives in Gaza City, she told AFP news agency.
“My son and children have nothing to eat. I cook a handful of rice and save it for the next day,” she said.
Another city, Khan Yunis, has so far been the focus of Israeli operations in southern Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to proceed after peace talks between U.S., Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials ended inconclusively.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said Hamas had not presented any new proposals regarding the hostage deal and that Israel would not accept the extremist group’s “ridiculous demands.”
“If Hamas’s position changes, it will be possible to move the negotiations forward,” he added.
