Avoid ‘catastrophic’ Rafah operation
Israel's vow to push ahead with a "powerful" operation in Gaza's Rafah was met with a growing chorus of international condemnation yesterday, with leaders warning against catastrophic consequences for the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped there.
Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel "not to go down this path", issuing a rare joint statement in the latest urgent appeal seeking to avert further mass civilian casualties.
"An expanded military operation would be devastating," they said. "There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go."
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been driven into Gaza's southernmost city by Israel's relentless military campaign, seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egypt border.
Despite pressure from foreign governments and aid agencies not to invade, Israel insists it must push into Rafah and eliminate Hamas battalions.
- 2,000 reach Rafah after fleeing Nasser Hospital
- 20 Palestinians arrested in West Bank
- Death toll in enclave now 28,663
"We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement later on Wednesday.
His comments came a day after talks in Cairo on a possible ceasefire and the handover of hostages held by Hamas ended inconclusively, stoking fears among the displaced Palestinians that Israel would soon storm Rafah.
The move "amounts to a death sentence" for the 134 hostages in Hamas' tunnels, the relatives of Israeli hostages said, in a sign of growing domestic dissent in Israel after four months of offensive in Gaza.
At least 28,663 Palestinians have been killed, including 87 in 24 hours, and 68,395w ounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October7, according to the health ministry in Gaza.
As night fell on Wednesday, more than 2,000 Palestinians who had been sheltering in Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza arrived in Rafah after being ordered to evacuate by the Israeli army, residents and some witnesses said.
The health ministry in the enclave said Israeli forces were continuing to isolate the two main hospitals in Khan Younis, and that sniper fire at Nasser Hospital had killed and wounded many people in recent days.
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Al-Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed six people, health officials said.
In the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army has arrested at least 20 Palestinians, including a child and a former prisoner. The arrests took place in Tulkarem, Bethlehem, Hebron, Nablus, Jenin and Jerusalem.
Diplomacy is focused not just on halting the offensive and securing the hostages' release but also on preventing the conflict from spreading across the region.
Senior Hezbollah official and member of parliament Hassan Fadlallah said yesterday that Israel would face reprisal after two sets of strikes on southern Lebanon the previous day killed 10 civilians, half of them children.
Hezbollah has been trading fire for more than four months with the Israeli military in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.
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