China and France condemned the Israeli military attack on Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, and while the United States announced that it had informed Tel Aviv of its position on the operation, it called on Egypt and Jordan to stop the attack on the city.
On Tuesday morning, the Israeli occupation army announced that it had taken complete control of the Rafah crossing, and was carrying out extensive combing operations in the area, after a night of violent bombardment, targeting the vicinity of the crossing and areas east of the city crowded with displaced people, despite the efforts of the mediators to reach a truce.
An Israeli government spokesman justified the attack, saying that “Israel’s main goal is to destroy the Hamas movement,” stressing that the way to end the conflict is for Hamas to lay down its weapons and return the hostages.
On the other hand, the Palestinian Authority called on the United States to intervene immediately to prevent the Israeli authorities from invading Rafah and displacing its citizens.
She stressed that Israel’s occupation of the Rafah crossing and the threat to displace citizens from shelter centers are considered war crimes.
International criticism
Internationally, a US State Department spokesman said on Tuesday that the United States has made clear its views to Israel regarding a major ground invasion of the city of Rafah.
“We continue to believe that the hostage agreement is in the interests of Israel and the Palestinian people, will lead to an immediate ceasefire agreement, and will allow for increased humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the spokesman added in an email.
China and France also announced their opposition to the Israeli ground attack on Rafah, considering that it would lead to a large-scale humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.
In a joint statement with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed the need to protect civilians in Gaza in accordance with international humanitarian law.
On Tuesday, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, criticized the Israeli army’s advance towards the city of Rafah in Gaza.
“I fear that this will again cause many casualties, and I mean civilian victims,” Borrell said.
In turn, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned of a large-scale military attack on Rafah, saying that a million people could not disappear into thin air.
She added in a tweet on the X website that the residents of Rafah urgently need more humanitarian assistance, and the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings must be opened immediately.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry also condemned the Israeli attacks on Rafah, stressing that they show that Israel is not acting in good faith and must immediately withdraw from the Rafah crossing.
She added that any attack on Rafah would affect the entire world, and Israel must withdraw from the part it controlled at the Rafah crossing immediately.
Devastating consequences
In turn, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that an Israeli invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip would have devastating humanitarian consequences and a destabilizing effect on the stability of the region.
The Secretary-General of the United Nations expressed his deep concern about the Israeli military movements in Rafah, saying that invading the city would be unacceptable and intolerable given the presence of about 1.5 million displaced people in the region.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, also described the deportation orders issued by the Israeli army for residents of eastern Rafah as inhumane.
For his part, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to avoid further “humanitarian disasters.”
Peters said, in a statement on the government’s website, on Tuesday, “The suffering in Gaza cannot be allowed to increase. Both parties bear responsibility for the ceasefire.”
In turn, Belgian Minister of Development Cooperation Caroline Guinez called on European Union member states to stop exporting weapons to Israel.
In a press conference, she stressed the need to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling on the European Union Commission to continue its commitments and funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Arab demands
In the Arab world, Egyptian media reported that Cairo demanded that Tel Aviv stop its military movements at the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side “immediately.”
The Cairo News Channel quoted an unnamed source, which it described as “high-level”, that an Egyptian security delegation warned its counterparts in Israel of the consequences of storming the Rafah crossing from the Palestinian side, and requested that this movement be stopped immediately.
Today, Tuesday, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry previously condemned the Israeli military operations in Rafah, and the resulting Israeli control of the crossing.
It considered that “this dangerous escalation threatens the lives of more than a million Palestinians who depend primarily on this crossing as it is the main lifeline of the Gaza Strip, and the safe outlet for the wounded and sick to exit to receive treatment, and for the entry of humanitarian and relief aid to our Palestinian brothers in Gaza.”
For his part, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Al-Safadi said that Israel occupied the Rafah crossing and closed it to humanitarian aid instead of giving negotiations an opportunity, adding that the attack on Rafah threatens another massacre. He stressed that the Security Council must act decisively immediately, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must face real consequences.
The Lebanese Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday that the Israeli army’s targeting of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, portends a “severe humanitarian catastrophe” and contributes to the implementation of Israeli forced displacement plans for Palestinians.
She said in a statement, “Any action against Rafah threatens to cause a severe humanitarian catastrophe for more than a million Palestinians who have been displaced to the region as a result of the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip for seven months.”
Yesterday, Monday, the Israeli army announced the start of a “limited-scale” military operation in Rafah, and issued warnings to 100,000 Palestinians to forcibly “evacuate” the east of the city and head to the Al-Mawasi area, southwest of the Strip.
Since October 7, the Israeli war on Gaza has left tens of thousands of Palestinians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues the war against the Gaza Strip despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting immediately, and also despite the International Court of Justice demanding that it take immediate measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
