Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 13 people in Rafah according to the Kuwaiti hospital, after Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to expand the offensive in the southern Gaza city. The United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights speaks of a risk of “war crimes”.
The strikes that occurred Thursday on the Tel al-Sultan camp, very close to the center of Rafah, killed at least 13 people, including two women and five children, according to the Kuwaiti hospital which received the bodies. At the scene of one of the strikes, residents used their cellphone flashlights to dig through the rubble with pickaxes and their bare hands.
More than half of the Gaza Strip’s population has fled to Rafah, a town on the largely closed border with Egypt that is also the main entry point for humanitarian aid. Egypt has warned that any ground operations there or mass movement across the border would jeopardize its 40-year history. -former peace treaty with Israel.
Israel’s four-month air and ground offensive – among the most destructive in recent history – has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, driven most people from their homes and pushed a quarter of the population into starvation.
Offensive on Rafah
Benjamin Netanyahu said the offensive would continue and extend to a ” total victory » on Hamaswhich sparked the war by launching a large-scale attack in southern Israel on October 7, in which militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took around 250 hostages.
Israel’s goals appear increasingly elusive, as Hamas re-emerges in parts of northern Gaza, which was the first target of the offensive and has seen immense destruction. Israel rescued only one hostage, while Hamas says several were killed in airstrikes or botched rescue missions.
Benjamin Netanyahu said preparations were being made to expand the offensive to Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people who have fled other areas are crowded into tent camps and UN-run shelters.
The Palestinian death toll after four months of war has already reached 27,840, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures, but says most of the dead were women and children.
International aid organizations have warned that any major operation in Rafah would worsen what is already a humanitarian catastrophe.
“ Buffer » and risk of “ war crimes » pointed out by the UN
UN human rights chief Volker Türk on Thursday expressed concern over the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure by Israeli defense forces in Gaza. “ The Israeli Defense Forces would destroy all buildings in the Gaza Strip that are within a kilometer of the Israel-Gaza barrier, clearing the area in an attempt to create a “buffer zone”», said Volker Türk.
Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits the destruction by the occupying power of property belonging to private individuals. except when this destruction is made absolutely necessary by military operations “. “ Destructions carried out to create a “buffer zone” for general security purposes do not appear to be compatible with the narrow exception of “military operations” provided for in international humanitarian law », Points out the High Commissioner.
“ Massive destruction of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out illegally and without cause, amounts to a serious violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and a war crime. “, Turk said.
“ Since October, my office has recorded widespread destruction and demolition by the IDF of civilian and other infrastructure, including residential buildings, schools and universities in areas where fighting is not or no longer taking place. “.
Such demolitions also took place in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, Al-Shujaiyeh in Gaza City and Al-Nuseirat camp in central Gaza. Demolitions have also been reported in other areas, with the destruction of numerous buildings and residential blocks taking place in Khan Younis in recent weeks.
“ Israel has not provided clear reasons for such extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure “, he added.
New round of negotiations for a truce
The United States, Qatar and Egypt are trying to negotiate a new ceasefire agreement to secure the release of the remaining hostages. But Hamas has demanded an end to the war, Israel’s complete withdrawal from Gaza and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including prominent activists.
Benjamin Netanyahu rejected these demands on Tuesday, calling them “ delusional “, and declared that Israel would never accept a deal leaving Hamas in partial or total control of the territory it has ruled since 2007.
But visiting Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a deal was still possible and negotiations would continue, the latest sign of a growing divide between the two close allies over the path forward. A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo on Thursday for new negotiations.
The Israeli prime minister is under increasing pressure from the hostages’ families and the general public to return them home, even if it requires a deal with Hamas. At least one senior Israeli official has acknowledged that saving captives and destroying Hamas could be incompatible.
Hamas still holds more than 130 hostages, but around 30 of them are believed to be dead, the vast majority having been killed on October 7. It is widely believed that the group holds captives in tunnels deep underground and uses them as human shields for its top leaders.