The UN chief said a ground invasion of the city would widen the “humanitarian nightmare with incalculable regional consequences”.
Panic grows in Rafah over an imminent ground invasion after Israel’s prime minister ordered his army to prepare to enter the southern Gaza Strip city that is home to 1.2 million people and has no nowhere to go, as he rejected Hamas’ truce plan and rebuffed U.S. efforts to reach a deal.
A new round of negotiations aimed at securing a truce with Hamas is set to open in Egypt on Thursday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not end the war and would continue until “total victory” over the Palestinian group.
Visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted on Wednesday that he still saw “space to reach an agreement” and was meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday with Israeli war cabinet members Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot to discuss the release of captives held in Israel. Gaza.
“We are on the path to absolute victory,” Netanyahu said Wednesday, adding that the operation would last months, not years. “There is no other solution.”
Overnight Israeli airstrikes on Rafah – which Israel had once declared a safe zone for displaced Palestinians – killed 14 people, including five children.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Rafah, said: “What people are experiencing in the southern part of the Gaza Strip is an increase in air, land and sea attacks. »
Safia Marouf, a displaced Palestinian who sought refuge in Rafah with her family after being uprooted from their home further north, said she is afraid of what awaits her. “The children are afraid all the time and if we want to leave Rafah, we don’t know where to go. What will be our destiny and that of our children?
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground invasion of Rafah would “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with incalculable regional consequences.”
“Critical phase”
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hashem Ahelbarra said the meeting in Egypt indicated that “we are heading towards a critical phase of any potential deal between Israel and Hamas” after senior Hamas leader Osama Hamdan said a delegation was going to Cairo.
“I think we’ve reached a point where we’re really talking about the operational aspects of the deal, and what’s happening behind closed doors is a real, real push toward that,” Ahelbarra said.
The Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in March puts “political pressure on the leaders of this part of the world”, he said, adding that if Israeli attacks continue, “I will not see any chance of achieving to an agreement in the near future.
Hamas had drawn up a three-phase plan that would take place over four and a half months and would see the release of all captives in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, including high-ranking fighters, and an end to the war. .
“While there are clear failures in Hamas’ response, we believe this creates space to reach an agreement, and we will work tirelessly toward it,” Blinken told reporters after meeting with Netanyahu to discuss the Hamas’ counterproposal to an elaborate truce plan. set up by the heads of the American and Israeli intelligence services and transmitted to the Palestinian group last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Rory Challands said Blinken “came to make a deal and he didn’t get it.”
“He will always try to bridge the huge gap between Israel and Hamas. Maybe he’s right – maybe there’s a chance. But for now, he’s going back to Washington empty-handed,” Challands said Thursday.
