Israel is determined to continue its unspecified plans to invade the town of Rafah in southern Gaza, where millions of displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his intention to extend the military operation in an interview broadcast Saturday evening. “We’re going to do it,” he said, adding that plans were still being developed.
This declaration comes despite international concern about the risk of carnage. An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are crowded into Rafah and surrounded by the border with Egypt, after being ordered by the Israeli army to evacuate their homes elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.
The United States, Israel’s main backer, has warned of plans to expand the ground assault on the city, which has been subject to almost daily aerial bombardment for months.
At least 25 Palestinians were killed in nighttime strikes on Rafah, according to Tel Aviv Tribune journalists on the ground, as the Israeli army intensified its attacks this week. More than 28,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza war began on October 7.
Nowhere to go
Netanyahu said in the interview with US media outlet ABC News that he agreed with Washington on the need to evacuate civilians from Rafah before any ground invasion.
“We are going to do this while providing safe passage for the civilian population so that they can leave,” he said, according to published excerpts of the interview.
However, it is unclear where such a large number of people, pressed against the border with Egypt and sheltering in makeshift tents, could go.
When asked, Netanyahu simply replied that they are “developing a detailed plan.”
“The areas we cleared north of Rafah are… there are many areas there,” he said.
“Those who say we should under no circumstances enter Rafah are essentially saying ‘lose the war, keep Hamas there,'” he said.
Reporting from Rafah, Tel Aviv Tribune’s Tareq Abu Azzoum said desperate Palestinians in the region feel they no longer have a choice.
“We must remember that the majority of injured and displaced people were transferred to Rafah in order to be away from Israeli operations,” he said.
Tensions with Egypt
Egypt has fiercely opposed the plan, which threatens to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to its Sinai Peninsula.
He also remains very cautious about the intensification of Israeli military activity near its borders. Cairo has warned that its decades-old peace treaty with Israel could be threatened if Israel deploys troops to its border.
Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev said the Israeli government took Egypt’s sensitivity regarding the military operation in Rafah seriously and that the two sides would reach an agreement.
Mamoun Abu Nowar, a retired general in the Jordanian air force, told Tel Aviv Tribune that Hamas has deep tunnels in the region, some of which run through Egypt.
“In order to control these tunnels,” he continued, “they have to work very hard, cutting off these command posts or destroying them, so (Hamas) loses this command as a whole, but it would be a fight very very difficult. it would take months.
‘Recipe for disaster’
International warnings against an invasion of Rafah continue to pour in.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in a message on with Egypt.
I echo the warning by several EU Member States that an Israeli offensive on Rafah would lead to an indescribable humanitarian catastrophe and serious tensions with Egypt.
Resumption of negotiations to release the hostages and suspend hostilities is the only way to avoid bloodshed.
– Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) February 10, 2024
Regional leaders are also sounding the alarm. Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), said an attack on Rafah would further destabilize the region and harm Palestinians.
UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said on Sunday there was a growing sense of anxiety and panic in Rafah.
“A military offensive in the midst of these completely exposed and vulnerable populations is a recipe for disaster. I’m almost mute,” he said.