After rejecting the plan Hamas of a ceasefire and ignore the pressures of United Statess to stop their offensive against the Palestinian Islamist group, Israel intensified its bombing in Rafahthe only city of Loop that has not yet invaded by land.
In that context, Benjamin Netanyahuthe first Minister Israeliordered his forces to prepare an operation in this city located in the extreme south of the Palestinian coastal territory, on the border with Egypt.
Israel rejected the Hamas proposal and US pressure
The announcement came after Netanyahu rejected a Hamas counterproposal to a ceasefire in exchange for hostage release presented by the United States and other mediators in the conflict.
Antony Blinken, the United States Secretary of State, pressured Israel’s prime minister to agree to stop the offensive. However, far from this, rejected the Hamas plan and ordered a ground offensive in Rafah.
Before ending his Middle East tour and leaving Israel, Blinken insisted that he saw “room for an agreement” and called on Israel to “protect” civilians in Gaza. Furthermore, he launched an unusual criticism and expressed that the Hamas attack on October 7 cannot “serve as a excuse to dehumanize“to the Palestinians.
Concern about the offensive that Israel is preparing in Gaza
For his part, the UN Secretary General António Guterresput all the focus on the ground offensive in Rafah and warned that it would “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare.”
After a first phase of offensive concentrated on the northern GazaIsraeli troops progressed towards the center and south of the narrow territory, especially in the city of Khan Yunis, which has been the epicenter of the fighting and bombings of recent weeks.
Attention now turns to Rafah, where some 1.3 million Palestinians have fled, more than half of the Gaza Strip’s total population of 2.3 million. However, Netanyahu announced yesterday in a television speech that he ordered the military “prepare to operate” in Rafah.
For its part, Hamas demands that Israel definitively end the offensive and withdraw its troops from Gazawhich would allow him to continue governing the territory and replenish his military capabilities, but Netanyhau completely rejects that plan.
Fear for the Palestinians sheltered in Rafah in the face of Israeli preparations to attack the city increases. Martin Griffiths, UN humanitarian chiefexpressed in a statement that “their living conditions are terrifying, they lack the basic needs to survive, they are plagued by hunger, disease and death.”
Furthermore, the head of state of the United States insisted that “any military operation carried out by Israel must put civilians first“.
Source: Ambito
