Israeli PM Vows To Invade Rafah Despite Humanitarian Concerns

Despite mounting international concern about the plight of Palestinian people sheltering in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to send military forces into the area.

Netanyahu emphasized that “no amount of international pressure will stop us from realising all the goals of the war,” before his security and war ministers were scheduled to debate the most recent international efforts towards a truce agreement.

He said, “To do this, we will also operate in Rafah,” during a cabinet meeting, just hours before he was scheduled to meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks about the war that has been going on since October 7.

Israel has promised on multiple occasions to go on the offensive against Hamas fighters in Rafah, where around 1.5 million displaced Gazans are currently taking refuge close to the Egyptian border.

A Rafah assault, according to US President Joe Biden, would be a “red line” in the absence of reliable measures to safeguard people. The US offers Israel military support worth billions of dollars.

Head of the UN World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “this humanitarian catastrophe must not be allowed to worsen” and pleaded with Israel “in the name of humanity” not to attack Rafah.

The aim of the upcoming meeting in Qatar was to restart negotiations for a ceasefire and agreement on the release of hostages.

According to a Palestinian group spokesman, a proposal from Hamas asks for increased humanitarian supplies and an Israeli departure from “all cities and populated areas” in Gaza during a six-week truce.

Israel intends to participate in the negotiations; according to Netanyahu’s office, cabinet members would “decide on the mandate of the delegation in charge of the negotiations before its departure for Doha.” However, they did not specify when they would depart.

As the conflict went on, the Gaza Health Ministry reported that at least 61 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombardment throughout the Hamas-ruled area during the course of the night.

Twelve members of the same family, whose home was struck in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah, were among the dead.

According to an AFP calculation of official estimates, Hamas’s October 7 strike on southern Israel resulted in roughly 1,160 casualties, largely civilians. This attack set off the war.

The health ministry reports that at least 31,645 individuals have died in Gaza as a result of Israel’s retaliatory operation against Hamas, the majority of them were women and children.

There have been reports of shelling and fighting in Khan Yunis, the main city of south Gaza, as well as other places. The Israeli army claimed to have killed “approximately 18 terrorists” in central Gaza since Saturday.

The UN has frequently warned of impending hunger for the 2.4 million people living in the coastal enclave of Gaza, where more than five months of war and an Israeli embargo have left the region in terrible humanitarian conditions.

According to officials of the island nation, a second ship was scheduled to leave Cyprus along a new sea channel to deliver food and relief supplies to Gaza, as the flow of assistance trucks into the region has halted.

The Spanish assistance vessel Open Arms, which had pioneered the sea approach, carried a barge containing supplies, which the US organization World Central Kitchen reported its staff had completed unloading on Saturday.

On Sunday, Jordan stated that German, US, and Egyptian planes had participated in the most recent humanitarian airdrop over northern Gaza.

The north, where many claim to have resorted to eating animal feed and where some have assaulted the few relief vehicles that have made it through, has proven particularly difficult for the UN to access.