The UN fears a widespread Israeli offensive in Rafah. She “would not only be terrifying for the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there; it would also spell the end of our aid programs”, warned Antonio Guterres, his secretary general, Monday February 26. Assistance to a population in great distress remains “totally insufficient”he added. This declaration comes before an expected Israeli offensive in Rafah, a town in the south of the Palestinian territory where, according to the UN, nearly 1.5 million Palestinians, the vast majority displaced, are crowded together in extremely precarious conditions. Follow our live stream.
Israel prepares its ground offensive on Rafah. The Israeli army “presented to the war cabinet a plan for the evacuation of populations from combat zones in the Gaza Strip, as well as the plan for future operations”declared Monday, February 26, the Office of the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a short press release, without providing details.
Rafah, Hamas’s “last bastion”. According to Benjamin Netanyahu, the city of Rafah, backed by the closed border of Egypt, is THE “last bastion” of the Islamist movement Hamas. An offensive would only be “delayed” if a truce currently being negotiated was concluded, he declared on Sunday on the American channel CBS. By launching this operation, Israel will be “a few weeks” of a “total victory” on Hamas, he said.
Ongoing discussions for a new truce. Egyptian, Qatari and American representatives, as well as Israel and Hamas, resumed negotiations on Sunday in Doha. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that a “middle ground” had been found during a recent meeting in Paris between representatives of Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar, on the “outlines” of a possible agreement on the release of the hostages and “a temporary ceasefire”.
Air raids continue in the southern Gaza Strip. DNew bombings targeted Rafah on Sunday and fighting raged in the ruined town of Khan Younes, a few kilometers further north. Since the start of the war triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, the Gaza Strip, besieged by Israel, has suffered a major humanitarian catastrophe and 2.2 million people, the vast majority of the population, have been threatened with a “mass starvation”according to the UN.