The US government has criticized Israel’s conduct of the war, particularly with regard to the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israel is on track to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas fighters, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on US television. There is also a risk of a vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of troops, one of chaos, anarchy and probably… of Hamas be refilled.
Blinken also said that Hamas terrorists have already moved to certain areas in the north of the country Gaza Strip who had previously been considered “liberated” by Israel had returned. Even if there were a major Israeli attack on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, thousands of Hamas supporters would remain, said the US Secretary of State. The USA wants to see Israel provide a plan for the post-war period.
More civilians killed than terrorists
When asked, Blinken said that the US shared Israel’s assessment that so far more civilians than terrorists had been killed in the Gaza war. The interviewer was referring to a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the Israeli military had killed 14,000 Hamas terrorists so far. Because Hamas uses civilians as human shields, 16,000 civilians were killed at the same time, Netanyahu said. Blinken criticized the fact that Israel does have procedures to reduce the suffering of civilians. However, these are not applied “consistently and effectively”.
More attacks on Rafah this weekend
Despite international pressure and the US threat to stop arms supplies if Israel launched a major attack in Rafah, the Israeli army continued its attacks on the city over the weekend. According to Israeli figures, around 300,000 people have already fled east of Rafah. A total of around 1.5 million people had previously gathered in the city because of the fighting in other regions.
New evacuation notices were also issued by the Israeli army over the weekend in Jabalia, northern Gaza. According to Israeli sources, Hamas is trying to rebuild its military capabilities there. The Israeli army carried out operations there, as well as in the Seitun district in Gaza City.
You can read more about the current developments in the Gaza war in the live blog.
The US government has criticized Israel’s conduct of the war, particularly with regard to the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israel is on track to inherit an insurgency with many armed Hamas fighters, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on US television. There is also a risk of a vacuum resulting from the withdrawal of troops, one of chaos, anarchy and probably… of Hamas be refilled.
Blinken also said that Hamas terrorists have already moved to certain areas in the north of the country Gaza Strip who had previously been considered “liberated” by Israel had returned. Even if there were a major Israeli attack on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, thousands of Hamas supporters would remain, said the US Secretary of State. The USA wants to see Israel provide a plan for the post-war period.