More than a million people now live in Rafah. Now Israel’s offensive on the last place in the Gaza Strip under Hamas control is imminent. Israel is apparently planning huge tent cities for the refugees.
According to a media report, Israel has proposed tent cities for the city’s population to be evacuated ahead of the planned military offensive on Rafah. As the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian officials, 15 camps, each with around 25,000 tents, are to be set up in the southwestern part of the sealed-off coastal strip. Egypt, which borders Rafah, would therefore be responsible for the facility.
Israel sees the city as the last bastion of the terrorist organization Hamas in the Gaza Strip. However, according to UN figures, 1.3 million people live in the town, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war. Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip, some on orders from the Israeli military.
The Hamas terrorists wanted to use the civilians in Rafah as human shields, Israeli government spokesman Eilon Levi said yesterday. Therefore they had to be brought to safety from the offensive. Addressing the UN agencies, he said: “Don’t say it can’t be done. Work with us and find out!”
Gray areas: Built-up areas in the Gaza Strip, hatching: Israeli army
“We will not participate in expulsion”
Israel’s planned military offensive on Rafah is met with strong international criticism. Everything that happens in the southern part of the region on the border with Egypt must take place with full respect for the protection of the civilian population, said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric: “We will not take part in the expulsion of people.”
In addition, the spokesman for UN Secretary-General António Guterres doubted that there were safe havens in other areas of the Gaza Strip: “You cannot send people back to areas that are littered with unexploded ordnance, not to mention that there is a lack of shelter there .”
Biden calls for protection of civilians
US President Joe Biden also once again urged the protection of the civilian population. The attack “should not take place without a credible plan to ensure the safety and support of more than a million people seeking protection there,” he said yesterday (local time) after a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House. Many people in Rafah are “crammed together, unprotected and defenseless.” The US government has always made it clear that it is against any expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
According to Biden, the United States is working on a cease-fire of “at least six weeks” in the Gaza Strip and on a hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas, which will bring “an immediate and lasting period of calm” for the Gaza Strip.
Abdullah II also warned of an offensive. “It will certainly lead to another humanitarian disaster,” he said. The situation is already unbearable. He called for an immediate, permanent ceasefire. In addition, humanitarian aid must urgently reach the Gaza Strip.
China also called on Israel to end military operations in southern Gaza. The Foreign Ministry said it is very concerned about developments in the Rafah region and rejects any action that harms civilians. Israel should end its military operations as quickly as possible and do everything possible to prevent a major humanitarian catastrophe.
Peace plan for the Israeli-Lebanese border
France, meanwhile, has presented Lebanon with a proposal to end hostilities on the Israeli-Lebanese border, according to the Reuters news agency. Accordingly, Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné made the suggestion last week to, among others, the Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati. “We have made proposals and are in contact with the Americans. It is important that we bring all initiatives together and create peace,” Séjourné said yesterday.
According to the French proposal, fighters from various militias, including the Iranian-backed terrorist organization Hezbollah, should, among other things, withdraw ten kilometers from the border with Israel. The French three-stage plan calls for a ten-day de-escalation process. Up to 15,000 soldiers from the regular Lebanese army will also be stationed on the border with Israel.
In response to a Reuters query, a senior Hezbollah member said they would not discuss “matters related to the situation in southern Lebanon until the attacks on Gaza cease.” An Israeli official told Reuters the government was looking into the proposal.