US Warns Against Impending Israeli Assault On Refugee-Packed Rafah
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he has voiced "concerns" to Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding the Israeli Defense Forces' (IDF) impending ground operation against the far southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees have until this point sought out the greater 'safety' of Rafah. But Al Jazeera observes that "Panic is growing in Rafah over an imminent ground invasion after Israel’s prime minister ordered his military to prepare to enter the city in the southern Gaza Strip that is sheltering 1.2 million people with nowhere else to go as he rejected Hamas’s truce plan and rebuffed US efforts to reach a deal."
Initially almost the entire population of the northern half of the Strip moved south to the Khan Younis area, but after in past weeks it came under massive assault - as the IDF has sought to root out Hamas' command structure from there - throngs of Palestinian refugees were forced further south, to the border with Egypt.
According to Axios, "Blinken also expressed concerns about the failures of communication between the IDF and international organizations and insufficient deconfliction, which led to the targeting of UN personnel who were delivering aid, the sources said."
The report further indicates Blinken communicated the following to the Israelis:
- The U.S. is concerned that an Israeli Defense Forces operation in the city without evacuating the civilian population to safe areas will lead to mass casualties.
- It also fears that such an operation will push tens of thousands of Palestinians into Egypt. The Egyptian government has already warned the displacement of Palestinians to Egypt would lead to a rupture in its relations with Israel.
