Israeli airstrikes hit the densely populated area of Rafah on Saturday (10/2) following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's order for his troops to “be ready to operate” in the southern border town. Even though Rafah is the last place of defense for Palestinian refugees.
Netanyahu's planned attack on Rafah, where some 1.3 million people have sought refuge, drew condemnation from human rights groups and Washington. On the other hand, Palestinians complain about their condition of having no place to move.
Eyewitnesses reported an attack on Rafah on Saturday (10/2) morning, after the Israeli military intensified air strikes. Residents feared the attack would be followed by a land invasion.
“We don't know where to go,” said Mohammad al-Jarrah, a Palestinian who fled north to Rafah.
A woman and child sit outside a tent housing Palestinian refugees in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2024. (Photo: AFP)
The city is the last major population center in the Gaza Strip that has not been entered by Israeli troops. But it is also the main entry point for much-needed aid supplies.
Netanyahu told military officials on Friday to “submit to the cabinet a plan to evacuate the population and destroy the battalions” of Hamas holed up in Rafah, his office said.
The US State Department said it did not support a ground attack on Rafah, and warned that, if not well planned, such an operation risked “catastrophe”.
Washington is Israel's main international backer, pouring in billions of dollars in military aid.
But in a sign of his growing frustration with Israel's leadership, President Joe Biden issued his sharpest criticism of the conduct of the war. He described retaliation for the Hamas attack on October 7 as excessive.
“I am of the view, as you know, that the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been excessive,” said the US President.
“There are many innocent people starving… in distress and dying, and this has to stop.”
Die at Home
Palestinians fleeing other cities in Gaza have flooded into Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people sleep in tents located near the Egyptian border.
AFP images showed scenes of destruction in the streets of Rafah, where people queued for increasingly scarce water.
Palestinians witness the impact of Israeli air strikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, February 9, 2024. (Photo: AP)
Human rights groups have warned of a possible ground attack there.
“Israel's declared ground offensive on Rafah would be catastrophic and must not proceed,” Doctors Without Borders said in a statement. “There is no safe place in Gaza and no way for people to get out.”
The Palestinian Red Crescent said on Friday that three children were killed in the attack in Rafah.
“We heard a big explosion next to our house… we found two children dead in the street,” said 60-year-old Jaber al-Bardini.
“There is no safe place in Rafah. If they invade Rafah, we will die in our house. We have no choice. We don't want to go anywhere else.”
The Israeli army said its troops had “eliminated 15 terrorists” in the past day in Khan Yunis, the largest city in southern Gaza.
United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres said any Israeli attack on Rafah “would exponentially escalate what is already a nightmare for humanity”.
But Netanyahu's office said it was “impossible” to achieve the war's goal of eliminating Hamas while leaving four battalions of militants in Rafah. (ah/ft)