“A military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic. About 1.5 million Palestinians are taking refuge in the area, including many of our citizens and their families,” the leaders said. “With the humanitarian situation in Gaza already dire, the impacts on Palestinian civilians from an expanded military operation would be devastating.”
The United Nations had warned on Wednesday that “military operations in Rafah could lead to a slaughter in Gaza and put a fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.”
“The international community has been warning against the dangerous consequences of any ground invasion in Rafah. The government of Israel cannot continue to ignore these calls,”said the U.N.’s humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths in a statement.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, on Wednesday wrote a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen calling for an “urgent review” of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a trade pact, and warning that Israel may be in breach of human rights obligations embedded in the pact.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ignored the growing international calls for a general cease-fire and halt of a planned offensive in southern Gaza. “We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones,” he wrote on X.
Hamas gunmen launched an unprecedented assault on Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages, some of whom have been released and others killed. Since then, Israel has been carrying out retaliatory strikes on Gaza, in which more than 28,000 people have been killed, according to the Gaza health ministry.
