The international community, including the US and Germany, Israel's staunch allies, has publicly opposed IDF plans to launch a military operation against Hamas in Rafah.
Egypt has warned that its 1979 peace treaty with Israel could be at risk, if Israel attacks the Gazan city, which is on the Egyptian border, the Wall Street Journal reported.
This development came as three senior members of the Hamas police in Rafah were killed as a result of an attack on their vehicle in the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood, west of the city, on Saturday, according to Israeli media reports. Those killed were identified as Ahmed al-Yakoubi, the director of investigations; his deputy, Ayman al-Rantisi; and Ibrahim Shatt.
The IDF said fighting is continuing across the Gaza Strip, with airstrikes carried out over the weekend against other Hamas cells attempting to attack Israeli troops.At least 15 Hamas fighters were killed in Khan Younis during raids on the terror group’s sites, the IDF said.
Egypt stressed on Saturday that it would not allow any mass displacement of Palestinians into its territory. “There is limited space and great risk in putting Rafah under further military escalation due to the growing number of Palestinians there,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said, warning that an escalation would have “dire consequences.”
Saudi Arabia and Jordan called for the United Nations Security Council to intervene.
On Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office said that “it is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah.”“It is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat,” the PMO said, acknowledging the importance of protecting innocent Palestinians.“Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions.”
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi posed on X, “Another bloodbath in Gaza cannot be allowed. An Israeli attack on 1.5m Palestinians already facing inhumane conditions in Rafah will cause a massacre of innocent people."“The [Security Council], the whole world, must prevent it [and] end an aggression that has stained our collective humanity,” Safadi wrote.
Opponents see IDF plans causing humanitarian catastrophe
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Saturday that “a large-scale IDF offensive in Rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe in the making. The people of #Gaza cannot vanish into thin air.”European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell wrote on X, “Reports of an Israeli military offensive on Rafah are alarming. It would have catastrophic consequences, worsening the already dire humanitarian situation & the unbearable civilian toll.”Rafah has hosted many of the Palestinians who fled from their homes in the north to escape Israel’s military campaign against Hamas that began after the October 7 massacre.It’s estimated that more than 1.3 million Palestinians are in that area, which is also a Hamas stronghold and territory through which the terror group has smuggled weapons into the enclave.The situation is made more complicated by Egypt’s refusal to allow Palestinians to flee across the border into the country, fearing that the displacement would become permanent.The timing of the operation just before the month-long Ramadan holiday that begins on March 10 forces the IDF into a tight schedule for the operation, lest it run into the holiday, which, in the past, has been an explosive period for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.According to the WSJ, an Egyptian delegation was in Israel Friday to warn against a Rafah military operation or the displacement of Palestinians into Egypt’s Sinai desert.Egypt, according to the WSJ, has also warned Hamas that if it doesn’t reach a deal for the release of 136 hostages held in Gaza within two weeks, Israel will proceed with its military operation in Rafah.While in Tel Aviv last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli officials about US concerns regarding the operation.National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby bluntly told reporters that the US opposed it unless there was a credible plan that would protect civilians and prevent their deaths.On Saturday, Baerbock wrote on X, “Israel must defend itself against Hamas. At the same time, it must do whatever it can to alleviate civilian suffering. That’s why another humanitarian pause is needed, also to finally get the hostages home. How to get there will be on my agenda when I visit Israel” this coming week.The office of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said Netanyahu’s plans aimed to displace the Palestinian people from their land. “Taking this step threatens security and peace in the region and the world. It crosses all red lines,” it stated.At the United Nations headquarters in New York, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a humanitarian truce. “It is time to have a humanitarian ceasefire before a gigantic tragedy develops in Gaza if we have the same kind of intensity of military operations in Gaza that we have seen in Khan Younis and other parts of Gaza territory. I mean, the same in Rafah, then,” he said.
Reuters contributed to this report.