NPR (“Israeli military operation in Rafah ‘cannot proceed,’ U.S. ambassador to the U.N. says“):
As Israel prepares to escalate its military campaign on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told NPR that Israel has an obligation to keep civilians safe, and that under current conditions, a planned military operation there “cannot proceed.”
The flow of humanitarian assistance continues to lag far behind the needs of the nearly 1.5 million Palestinians who have taken shelter in Rafah.
BBC (“Warnings over Rafah offensive mount as Israel plans push in Gaza“):
Israel is facing growing international warnings over its planned offensive in Rafah – the city in southern Gaza crammed with Palestinian refugees.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said “over half of Gaza’s population are sheltering in the area”, while Dutch FM Hanke Bruins Slot said there could be “many civilian casualties”.
Saudi Arabia warned of “very serious repercussions” if Rafah was stormed.
Gaza’s Hamas rulers said there could be “tens of thousands” of casualties.
Israel launched its operations in the Palestinian enclave after more than 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel on 7 October by Hamas gunmen.
On Sunday the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said 112 more Palestinians had been killed by the Israeli military over the previous day, bringing the overall death toll to more than 28,100 and more than 67,500 injured.
Many Gazans have ended up in Rafah having been forced to flee their homes elsewhere at least once.
Saturday’s warnings came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his military to prepare to evacuate civilians from the city ahead of an expanded offensive against Hamas.
“It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war without eliminating Hamas, and by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah. It is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat,” Mr Netanyahu’s office said.
The prime minister also rejected Hamas’s latest proposed ceasefire terms.
The US has already warned Israel that an invasion of Rafah as part of its assault on Gaza would be a “disaster”, while the EU and the UN both expressed their own concerns.
Aid groups say it is not possible to evacuate everyone from the city on the border with Egypt.
UN humanitarian co-ordinator Jamie McGoldrick, who has just been to Gaza to assess the situation, told the BBC’s Barbara Plett Usher that people in Rafah would have “nowhere to go” if Israeli troops launched their offensive.
“The safe areas that were declared are no longer safe. And if these people have to move – where can they move? We are really fearful of the horrific nature of where we are could only ever get worse,” he said.
[…]
In a social media post, Mr Cameron said he was “deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah.
“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire.”
Meanwhile, Ms Bruins Slot described the situation in Rafah as “very worrying”.
“Many civilians in Gaza have fled south. Hard to see how large-scale military operations in such a densely populated area would not lead to many civilian casualties and a bigger humanitarian catastrophe. This is unjustifiable,” she added.
WSJ (“Defying Biden, Israel’s Netanyahu Doubles Down on Plans to Fight in Rafah“):
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government is preparing plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the southern Gaza city of Rafah so that Israeli forces can expand their campaign against Hamas there, despite warnings by the U.S. and United Nations of the potential cost in civilian lives and suffering.
The Biden administration has signaled increasing discomfort with Israeli talk of entering a city where more than one million Palestinians have taken refuge. President Biden last week called Israel’s offensive “over the top.”
That hasn’t stopped Netanyahu. In a move that puts his government at odds with the U.S., the Israeli leader is doubling down on military plans to enter Rafah. Analysts say Netanyahu is seeking to extend the war in Gaza as polls show waning domestic support for him but strong support for pursuing Hamas.
Netanyahu is taking his message directly to Americans, in an interview scheduled to air on ABC News later on Sunday. In a released preview, he declared that “victory is within reach” and that “we’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion.” Netanyahu said that not entering Rafah would be akin to losing the war against Hamas and allowing the group, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization, to survive.
Israel’s stated goal is to destroy Hamas and prevent it from posing further threats to the country’s security. Netanyahu’s government has also said that military pressure on Hamas is needed to compel the group to release more than 130 hostages still in Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that deepening the pursuit of Hamas in Gaza brings Israel closer to a “realistic deal in order to return the hostages.”
Israel’s proposed push on Rafah threatens to deepen a rift with the Biden administration, which faces growing pressure to temper its support for the war during an election year. Some Biden aides fear the president’s support for Israel could hurt his standing among younger voters as he seeks another term.
Netanyahu appeared to try to bridge that gap with the administration by saying Israel is focused on protecting civilians. “This I agree with the Americans. We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave,” said Netanyahu.
The U.N. has warned that an Israeli offensive in Rafah would “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare.” The city has so far been mostly spared from the heavy firefights seen in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis and Gaza City in the north.
On where Palestinians would be able to go after Rafah, Netanyahu said Israel is working out a detailed plan, while mentioning “plenty of areas” north of the city that he said Israel had cleared. “We’re not cavalier about this,” he said.
A horrific war is about to get uglier. But, as much as world leaders urge restraint, Netanyahu and his war council clearly believe this is what’s necessary to achieve their incredibly challenging objective of destroying Hamas once and for all.
Recent remarks from Secretary of State Antony Blinken strike the right balance:
The brutality of Hamas attacks on Israel, he said, cannot be used to justify brutalising Palestinians.
“Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7,” he told a news conference in Tel Aviv. “The hostages have been dehumanised every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanise others.”
“The overwhelming majority of people in Gaza had nothing to do with the attacks of October 7,” Mr Blinken went on. “The families in Gaza whose survival depends on deliveries of aid from Israel are just like our families. They’re mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, who want to earn a decent living, send their kids to school, have a normal life. That’s who they are. That’s what they want.”
But translating that into foreign policy is another thing. The administration has made it clear that it will not condition military aid to Israel.
President Biden is in a particularly tough spot here, as he has fully embraced Netanyahu, to the consternation of many of his own staff. But urging “peace” and “restraint” is to little avail absent an end state that’s acceptable to Israel.
