Growing signs of an impending Israeli assault on Rafah
More signs are on the horizon of a potential Israeli military incursion into Rafah.
The military has deployed more troops in all areas that are adjacent to Rafah district. And since the early hours of this morning, they have been pounding the majority of the agricultural land in the eastern areas of Rafah.
The military plan that Israel has proposed to the US administration stresses the Israelis’ wish to evacuate the vast majority of Rafah’s population to other areas in Gaza. These areas are still unknown, and the evacuation process will be very difficult.
But the real question is where the locations could be in light of the ongoing destruction of the majority of Gaza’s civil infrastructure. Life in other areas of the Strip will be critically difficult.
Palestinians fearing Rafah invasion ‘don’t know where to go next’
As concerns mount over a potential Israeli military incursion into Rafah, many Palestinians sheltering there are at a loss over where they could turn next as much of the rest of the enclave is in shambles, reports Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum from Rafah.
Evacuating displaced Palestinians in Rafah to other areas of Gaza, as Israel has proposed, would be especially catastrophic for those who need medical care, which is sparsely available in the rest of the enclave.
“If people are transferred to other parts of the Gaza Strip, it will be a full collapse of medical services,” said Abu Azzoum.
G7 ministers call for Gaza ceasefire, oppose Rafah invasion
Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) bloc have issued a joint statement after a meeting on the Italian island of Capri.calling for the release of Israeli captives in Gaza and a sustainable ceasefire in the enclave
The G7 statement also expressed opposition to a full-scale military operation inside Rafah, which Israel’s government has been threatening despite the presence of more than 1.7 million displaced Palestinians there.
“We reiterate our call for a credible and actionable plan to protect the civilian population there,” the foreign ministers said.
G7 members include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as the European Union.
