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Rafah ground invasion would be ‘intolerable’, says UN chief
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that a ground invasion of Rafah would be “intolerable” and called on Israel and Hamas “to go an extra mile” to reach a truce deal.
“This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, and a ground invasion in Rafah would be intolerable because of its devastating humanitarian consequences, and because of its destabilising impact in the region,” Guterres said ahead of a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella in New York.
No red lines’ for Israeli military in war on the Gaza Strip: Analyst
Antony Loewenstein, author of The Palestine Laboratory, which focuses on Israel’s military-technological complex, said the Israeli military’s reported shelling of the land crossing between Egypt and Gaza in the Rafah area demonstrates that Israel has “no red lines” in its war on the Palestinian territory.
“After the last month, when we’ve consistently heard from President Biden and many in the EU, even in the Arab world, that there is a red line – Israel cannot go into Rafah. That red line does not exist,” Loewenstein told Al Jazeera.
“What we are seeing here, I think, is Netanyahu’s so-called ‘strategy’, which is he realises that within the Israeli public, he is deeply unpopular. His stated aims on October 7, none of them have been achieved. Namely, so-called ‘total victory’ over Hamas. Destroying Hamas or getting all the hostages back. None of that has happened. He therefore feels that continuing the war – so-called ‘forever war’ – is essential.
“It’s important to note that Rafah, as you rightly say, is not just a key crossing point for aid but also for people. The only way Palestinians can get out of Rafah – the ones that are able to leave – is there and if that border shuts, then the roughly 1.5 million Palestinians who are trapped in Rafah have nowhere to go.”
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 6
At least eight killed so far in Israeli bombardment of Rafah: Wafa
At least eight people have been killed in Rafah, the Wafa news agency reports, as the Israel military continues its assault on the city in southern Gaza.
The Israeli military has killed five people and injured more after bombing a house in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood in the west of Rafah, according to Wafa. The Israeli military has also killed at least three people, including a child, after bombing a house belonging to the Abu Amra family in western Rafah.
There were celebrations in Gaza on Monday after Hamas said it had accepted an Egyptian- and Qatari-brokered ceasefire deal. But the Israeli prime minister’s office released a statement saying the “proposal is far from Israel’s requirements” and it will “continue the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas”.
Four killed in Israeli air attack on eastern Rafah: Report
An Israeli attack on a house in eastern Rafah has killed four people, news outlet the Palestinian Information Center reports. It said that the Israeli bomb struck the Al-Hams family’s home in the al-Jnaina neighbourhood of the city in southern Gaza.
The Israeli military is carrying out a relentless bombardment of Rafah from land and air, claiming it is striking Hamas targets in the city. Earlier, we reported that at least eight people were killed in two other strikes on homes in the city.
We will bring you more updates on the situation in Rafah when we have them.
Palestinians struggle to evacuate Rafah
Palestinians are struggling to evacuate Rafah, after the Israeli military dropped leaflets ordering them to leave as a large-scale assault on the city in southern Gaza begins.
About 1.5 million Palestinians were sheltering in Rafah, once designated a “safe zone” by the Israeli military, before these latest evacuation orders.
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