Israeli forces bombed areas within the southern border metropolis of Rafah, the place greater than half of Gaza’s internally displaced inhabitants is sheltering, because the United States warned {that a} navy push into the town might be a “disaster”.
Aid businesses have warned of a humanitarian disaster if Israel follows by way of on its menace to enter Rafah, the place persons are determined for shelter and one of many final remaining areas of the Gaza Strip into which its troops haven’t moved.
“To conduct such an operation right now with no planning and little thought in an area” the place a million persons are sheltering “would be a disaster,” State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel stated on Thursday.
He stated Washington had “yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation”.
Earlier, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that greater than one million civilians have been trapped within the metropolis in southern Gaza.
“Half of Gaza’s population is now crammed into Rafah. They have nowhere to go,” he stated.
Palestinians in Gaza are desperately hoping a ceasefire might arrive in time to move off the threatened Israeli assault on Rafah, arduous towards Gaza’s southern border fence and now residence to greater than one million individuals, a lot of them in makeshift tents.
Israeli planes bombed elements of the town on Thursday morning, residents stated, killing at the least 14 individuals in assaults on two homes. Tanks additionally shelled some areas in jap Rafah, intensifying the residents’ fears of an imminent floor assault.
Diplomatic efforts
The warnings come as diplomats sought to salvage ceasefire talks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Hamas proposal.
In an indication that the diplomacy was not over, a Hamas delegation led by senior official Khalil Al-Hayya arrived in Cairo on Thursday for ceasefire talks with key mediators Egypt and Qatar.
Netanyahu stated on Wednesday phrases proposed by Hamas for a ceasefire have been “delusional”, and pledged to battle on, saying victory was in attain and simply months away.
Despite Israel’s rejection of the Hamas proposal, extra talks are deliberate. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met mediators this week on his fifth journey to the area because the begin of the conflict, stated he nonetheless noticed room for negotiations.
Blinken additionally stated that the civilian loss of life toll was too excessive and reiterated that Israel’s operation ought to put civilians first.
“And that’s especially true in the case of Rafah, where there are somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4 million people, many of them displaced from other parts of Gaza,” he stated.
He stated he had steered some methods to minimise hurt in talks with Israeli leaders, however gave no particulars. Blinken departed to return to the US on Thursday afternoon.
The Hamas delegation in Egypt is predicted to fulfill officers together with Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Egyptian safety sources stated.
Hamas proposed a ceasefire of 4 and a half months, throughout which all hostages would go free, Israel would withdraw its troops and an settlement could be reached on an finish to the Israeli offensive. Its provide was a response to a proposal drawn up by US and Israeli spy chiefs with Qatar and Egypt, and delivered to Hamas final week.
Hamas says it won’t comply with any deal that doesn’t embrace an finish to the offensive and Israeli withdrawal. Israel says it won’t withdraw or cease preventing till Hamas is eradicated.
Israel started its large-scale navy offensive after Hamas fighters killed 1,139 individuals and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on October 7, in response to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s navy stated on Thursday that, through the previous day, its troops had killed greater than 20 fighters in Gaza’s predominant southern metropolis Khan Younis, now the location of a few of the conflict’s most intense preventing.
Gaza’s Health Ministry stated at the least 27,840 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, and greater than 67,000 injured because the conflict started.
The Israeli bombardment continued in Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, killing Palestinian tv journalist, Nafez Abdel-Jawwad, and his son.
At least 124 journalists and media representatives have been killed within the enclave up to now, Gaza’s info ministry stated.
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the principle UN support company for Palestinians, UNRWA, stated on X that the company had not been permitted to carry meals to areas the place persons are on the verge of famine.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/8/israel-escalates-rafah-bombardment-as-us-warns-of-a-disaster?traffic_source=rss
