US demonstrators have gathered in front of the White House to protest the Israeli regime’s planned invasion of the city of Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, as the occupying regime continues its genocidal war on the besieged enclave.
The protesters they carried Palestinian flags and chanted against President Joe “Biden genocidal administration.”
They carried banners reading ‘Hands off Rafah’, ‘Biden: Rafah Is On You Stop This Slaughter’, ‘Save Rafah’, and ‘End All US Aid To Israel.’
More than one million people, above five times Rafah’s usual population, have fled to the southern Gaza city amid Israel’s brutal war which started in early October.
On Friday, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the regime’s military to “prepare to operate” in and evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned ground offensive against the densely populated city.
The Tel Aviv regime’s decision to push ahead with a ground offensive against Rafah has drawn widespread condemnations from international organizations around the world as well as political figures in the West.
Rights groups have already warned against such a move, given the scale of devastation across the Gaza Strip as a result of the months-long Israeli aggression and the huge number of people trapped in the besieged area.
South Africa has also filed an “urgent request” at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over Israel’s planned ground invasion of Rafah, urging its intervention to protect Palestinian rights.
Last month, the ICJ ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in the case brought by South Africa.
Rafah, housing more than 1.2 million Palestinians, is the last major population center in the Gaza Strip that Israeli troops have yet to invade and also the main point of entry for desperately needed relief supplies.
Israel waged the devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity over its intensified violence against Palestinians.
The Israeli aggression has so far killed some 28,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The Tel Aviv regime has imposed a “complete siege” on the territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
