Ignoring vociferous warnings about the pending humanitarian repercussions, the Israeli regime’s prime minister vows to carry out a ground invasion against the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, which is packed with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.
Speaking in a televised news conference on Saturday, Benjamin Netanyahu said critics calling for the regime not to mount military action against the southern Gaza city were effectively telling Tel Aviv to “lose the war.”
Nearly 29,000 Palestinians, mostly women, children, and adolescents, have already died in the genocidal war that the regime launched against Gaza on October 7, 2023 following an operation staged by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm.
Last week, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned ground operation.
The city has come to host some 1.5 million Palestinians, who have fled there from the ravages of the warfare.
Aid organizations say Rafah’s evacuation will be nearly impossible, given the scale of devastation elsewhere in Gaza and the huge number of people who have been trapped in the besieged area.
Also on Saturday, Netanyahu said the regime would invade Rafah even if it reached a deal with the Gaza Strip-based resistance movement of Hamas on the release of those, who were taken captive during Operation al-Aqsa Storm.
“Even if we achieve it, we will enter Rafah,” he said.
Earlier in the day, six humanitarian and human rights organizations, including Oxfam, ActionAid, War Child, and the Danish Refugee Council, jointly condemned Israeli forces’ ceaseless attacks against Gaza, calling on Tel Aviv to stop what they described as “collective punishment” of the Palestinians.
They also warned about the dire consequences of an imminent Israeli attack on Rafah.
“If Israel launches its proposed ground offensive, thousands more civilians will be killed and the current trickle of humanitarian aid risks coming to a complete halt. If this military plan is not stopped immediately, the consequences will be catastrophic,” the groups said in a statement.
