The Biden administration said Thursday that it will not support Israeli plans for a military operation in Rafaha city in the southern Gaza Strip where more than half of the enclave’s total population has taken refuge, and both a White House spokesperson and the United Nations secretary general have warned of a catastrophe in the event of an Israeli attack.
“Given the circumstances and the conditions that we see there right now, we believe that a military operation at this time would be a disaster for those people,” the White House spokesman told reporters. John Kirby.
Until 1.8 million Of Gaza’s 2.2 million residents have fled their homes since the Israeli bombing and invasion began, and more than a million have sought refuge in Rafah, which sits on the border with Egypt and is a major passing by for aid trucks.
United Nations officials have warned that the city is overcrowded, squalid and lacks essential supplies.
An Israeli offensive on Rafah would create a “gigantic tragedy“said the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterresat a news conference, adding that combatants in the war have violated international conflict laws over the past four months.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby answers questions at the White House in Washington (Pete Marovich/The New York Times)“Half of Gaza’s population is now overcrowded in Rafah,” Guterres said.
“They have nowhere to go. They have no home and no hope. They live in overcrowded makeshift shelters, in unsanitary conditions, without running water, electricity or adequate food supplies.”
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahusaid Wednesday that Israeli troops had been ordered to prepare for deployment in Rafah, calling it one of the “last remaining strongholds” Hamas“, and Palestinian media reported Thursday that Israeli forces bombarded Rafah with airstrikes.
But Kirby said U.S. officials had seen “no plan that would convince us that they are going to conduct or are imminently going to conduct any kind of major operation in Rafah.”
With so many Palestinian refugees in Rafah, he said, “the Israeli army has a special obligation to conduct operations, there or elsewhere, to ensure that the protection of people is taken into account innocent civilian life“
He added, however, that “we will let the Israelis talk about their military operations.”
A spokesperson for the State Department, Vedant Patelmade similar statements Thursday, saying U.S. officials continued to have “very tough and frank conversations” with Israeli officials about the toll in Gaza.
The health authorities of the territory say that the deaths have exceeded 27,000 and that many more people were injured, including large numbers of women and children.
“We believe the number of civilian casualties in Gaza was too high,” Patel said. He added that US officials have pushed for measures that could limit deaths and that it is “a moral and strategic imperative to minimize the impact on civilians.”
Israel has said its forces are trying to limit harm to civilians and that it has allowed humanitarian aid into Gaza, while it claims Hamas is getting large quantities of aid.
For months, international pressure has been growing for Israel to reduce its military campaign and allow many more supplies to enter the territory.
UN requests
Senior United Nations officials have repeatedly called for a permanent humanitarian ceasefire, arguing that providing aid on the scale needed is nearly impossible for the duration of the war.
Tensions between the United Nations and Israel escalated further after Israel indicted 12 employees of the main U.N. aid agency for Palestinians, known as UNRWAfor participating in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, which Israeli authorities say killed around 1,200 people.
Guterres said he decided to immediately fire most of the accused staff members – two others had already died – because “those allegations were credible” and “the allegations were really dangerous.”
But he also said Israel has repeatedly denied access to UN humanitarian operations in Gaza, especially in the territory’s north.
In January, only 10 of 61 planned humanitarian convoys were allowed to reach the north, adding that aid workers faced multiple dangers, including live fire.
Guterres said Israel fired naval artillery fire at one of its humanitarian convoys this week.
“We are seeing violations of international humanitarian law and these violations must be stopped, not only by Israel,” Guterres said.
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Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.