New York – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Israel once morest launching a ground military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
This came in press statements he made during his meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the United Nations headquarters in New York City.
Guterres added that a ground attack on Rafah would cause “terrible humanitarian consequences and drag the region into chaos.”
He stressed that the ground attack on Rafah “cannot be accepted.”
He touched on his call on Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement “to end the suffering of Gaza,” stressing that the agreement is “an opportunity that should not be missed.”
Yesterday, Monday, Guterres called on Israel and the faction movement to take the necessary steps immediately and reach an agreement to end the “suffering” in the Gaza Strip.
He expressed in a statement “deep concern” regarding indications that a large-scale military operation in Rafah may be imminent.
Yesterday, Monday, the faction movement said that the head of its political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, informed Qatar and Egypt of the movement’s approval of the two mediating countries’ proposal regarding a ceasefire agreement with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
While Netanyahu’s office claimed that the proposal approved by the faction movement is “far from meeting the requirements” of Tel Aviv, adding that Israel “will, however, send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust the possibility of reaching an agreement on acceptable terms” regarding the exchange of prisoners and a ceasefire, without saying anything. Explains these conditions.
The office indicated that the War Council decided “unanimously to continue the military operation in Rafah” under the pretext of “exerting pressure on the factional movement to release the kidnapped (Israeli prisoners) and achieve other war objectives.”
These developments regarding the ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal come hours following the Israeli army announced on Monday morning the start of a military operation in Rafah, which it claimed was “limited in scope,” and issued warnings to 100,000 Palestinians to “forcibly evacuate” the east of the city and head to the Al-Mawasi area, southwest of the Gaza Strip. .
Since last October 7, Israel, with American support, has been waging a war on Gaza that has left regarding 113,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and regarding 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that has claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
Israel continues the war despite the issuance of a resolution by the UN Security Council to stop the fighting immediately, and also despite the fact that the International Court of Justice asked it to take immediate measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Anatolia
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2024-05-09 10:20:42
