2024-03-23 12:18:57
Despite U.S. warnings, Israel insists on attacking Rafah
23.03.2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized that whether the United States supports it or not, he will launch a ground offensive once morest Rafah. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that if Rafah is attacked, Israel will face the risk of further global isolation.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) US Secretary of State Blinken told the media in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday (March 22): “We share a common goal with Israel, which is to defeat Hamas.” However, he also warned: “Carrying out large-scale ground military operations in Rafah is not a solution to the problem. Doing so may cause more civilian deaths, may cause greater difficulties for humanitarian assistance, and may It might further isolate Israel around the world and jeopardize Israel’s long-term security and status.”
After meeting with Blinken, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu said that he told Blinken that he was grateful for the United States’ support for Israel’s attack on Hamas. He also said that Israel knew that it needed to protect civilians. The Israeli leader added: “I also told him (Blinken) that we cannot defeat Hamas if we do not enter Rafah and eliminate the (Hamas) forces that remain there. I told him, I hope to do this with the support of the United States, but if we do not get support, we will act alone.” Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic extremist military organization that is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Germany, the European Union and other countries .
Rafah is called Gaza’s “last refuge”
Looking for “alternatives”
Previously,Netanyahu says he has approved a ground offensive once morest the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah. Of the 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip, 1.5 million have taken refuge in Rafah, near the Egyptian border, hence the name Rafah.”last refuge“. Relief groups say conditions there are catastrophic. Israel’s allies and international aid agencies fear that the ground offensive once morest Rafah will bring extremely heavy casualties. Israel claims to have planned to evacuate civilians before attacking Rafah, but it has The plan was not made public or shared with ally Washington.
Senior U.S. and Israeli officials will meet in Washington next week, and the United States is expected to propose “alternative plans” to Israel to discuss how to “eliminate Hamas” without attacking Rafah. John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the White House National Security Council, said on Friday that the United States believes that the large-scale ground attack on Rafah is a mistake and will lead to a disaster.
The United States is Israel’s closest ally, providing billions of dollars in annual military aid and often using its diplomatic clout to protect Israeli interests. The United Nations Security Council will vote on Friday on a draft resolution submitted by the United States calling for an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza. As permanent members China and Russia exercised their veto power,The draft was not passed。
Despite repeated international pressure, Israel has so far failed to dissuade it from abandoning plans for a ground offensive in Rafah. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will visit the Gaza border city of Rafah on Saturday. And plans to reiterate the call for a humanitarian ceasefire during the visit.
Aid “dropped from the sky”
Plane over Gaza City
The United States, in cooperation with the Jordanian military, airdropped 38,000 food items to the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City in the north and Rafah in the south. The White House stated that airdropping humanitarian relief supplies is a long-term measure and is supported by Israel.
Aid “dropped from the sky”
A drop in the bucket
Food and medicine airdropped into the Gaza Strip can only solve a small part of the immediate needs. The U.N. agency noted that the small amounts of supplies provided through airdrops represent a drop in the bucket.
Aid “dropped from the sky”
Accurate delivery
Airborne rescue packages must be dropped with great precision. They must land on the seashore, but not too far into the water, nor in densely populated urban areas or refugee camps, to avoid harming people.
Aid “dropped from the sky”
Whose family does it fall into?
However, following the supplies arrived, no one organized and regulated how to distribute them. Therefore, critics criticized that vulnerable groups such as the elderly, the weak, the sick and the young may not benefit from this assistance.
Aid “dropped from the sky”
Distribution battle
Israeli troops opened fire on Palestinians last week amid looting as relief supplies arriving by land to the Gaza Strip arrived. According to figures released by the health department of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist extremist group Hamas, more than 100 people were killed in the chaos and more than 700 were injured. Many countries, including the United States and Germany, have asked Israel to investigate and clarify the matter.
Aid “dropped from the sky”
Borders remain closed
The United Nations Security Council requires Israel to continue to open the Gaza Strip’s borders to the transportation of humanitarian relief supplies and increase the number of border crossings. Before the outbreak of the war in Gaza, 500 trucks transported humanitarian relief supplies to the Gaza Strip every day through the Kerem Schalom (pictured) crossing alone. There are less than 10 now.
Aid “dropped from the sky”
When will the war end?
The trigger for the Gaza War was the unprecedented attack and massacre launched by Hamas and other Palestinian extremist organizations in the Gaza Strip once morest southern Israel on October 7 last year. A total of 1,200 Israelis were killed in the attack. In response, Israeli forces launched a ground offensive and air strikes in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops storm Shifa hospital once more
The Israeli military said on Saturday it had neutralized more than 170 militants and interrogated more than 800 suspects in an ongoing operation targeting Gaza City’s Al-Schifa hospital. and found large quantities of weapons and terrorist infrastructure.
Israeli forces entered Shifa hospital in the early hours of Monday and have been manhunting the sprawling complex, which they say is connected to a network of tunnels and serves as a base for Hamas and other Palestinian fighters.
Shifa Hospital was the largest pre-war hospital in the Gaza Strip and is now one of the few partially functioning medical facilities in northern Gaza and a home for displaced civilians. The Israeli military said on Thursday that more than 350 Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants have been arrested at the hospital so far, the highest number captured simultaneously since the war began in October.
Hamas and medical personnel deny the hospital is being used for military purposes or to shelter fighters. A few days ago, a Hamas spokesman said that the dead announced in previous Israeli statements were not combatants, but patients and displaced persons, and accused Israel of committing war crimes. The Israeli military, which lost two soldiers in operations at the hospital, noted that Israel was preventing harm to civilians, patients and medical staff there. Reuters was unable to gain access to the hospital to verify either claim.Israeli troops raided the hospital for the first time in November last year, was heavily criticized. Israeli forces discovered tunnels there and said they were used by Hamas as command and control centers.
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