(DailyDig.com) – On February 9, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli military to devise an evacuation plan for Palestinians taking refuge in Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister. Israeli commanders have suggested that they plan to deploy ground troops into the densely populated city to attack what they claim are Hamas fighters.
According to Israel, four of the six Hamas battalions are in Rafah.
Not only has Saudi Arabia denounced Israel’s intentions to invade the city, but so have Qatar, Oman, and United Nations (UN) organizations. The United States, Israel’s closest friend, has also voiced concerns.
In response to Israel’s purported midnight strikes on Rafah-based Hamas targets, Saudi Arabia demanded an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on February 10. Israeli forces destroyed towns in northern Gaza, compelling Palestinians to evacuate south.
The office of the Israeli prime minister’s office stated that evacuating civilians from conflict zones would be necessary in the event of any aggressive action in Rafah. According to government spokesperson Eylon Levy, Israel is reportedly considering evacuating to open regions inside Gaza and establishing tent encampments there. He pleaded with the world community to lend a hand with the evacuation.
The UN ambassador from the US, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has been in Israel’s corner since the decades-long conflict erupted with the October 7 assault by the paramilitary terrorist group Hamas. But she was quite critical of Israel’s most recent proposals. It is Israel’s responsibility to guarantee the safety of civilians and their access to humanitarian assistance.
Egypt has refused to budge from its policy of border sealing, and it has shown no signs of allowing Palestinian refugees to pass. Diplomats stated that since the conflict began, Israeli authorities had sought cooperation from foreign countries on occasion to take large numbers of Gazans temporarily.
Levy leveled further accusations against the UN as he pleaded for international assistance, this time for enabling Hamas’s “human shield” tactic by directing people into their strongholds.
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