Staff Reporter.
Israel faced renewed calls from key ally the United States on Friday against launching a large-scale attack on Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted he would push ahead with a “powerful” operation in the overcrowded city to achieve “complete victory” over the Hamas militant group.
The White House said US President Joe Biden had spoken by phone with Netanyahu late Thursday, urging him not to carry out an attack on Rafah without a plan to keep civilians safe.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven into Rafah, seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egyptian border.
The city now hosts more than half of Gaza’s population, with displaced people “crammed” into less than 20 percent of the territory, according to UN humanitarian agency OCHA.
“We were displaced from Gaza City to the south,” said Ahlam Abu Assi. “(Then) they told us to go to Rafah, so we went to Rafah.
“We can’t keep going and coming,” she added. “There is no safe place for us.”
Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand have also urged Israel not to launch a ground offensive in the city.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told Netanyahu by phone that Britain was “deeply concerned about… the potentially devastating humanitarian impact of a military incursion into Rafah,” his office said.
Israeli strikes killed 112 people early Friday across the Palestinian territory, the Hamas-run health ministry said.
Israel’s army reported the death of another soldier in Gaza early Friday, raising the number of soldiers killed in the ground operation to 233.
— Hospital raid —
Roughly 130 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Dozens of the estimated 250 hostages seized during the attack were freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners during a week-long truce in November. Israel says 30 of those still in Gaza are presumed dead.
At least 28,663 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry.
Israel sent troops into one of the largest medical sites in southern Gaza on Thursday, saying its forces were hunting for hostages and carrying out a “precise and limited operation” at the facility.
Intense fighting has been reported in recent days between Israeli forces and Hamas militants around Nasser Hospital — one of the territory’s few operational medical facilities.
Israel, which has accused Hamas militants of using hospitals for military purposes, said it was carrying out a “precise and limited operation” at the facility with “no obligation” for patients or staff to evacuate.
© Agence France-Presse.