Israel attacks Rafah and ceasefire negotiations remain without agreement

Residents of the city of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, reported that forces of Israel once again bombed areas close to the region this Thursday, the 9th. The attack occurred at the same time that the president of U.S, Joe Bidenthreatened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuto halt arms shipments to the country if attacks in southern Gaza persist.

On Thursday night, a final round of negotiations took place in Egypt, in an attempt to stop the conflict and an escalation in Rafah, where around 1.2 million people are located, including thousands of people displaced from Gaza. The Palestinian militant group Hamas, responsible for the October 7th attack, even accepted a ceasefire mediated by Egypt and Qatar. The agreement, however, was not accepted by Israel, which sent representatives to discuss a hostage release agreement, but stated that the proposals were far from its demands.

Most of Rafah’s urban area has not yet been invaded by Israeli ground forces, but an airstrike near a mosque killed three people. Another attack in the Sabra neighborhood killed 12 people.

The city on the border with Egypt, however, is also full of Palestinian civilians, the vast majority of whom have sought refuge there due to Israeli bombings in the rest of Gaza. The Israeli army ordered the withdrawal of 100,000 civilians from the area, which the United Nations agency on the ground, UNWRA, described as “forced displacement”.

+ Israel announces attacks on Rafah despite international pressure

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Among the dead were a senior commander of the Al-Mujahedeen Brigades and his family, as well as family members of another leader of the group. According to the Israeli government, Hamas militants are hiding in Rafah, where the Palestinian majority has taken shelter since the start of the war seeking refuge.

Hope at the end of the tunnel

In the US, the government repeats its hope that Israel will not launch a full operation in Rafah, saying it does not believe this will help the country achieve its objective, which is to defeat Hamas. American national security spokesman John Kirby said the Palestinian group has already been pressured by the Israeli government and that there are other ways to end the group without putting civilian lives at risk.

To date, the war in Gaza has killed almost 35,000 Palestinians and injured 80,000, most of them civilians. Biden, who also expressed concern about the attack, said Israel had not shown a convincing plan to protect civilians in Rafah and issued a sterner warning about the ground invasion.

“If they go to Rafah, I will not provide the weapons that will be used to deal with the city,” Biden said, in his harshest statement to Israel since the start of the war. “Civilians were killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs. It’s just wrong.”