More than 80,000 Palestinians have already fled Rafah | World

Video shows Israel Defense Forces tanks entering Rafah

More of 80 thousand people fled the city of Rafah, in the south of Gaza, since the beginning of the week, according to the UN reported this Thursday (9), while Israeli tanks approach the area, which has been the target of constant bombings. The operation in the region began on Monday, when Tel Aviv ordered around 100,000 people to leave the eastern part of Rafah, in what was interpreted as a harbinger of the ground invasion.

The UN also warned that Food and fuel are running out in the region, which is home to more than 1 million Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are refugees from other areas of northern Gaza destroyed in the conflict.. According to Martin Griffiths, UN emergency aid coordinator, the Israeli military have not been allowing anything to enter or leave the area after the seizure of border crossings with Egypt. According to the UN, no trucks with humanitarian aid entered Gaza between Monday and Wednesday.

“Closure of crossings means no fuel. It means no trucks, no generators, no water, no electricity and no movement of people or goods. It means no help,” Griffiths wrote on the X network.

“Civilians in Gaza are starving and being killed and we are prevented from helping them. This is the Gaza of today, even after seven months of horrors,” he added.

The United States government warned Israel on Thursday that a military entry into Rafah could strengthen the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas. The White House also reinforced its decision not to supply offensive weapons to the Israeli government if the offensive against the city continues.

“Any kind of major operation in Rafah would benefit Hamas at the negotiating table, not Israel,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

In his opinion, the civilian casualties that would result from this type of incursion would only reinforce the group’s arguments in their “distorted narrative”.

Kirby added that such an offensive in Gaza would not advance Israel’s goal of achieving a lasting defeat against Hamas.

The statement comes a day after US President Joe Biden threatened for the first time to stop supplying Israel with certain offensive weapons, which he acknowledged were used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu follows through. with the invasion of Rafah.

“Israel has not yet launched such an operation. (Biden) was talking about what would happen in the future if he did. That’s a choice Israel has to make,” Kirby added on Thursday, highlighting that the argument that the U.S. is somehow distant from Israel does not fit the facts.

The spokesperson highlighted that the dialogue between the two governments continues: “We are in contact. They know our position on the matter. And they will have to make their own decisions.”

On Wednesday, however, a senior US government official confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that the US has already suspended the shipment of 3,500 heavy bombs to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted to the statements, stating that his country will face Hamas alone if necessary.

“I say to the leaders of the world that no pressure, no decision from any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself (…) If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone,” Netanyahu said.

“Countless decent people around the world support our just cause (…) We will defeat our genocidal enemies”, added the prime minister.

The main spokesman for the Israeli Armed Forces, Daniel Hagari, also said on Thursday that the country’s army has enough ammunition to invade Rafah and carry out “other operations already planned”.