The European Union’s Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell, expressed concern on Friday about Israel’s plan to attack the city of Rafah, the last refuge for displaced individuals due to the war in Gaza, stating it “raises concerns.”
Borrell mentioned on the X platform that “the information about an Israeli military attack on Rafah is worrisome,” adding that “this action would have catastrophic implications, exacerbating the already disastrous humanitarian situation, as well as causing intolerable losses among civilians.”
He also highlighted that “1.4 million Palestinians are currently in Rafah without a safe place to go, facing hunger.”
UN Opposition:
The United Nations stated on Friday that civilians in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, need protection, but any mass forced displacement should not be carried out. This comes after Israel began preparing a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians to defeat Hamas in the south.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric expressed deep concern for the civilians’ fate in Rafah, stating, “It’s clear that people need protection, but we also don’t want to see any forced displacement, mass forced displacement of people, which is by definition against their will… We would not support in any form forced displacement that contravenes international law.”
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on Friday that “the unprecedented population density in Rafah makes it nearly impossible to protect civilians in the event of ground attacks… The congestion in Rafah has reached a point where ordinary roads are occupied by tents set up by families looking for any available flat and clean space.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his army on Friday to prepare a “plan for the evacuation” of civilians from Rafah, amid fears from the United States and the United Nations of a potential Israeli attack on the city, which serves as the last refuge for displaced people from the war in Gaza.
More than four months after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas on October 7, attention is turning to Rafah near the border with Egypt, which is hosting more than a million displaced people who fled from the destruction and battles in other areas of the besieged Strip.
