Rafah assault ‘will end in catastrophe’

Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged safe passage for Gaza civilians, dismissing warnings that an expected military assault on the overcrowded southern city of Rafah would end in a ‘catastrophe’.

Smoke billows from an Israeli bombardment over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. Picture: AFP)

Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged safe passage for Gaza civilians, dismissing warnings that an expected military assault on the overcrowded southern city of Rafah would end in a “catastrophe” with tens of thousands of casualties.

Despite international alarm over the potential carnage in a city crammed with more than a million displaced Palestinians, the Israeli Prime Minister told US television at the weekend that the offensive was key to crushing the terrorist group Hamas.

“Victory is within reach. We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions and Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we’re going to do it,” he told NBC.

“We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave. We are working out a detailed plan to do so. We’re not, we’re not cavalier about this.”

Mr Netanyahu mentioned areas north of Rafah that have been cleared that could be used as safe zones for civilians.

But Hamas rulers warned of potentially “tens of thousands” of casualties in Rafah, while the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borell, joined other international voices in saying an offensive there “would lead to an unspeakable ­humanitarian catastrophe”.

‘We’re not, we’re not cavalier about this,” says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of an expected military assault on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP

The US has said it does not support a ground offensive in Rafah, warning that, if not properly planned, such an operation risks ­“disaster”.

US President Joe Biden issued his strongest criticism of Israel late last week, describing Israeli retaliation for Hamas’s October 7 attack as “over the top”.

Fears are mounting over the fate of more than one million displaced Palestinians who have taken shelter in Rafah, many of them in plastic tents pushed up against the border with Egypt.

“We are between life and death,” said one of them, Bassel Matar. “We don’t know if there will be hope tomorrow for a truce or there will be changes on the ground.”

Rafah is the last major population centre in the Gaza Strip that Israeli troops have yet to enter and also the main point of entry for desperately needed relief supplies.

Humanitarian organisations have sounded alarm at the prospect of a ground incursion.

The UN children’s fund, ­UNICEF, warned last week that “thousands more could die in the violence or lack of essential ser­vices”.

“The Israeli occupation’s move threatens security and peace in the region and the world,” the office of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said. “This is a blatant violation of all red lines.”

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned “another bloodbath in Gaza cannot be ­allowed”, in a post on X.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said he was “deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah”.

“The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out,” he posted.

To such critics, Mr Netanyahu responded: “Those who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah are basically saying, ‘lose the war. Keep Hamas there’.”

The Israeli military said it had killed two senior Hamas operatives in an airstrike on Rafah on Saturday, part of a wider bombardment that killed at least 25 people in the city, according to the health ministry.

A man mourns victims of an Israeli strike in Rafah on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1200 people, mostly civilians. Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a massive military offensive in Gaza that the territory’s health ministry says has killed at least 28,064 people, mostly women and children.

Militants seized 250 hostages, 132 of whom are still in Gaza ­although 29 are presumed dead, Israel has said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for the head of UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, to quit after claims troops had uncovered a Hamas tunnel under the agency’s evacuated Gaza City headquarters.

Mr Lazzarini said the agency had not operated from the compound since October 12 when staff evacuated it under instruction from Israeli forces.

AFP