In televised remarks on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered Israeli troops to “prepare to operate” in Rafah, saying that “total victory” over Hamas was just months away, reports Al Jazeera.
With about 1.4 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in the city, Netanyahu’s comments have caused alarm among humanitarian groups and civilians on the ground.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said that increased fighting in Rafah risks “claiming the lives of even more people” and “hampering a humanitarian operation already limited by insecurity”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also said ground operations in Rafah will “exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences”.
The UN’s humanitarian agency OCHA has warned of a “large-scale loss of civilian lives” if Israel launches a ground invasion of the city.
Raed al-Nims of the Palestine Red Crescent Society has said, “Everyone is afraid of the expanding of the ground operation in Rafah”.
Safia Marouf, a displaced Palestinian who sought refuge in Rafah with her family after being uprooted from their home further north, told Al Jazeera she is afraid of what’s to come.
“The children are scared all the time and if we want to leave Rafah we don’t know where to go. What will be our destiny and that of our children?”
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
