In an exclusive interview with Sky News Arabia, US State Department spokesman Samuel Warburg revealed Washington’s position regarding the Israeli army’s threat to invade the Palestinian Rafah region in the coming days, coinciding with the implementation of a series of raids and fire belts on the city located south of the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that the army plans to expand its military operations, and “will reach places where it has not fought, especially in the last center of gravity, Rafah.”
Sources told Sky News Arabia that “the Qatari mediator conveyed to Hamas an Israeli threat, saying that if the deal was rejected, Rafah would be invaded.”
Warburg said, “The United States generally emphasizes the need for Israel to take all possible precautions to avoid harming civilians during its operations.”
The US State Department spokesman stressed, “This certainly includes civilians and humanitarian infrastructure in Rafah, where more than a million people are currently present.”
More than 1.3 million people currently live in the city of Rafah, which originally had a population of a quarter of a million, according to United Nations figures, after hundreds of thousands were displaced there as a result of the escalation of military operations in the northern and central areas of Gaza.
The newspaper “Israel Hayom” reported that Israel is considering evacuating the residents of Rafah to the northern Gaza Strip before a possible attack on the city, but the newspaper said, citing sources, that such a step will not take place before next March.
Egypt fears that an Israeli military operation in Rafah will lead to the influx of large numbers of Palestinian refugees into the Egyptian Sinai.
The Israeli newspaper explained that Egypt “recently sent strong messages to Israel stating that the passage of Palestinian refugees from Gaza to Sinai will jeopardize the peace agreement between Egypt and Israel.”
The people of Gaza demand a complete ceasefire in the Strip
Between two crossings
On the other hand, the US State Department spokesman commented on Israeli reports regarding the study of moving the Rafah crossing to the Kerem Shalom area, and its impact on Israeli operations if the invasion is carried out.
Warburg said: “We were very clear that the Rafah crossing is an important corridor for the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and it is also an important corridor for foreign citizens, including Americans, to be able to leave Gaza safely.”
He added: “We would of course like to see Israel take these matters into account and take them into account during any military operation.”
This news raised Egyptian concern, as an Egyptian official denied what Israeli media reports mentioned about discussions between Egypt, the United States, and Israel to transfer the Rafah crossing to the triangle border in the Kerem Shalom area on the Egyptian-Israeli border.
Palestinian Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh also expressed his fear that Israel would move the Rafah crossing, four months after the fierce war was declared.
The Rafah crossing is the only outlet for the Gaza Strip to the outside, and is currently used for the exit of residents of the Strip after exceptional permits approved by Israel, which also have Palestinian and Egyptian approval.
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2024-02-07 13:17:25
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