Palestinians brace for assault on Rafah

Palestinians jammed into their last refuge in Gaza voiced growing fear on Wednesday that Israel will soon launch a planned assault on the southern city of Rafah after truce talks in Cairo ended inconclusively.

The talks in the Egyptian capital, involving the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar, ended without any sign of a breakthrough on Tuesday and no date was announced for the next meeting.

The lack of agreement dealt a new blow to the more than 1million Palestinians crammed into Rafah, next to the border with Egypt, where many are living in tent camps and makeshift shelters after fleeing Israeli bombardments elsewhere in Gaza.

The Israeli military says it wants to flush out Islamist militants from hideouts in Rafah and free hostages being held there after the Hamas rampage in Israel on October 7 but has given no details of a proposed plan to evacuate civilians.

“The news was disappointing, we hoped there could be a deal reached in Cairo. We are now counting down the days before Israel sends in tanks. We hope they don’t but who can prevent them?” Said Jaber, a Gaza business person sheltering in Rafah with his family, told Reuters via a chat app.

In the latest international plea, the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of the danger of pushing Gaza’s health system closer to collapse.

“Military activities in ... this densely populated area, would be an unfathomable catastrophe ... and would even further expand the humanitarian disaster beyond imagination,” said Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank.

Israel says it takes steps to minimise civilian casualties.