ISRAEL SEEKS ‘BLIND REVENGE’ WITH PLAN FOR RAFAH ATTACK
▶ Palestinians lament Netanyahu threats as Scholz calls for lasting ceasefire during Jordan visit
Jordan’s King Abdullah II and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of seeking “blind revenge”.
The leaders met in the Red Sea port city of Aqaba amid growing concern about civilians trapped in Rafah as Israel prepares for a ground assault on the city.
The international focus is “about ensuring we come to a long-lasting ceasefire” that could avert an Israeli assault on Rafah, a refuge for more than one million Palestinians displaced by Israel’s five-monthold military offensive in Gaza, Mr Scholz said.
“Israel has every right to protect itself. At the same time, it cannot be that those in Gaza who fled to Rafah are directly threatened by whatever military actions and operations are undertaken there,” he said.
More than 31,600 Palestinians have been killed and 73,676 injured in Israeli military operations since October 7, the Gaza Health Ministry said yesterday.
Israel has insisted an assault on Rafah is necessary to defeat Hamas, which started the war with an attack on southern
Israel in which 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly ignoreds calls from Israel’s allies not to attack Rafah. The US and other countries have warned that this would worsen the humanitarian crisis created by the war and claim more civilian lives in Gaza.
“We will operate in Rafah. This will take several weeks, and it will happen,” Mr Netanyahu
said before a cabinet meeting yesterday.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said yesterday that Mr Netanyahu’s threats posed a “blatant challenge to the international and American consensus on protecting civilians”.
“Blind revenge dominates the Israeli government and threatens the security and stability of the region and the world,” the
ministry said in a social media post.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was very concerned about the risks a fullscale offensive in Rafah would have on civilians.
“This needs to be avoided at all costs,” she said.
A western diplomat who met Israeli officials last week said an incursion was the only way to close a border gap Hamas could use to smuggle weapons from Egypt.
“The Israelis want to reach the border there. They regard Rafah as crucial for sealing off Gaza and lessening the possibility of an October 7 repeat,” the diplomat said.
Mr Netanyahu on Friday said he had approved a plan for the incursion that involved the evacuation of civilians from the city, but Israel’s allies remain sceptical.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby yesterday said Washington was still waiting to see details of the plan.
“They talked about humanitarian islands in Gaza. Again, we welcome the opportunity to see that, to see if that’s actually executable and doable,” he said.
The Middle East is an important market for German exports. But there has been a broad boycott of western goods in Jordan and other countries in the region since the war began.
The Royal Palace said King Abdullah had discussed the “dangerous developments” in Gaza with Mr Scholz, and affirmed the need for international powers to “move immediately” to push for a ceasefire.
He told Mr Scholz that efforts “must be intensified” to protect civilians and that aid must reach the enclave in “every possible way”.
Mr Scholz has been urging Israel to improve humanitarian access to Gaza.
The day before Mr Scholz arrived in Jordan, Germany joined an Amman-led effort to drop emergency supplies into Gaza from the air.
At least one German plane participated in two aid drops into Gaza on Saturday, the Jordanian military said, along with Jordanian and US aircraft.
Mr Scholz left Jordan yesterday for Israel, where he is scheduled to meet Mr Netanyahu.
While visiting Berlin last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Europe has been “hypocritical” in its empathy with Israel after October 7, while not showing the same degree of sympathy for the suffering of other people.