Saudi Arabia calls for ‘urgent’ UNSC meeting to prevent invasion of Rafah
Saudi Arabia warned on Saturday of the repercussions of a possible Israeli incursion into the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, the last refuge for displaced Palestinians, according to Saudi Press Agency.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has warned of the extremely dangerous repercussions of storming and targeting the city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, which is the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of civilians forced to flee by the brutal Israeli aggression,” the agency reported.
It added that Saudi Arabia affirmed ‘its categorical rejection and strong condemnation of their forced deportation’.
The kingdom renewed ‘its demand for the necessity of an immediate cease-fire’, noting that ‘this continued violation of international law confirms the necessity for the UN Security Council to urgently convene to prevent Israel from causing an imminent humanitarian catastrophe for which everyone who supports the aggression bears responsibility’. The Israeli army is preparing a ground military operation in heavily-populated Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid plans to evacuate residents before the launch, Israeli media reports said on Friday.
Rafah is the last refuge for the displaced in the Gaza Strip. It is now home to more than 1,400,000 Palestinians, including
1,300,000 displaced people from other governorates, according to the Gaza Government Media Office. Since the start of the Israeli onslaught against Gaza on October 7, Israel ordered residents in northern and central Gaza to evacuate toward the southern part of the enclave, leading to the
current overcrowded conditions in the south, especially in Rafah.
117 killed in last 24 hours
At least 117 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll in Israeli onslaught on the besieged
enclave to more than 28,000, the territory’s Health Ministry said on Saturday.
“The Israeli occupation committed 16 massacres against families in the Gaza Strip, leaving 117 martyrs and 152 injured during the past 24 hours,” the ministry said in a statement. “Many
people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them.”
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since the October 7 crossborder attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people. The attacks have killed more 28,064 people, mostly women and children, wounded 67,611 others.
The offensive has also left 85 per cent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while most of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
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The International Court of Justice in a provisional ruling mandated Israel to prevent genocidal attacks in Gaza, but it has continued with the assault.
‘Humanitarian catastrophe’
Germany on Saturday said an Israeli attack on Rafah in Gaza would lead to a humanitarian catastrophe.
“The plight in Rafah is already incredible. 1.3mn people are seeking protection from the fighting in a very small area. An offensive by the Israeli army on Rafah would be a humanitarian catastrophe in the making. The people in Gaza cannot disappear into thin air,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Bearbock said on X.
“Israel must defend itself against Hamas terror, but at the same time alleviate the suffering of the civilian population as much as possible,” she stressed.
Against this backdrop, another pause to the fighting is needed, Bearbock said, adding she would discuss the matter again next week in Israel.
Meanwhile, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Friday voiced concern over Israeli premier’s plan for civilian evacuation from Rafah in southern Gaza.
“We are extremely worried about the fate of civilians in Rafah,” Dujarric told reporters in New York.