Israel's plans to advance on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip were met with harsh criticism by several European officials on Saturday, including the German foreign minister.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced that after the IDF's focused fighting in Khan Younis is under control, Israel Defense Forces would advance on Rafah, which lies on the Strip’s southern border with Egypt. Rafah is still under Hamas control and is reportedly the last major town in the Strip the IDF ground offensive has yet to target.
“The operation in the Khan Younis area is progressing and yielding impressive results. We are achieving our missions in Khan Younis, and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate terror elements that threaten us,” Gallant said during an operational situation assessment on Thursday.
Gallant's announcement was met with panicked remarks by several European and UN officials.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said that despite Israel claiming the area near the border was a safe zone, around one million Palestinians were currently “displaced progressively against the Egyptian border,” and are now subject to bombing, “creating a very dire situation.”
Borrell also claimed that this could torpedo the current negotiations with the Hamas terror organization over the release of the remaining 132 Israeli hostages being held captive in the Gaza Strip.
The German foreign minister added that she had been telling the Israeli government for some time now that “Gazans couldn’t simply disappear into thin air.”
Baerbock's far-left Green Party continued to demand a new ceasefire to free the hostages and end the “daily inhuman suffering of children and civilians,” adding that she was opposed to the dissolution of UNRWA.
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