السبت, فبراير 10 فبراير 2024
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has expressed concern about Israel’s plans for an offensive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. It called for the rules of international humanitarian law to be respected under all circumstances. Meanwhile, eyewitnesses reported that Israel’s air force had bombed targets in the city.
There are around 1.3 million people in Rafah who are trying to escape the fighting in the Gaza Strip, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) emphasized on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday. The city on the border with Egypt is also crucial for aid supplies to reach the Palestinian territory. Before the war, Rafah only had around 300,000 inhabitants.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the Israeli armed forces on Friday to prepare a “plan to evacuate the population” in Rafah. He argued that Israel would not be able to achieve its war aims if Hamas positions remained in the city.
Meanwhile, the German news agency DPA reported bombardments in Rafah on Saturday. It referred to employees of local health facilities and the mayor of the city, Mohammed al-Sufi.
More than 20 people were killed in air strikes on two houses. Israeli troops also fired on a Hamas vehicle, killing three people. Among them were the head of the organization’s police intelligence service and his deputy.
It was initially unclear whether this was the start of the actual offensive. According to eyewitnesses, the Israeli military had already frequently attacked positions of Hamas members in Rafah in recent weeks. According to reports, however, the attacks on Saturday were the most intensive to date.
Official Switzerland is by no means alone in its concern about Netanyahu’s announcement. The US government has also spoken out clearly against military action in Rafah in recent days.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that half the population of the Gaza Strip was crammed into Rafah and had nowhere else to go. The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) expressed the same sentiment: There is no longer a safe place for the civilian population of the Gaza Strip, it said. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke on X on Saturday of a “humanitarian catastrophe with an announcement”.
©كيستون/إسدا
Arabic 
English 
German 
French 
Spanish