Feb. 12, DOHA/JERUSALEM – Following US President Joe Biden’s directive to Israel not to assault Rafah without a solid strategy to protect civilians, Israeli strikes on the southern city of Gaza, Rafah, resulted in the deaths of 37 people and the injuries of numerous others, according to local health officials on Monday.
Many Rafah inhabitants were asleep when the strikes began, so heavy bombardment prompted widespread terror, according to residents contacted by Reuters via a messaging app. There were fears that Israel had started its incursion into Rafah on foot.
Two mosques and other homes were damaged during the strikes, which included Israeli planes, tanks, and ships, according to locals.
Without giving any information, the Israeli military claimed on Monday that it had carried out a “series of strikes” on southern Gaza that have now “concluded.”
According to the White House, Biden informed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday that Israel shouldn’t begin a military action in Rafah until it has a solid strategy in place to guarantee the security of the approximately one million civilians who are seeking sanctuary there.
According to aid organizations, an attack on Rafah would be disastrous. In an enclave destroyed by Israel’s military operation, it is the final area that is reasonably safe.
Days after the US president declared that Israel’s military response in the Gaza Strip had been “over the top” and voiced serious concerns about the growing number of civilian deaths in the Palestinian enclave, Biden and Netanyahu held a 45-minute conversation.
According to Israeli counts, Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and kidnapped at least 250 during their assault on October 7. Over 28,000 Palestinians have died as a result of Israel’s military attack on the Gaza Strip in retaliation, according to the health ministry controlled by Hamas.
In an interview that aired on Sunday, Netanyahu stated that Israel’s war in the region was justified because “enough” of the 132 Israeli captives that were still being held in Gaza were still alive.
Israeli military claimed two captives were liberated overnight in a joint operation by the Israel Defence Force (IDF), Israel’s internal Shin Bet security service and the Special Police Unit in Rafah.
The military claimed that Fernando Simon Marman, 60, and Louis Hare, 70, who were abducted by Hamas from Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak, were transferred to the Tel Hashomer Medical Complex in good condition.
A top Hamas leader was quoted by the Hamas-run Aqsa Television on Sunday, stating that any Israeli ground operation in Rafah will “blow up” the hostage-exchange negotiations.
Egypt threatened to use “dire consequences” on Sunday in the event that Israel launched a military attack on Rafah, which is located close to its border.
Egypt’s foreign ministry added in a statement, “Egypt called for the necessity of uniting all international and regional efforts to prevent the targeting of the Palestinian city of Rafah.”