Qatar on Wednesday, May 8th (May 19) asked the international community to stop the “genocide” in Rafah city of Gaza, after the Israeli forces captured the border parts of this city, which is located next to Egypt, and threatened a massive attack. did it
Qatar, which mediates between Israel and the militant group Hamas, called in a statement for “urgent international action” to “stop the attack on (Rafah) city and the crime of genocide.”
A day after ordering the evacuation of some parts of Rafah, the Israeli army on Tuesday took control of the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt and began continuous airstrikes in the area.
Israel had warned for several weeks that it would launch a ground operation in Rafah despite international protests.
At the same time as the attacks on this southern city of Gaza, negotiators and mediators have gathered in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, to discuss a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages from the Hamas territory.
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Israeli forces occupied the Gaza side of the Rafah border and started airstrikes
Qatar, which has hosted Hamas’s political office in Doha since 2012, has been mediating between Israel and Hamas behind the scenes for months along with Egypt and the United States.
The United States, the United Nations and others have also warned that an attack on the densely populated city of Rafah could create a humanitarian disaster.
“There are no safe zones in Gaza,” EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said Tuesday. “I am afraid that this will lead to an increase in civilian casualties once again,” he told reporters.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian referred to the “widespread demand of the international community”. The spokesman said China urged Israel to stop attacks in Gaza and instead “do everything to prevent a more serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on social networks that Israel’s action in Rafah is to achieve Israel’s main goals, including the release of hostages by Hamas and the defeat of this group.
The latest actions in Rafah came after Hamas announced that it had accepted a ceasefire offer from Egyptian and Qatari negotiators.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Monday that the ceasefire proposal was “far from Israel’s demands”, but added that Israel would send negotiators to Cairo to continue talks.
The ceasefire talks do not affect Israel’s plans to move towards Rafah. Netanyahu said last week that the Rafah operation will be carried out whether or not there is a ceasefire.
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Netanyahu: Whether a ceasefire is agreed with Hamas or not, we will conduct military operations in Rafah
The United States on Monday asked all parties to agree on the release of hostages by Hamas in Gaza and a temporary ceasefire.
The President of the United States, Joe Biden, in a telephone conversation with Netanyahu on Monday, once again reiterated the position of the United States that the Rafah operation should include a plan to protect Palestinian civilians. A statement from the White House said that Netanyahu had agreed to “open the Karim Shalom Road to deliver aid to those in need.”
According to the World Health Organization, about 1.2 million people from other parts of the Gaza Strip have taken refuge in Rafah during the Israeli army’s war against Hamas.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas militants launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, which killed 1,170 mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures.
According to the Health Ministry of Hamas, 34,789 people have been killed so far in the Israeli retaliatory operation in Gaza, most of them women and children.