Concerns grow over Israel plans for Rafah invasion

© Joe Catron / CC-BY-SA-4.0

On Friday, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered IDF troops to prepare a plan for the evacuation of more than one million Palestine civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned invasion of the south Gaza city.

Israel have in the past directed Palestinians to go to Rafah in order to be safe from Israel's bombardment, but now they have indicated their troops will be heading to city to destroy four Hamas battalions they believe are situated there, according to Jewish News foreign editor Jotam Confino.

Earlier today, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy told Sky News that the international community was "more than welcome" to send shelter equipment. He added: "We are of course acutely aware of the humanitarian problems in the Gaza Strip and the fact that Hamas is determined to use civilians as human shields."

He went on to say that civilians in Rafah should go to public spaces and set up tents. "There are open spaces in Gaza, there are places where it is possible to set up tent encampments so that civilians can get out of harm's way", Levy said.

Concerns continue to grow, and UK Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, has spoken out this evening to say he's "deeply concerned" about the proposed military action in Rafah, where he claims "over half of Gaza's population" are sheltering.

He said on X: "The priority must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire."

Earlier today, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the idea of a large-scale military operation was "a humanitarian catastrophe in the making". The people of Gaza "cannot vanish into thin air", she said.

Throughout Israel today, there have been widespread protests against Netanyahu's government, with calls for the government to resign, as well as calling for a ceasefire and for hostages to be released.

During these protests, Israel striked Rafah with airstrikes, and have reportedly killed 44 people, including a three-month old baby. The Israeli air force have said they have killed two Hamas operatives.