The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to leave Rafah as fears grow of a ground attack on the southern Gaza city, where 1.4 million people displaced by Israel’s war on Gaza have sought refuge.
An Israeli military spokesman told journalists that 100,000 people in eastern Rafah were to be evacuated to “an expanded humanitarian area” on the coast.
The order came Monday as indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over a possible ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza appeared to be stalling.
This is how the world reacted to Israel’s evacuation order:
Hamas
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that Israel’s evacuation order and the expected offensive were a “dangerous escalation with consequences.”
“We confirm that any military offensive in Rafah will not be a walk in the park for the fascist occupying army. Our courageous resistance at the forefront, the Qassam Brigades, is fully prepared to defend our people and defeat this enemy,” Hamas said in a statement.
Israel
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said the country’s war goals remained the same.
“Our just war in Gaza continues with exactly the same goals: the release of all hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” he said.
Palestinian authority
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said: “The occupation authorities have actually begun to prepare to commit the greatest crime of genocide by invading Rafah.”
“The American government, which provides financial and military support to the occupation and opposes the international community to prevent the implementation of international legitimacy decisions and the cessation of aggression, is this [one] This emboldens Netanyahu and his leaders to continue their massacres of the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement.
People in Rafah
Mohammad Al Najar, 23, who lives in western Rafah, told Reuters that people had nowhere to go.
“No area is safe. All that remains in Gaza is death. I wish I could erase these last seven months from my memory. So many of our dreams and hopes have faded,” he said.
Aminah Adwan told Reuters: “The biggest genocide will take place, the biggest catastrophe will take place in Rafah.”
“I call on the entire Arab world to support a ceasefire. Let them intervene and save us from what we find ourselves in.”
Egypt
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called in a statement on Israel to exercise the “highest level of self-restraint” and avoid further escalation at this “very sensitive time” when negotiations for a ceasefire and the release of prisoners are underway.
The Egyptian statement said an Israeli attack on Rafah would bring “extreme humanitarian dangers that threaten more than a million Palestinians in the area.”
Jordan
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said in a statement that “another massacre of Palestinians is underway.”
“Failure to prevent the massacre will be an indelible stain on the Int’l Cmyt [international community]. Too many massacres were allowed. Enough.”
European Union
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: “Israel’s evacuation orders for civilians in Rafah point to the worst: more war and famine.”
“It is unacceptable. Israel must forego a ground offensive and implement the UNSCR [UN Security Council Resolution] 2728. The EU can and must act together with the international community to prevent such a scenario,” Borrell said on the social media platform X.
France
The French embassy in Israel issued a statement saying President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Sunday.
Macron reiterated his strong opposition to the planned Israeli offensive against Rafah and the urgent need to ensure a massive flow of humanitarian aid through all access points to the Gaza Strip, the embassy said.
France’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs said the country “also recalls that the forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law.”
United States
In a statement on Monday, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council said the US “cannot speak for them.” [Israeli military] Operations”.
“We have clearly expressed our views to the Israeli government and the president on a major ground invasion in Rafah [Joe Biden] will speak to the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] Today. We continue to believe that a hostage deal is the best way to save the lives of the hostages and prevent an invasion of Rafah, where more than a million people are seeking refuge. These discussions are currently ongoing.”
Great Britain
David Lammy, Britain’s shadow foreign secretary, said an Israeli ground attack on Rafah would be “catastrophic.”
“It must not continue,” the Labor politician wrote on X, calling for an immediate ceasefire, the release of prisoners and unhindered aid to Gaza.
United Nations organizations
The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said: “An Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more suffering and deaths among the civilian population.”
“The consequences would be devastating for 1.4 million people. UNRWA is not evacuating: the organization will remain present in Rafah as long as possible and continue to provide life-saving assistance to people,” the agency said in a post on social media.
James Elder, UNICEF spokesman, said a military offensive on Rafah would be “terrible.”
“As mind-boggling as this is, it seems to be happening,” he told Al Jazeera, warning that there would be “one disaster after another.”
“There is nowhere to go. This idea of safe zones, first discussed in November, completely ignores the fact that a safe zone – it’s not just about not bombing it, although safe zones are bombed – is about ensuring that people have access to water , sanitation and food,” Elder said.
NGOs and human rights organizations
Save the Children warned that time was running out to protect children in Rafah from the expected attack.
“We hoped this day would never come,” said Inger Ashing, the aid group’s CEO, warning that a raid would not only endanger the lives of more than 600,000 children but also significantly impact humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“Forcibly displacing people from Rafah while disrupting relief efforts is likely to seal the fate of many children,” Ashing said, calling on countries to “act now” to protect civilians and prevent atrocities.
Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said: “Israel’s military offensive in Rafah could lead to the deadliest phase of this conflict, inflicting terrible suffering on some 1.4 million displaced civilians in the region.”
He noted that the area was already overwhelmed and lacked vital services.
“The absence of these basic guarantees of safety and return as required by international humanitarian law qualifies Israel’s relocation orders as forced relocation, which amounts to a serious violation of international law,” he said.
“Any Israeli military operation in Rafah – which has become the largest concentration of refugee camps in the world – will potentially lead to mass atrocities,” Egeland added.