13 Countries Urge Restraint From Israel Over Rafah May 17, 2024

By AFP - Agence France Presse

13 Countries Urge Restraint From Israel Over Rafah

Thirteen Western countries, including many traditionally supportive of Israel, called on Israel on Friday not to launch a full-scale offensive in Rafah.

“We reiterate our opposition to a large-scale military operation in Rafah, which would have catastrophic consequences for the civilian population,” says the appeal, sent by the countries' foreign ministers to their Israeli counterpart, Israel Katz, and made public.

The signatories were Australia, Great Britain, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and EU member states Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden.

The ministers praised the recent measures adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet to improve the flow of international aid to Gaza, but called for “further measures”.

“We call on the Israeli government to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip through all relevant crossing points, including Rafah,” they said.

They called on Israel to take “concrete measures for the protection of civilians, international and local humanitarian workers, and journalists”.

The appeal also called for “a sustainable ceasefire”.

The ministers called on Israel to “open all possible overland supply routes to Gaza” for aid, to “resume electricity, water, and telecommunications services” and to significantly increase “the supply of desperately needed goods... especially medical supplies”.

Finally, they called on Israel to “facilitate further evacuations by issuing exit permits to all our citizens, eligible persons and Palestinians admitted to move for humanitarian or medical reasons abroad.”

Eight months after the start of the war, Israel is vowing to intensify its ground offensive in Rafah, despite international concerns about the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced in the southern city.

The Israeli siege of Gaza has brought dire shortages of food, as well as drinking water, medicine, and fuel for its 2.4 million inhabitants.

The arrival of occasional humanitarian aid convoys has dwindled since Israeli forces took control of the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing last week.

The war erupted after the October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count of official Israeli figures.

Of the 252 people taken hostage that day, 128 are still being held in Gaza, including 38 the army says are dead.

In response, Israel vowed to crush Hamas and launched a military offensive in Gaza, where at least 35,303 people have been killed since the war began, according to figures provided by the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

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