Israel-Gaza war
\n Rafah
\nThe US has warned Israel that staging a military offensive into Gaza\u2019s southern city of Rafah without proper planning would be a \u201cdisaster\u201d.
\nSome 1.5 million Palestinians are surviving in the city bordering Egypt in dire humanitarian conditions.
\nThe White House said it would not support major operations without due consideration for the refugees there.
\nThe comments come days after Israel\u2019s leader said the military had been told to prepare to operate in Rafah.
\nSpeaking on Thursday evening, and without referring to Rafah, US President Joe Biden said Israel\u2019s actions in Gaza had been \u201cover the top\u201d.
\nReported Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Friday killed at least 15 people including eight in Rafah, officials from the Hamas-run health ministry said. Israel did not immediately comment.
\nSalem El-Rayyes, a freelance journalist living at a camp for displaced people in Rafah, said children were among those killed when an air strike hit a house nearby. Bodies of the victims \u201cflew from the third floor\u201d, he told Reuters.
\nMost of the people in Rafah have been displaced by fighting from other parts of Gaza and are living in tents.
\nGarda al-Kourd, a mother-of-two who said she had been displaced six times during the war, said she was expecting an Israeli assault but hoped there would be a ceasefire agreement before it happened.
\n\u201cIf they come to Rafah, it will be the end for us, like we are waiting for death. We have no other place to go,\u201d she told the BBC from a relative\u2019s house in Rafah where she was living with 20 other people.
\nThe head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, told the BBC that such an operation in Rafah – which he called \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest displacement camp\u201d – would be a catastrophe.
\n\u201cThere are people on their flimsy plastic sheeting. They are fighting for food. There is no drinking water. There is epidemic disease and then they [the IDF] want to bring a war to this place. You can\u2019t make it up really,\u201d he said.
\nMuch of northern and central Gaza has been reduced to ruins by sustained Israeli bombardment since the war began on 7 October.
\nEarlier, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Israeli military had a \u201cspecial obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else to make sure that they\u2019re factoring in protection for innocent civilian life\u201d.
\n\u201cMilitary operations right now would be a disaster for those people and it\u2019s not something that we would support,\u201d he said, adding that the US had not seen anything to suggest Israel was going to launch a major operation in Rafah imminently.
\nDeputy State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel echoed Mr Kirby\u2019s comments, saying: \u2018\u2019We [the US] would not support the undertaking of something like this without serious and credible planning.\u201d
\nAsked by the BBC where refugees in Rafah should go in the event of an operation, Mr Patel said these were \u201clegitimate questions that we believe the Israelis should answer\u201d.
\nSpeaking in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said any \u201cmilitary operation that Israel undertakes needs to put civilians first and foremost… and that\u2019s especially true in the case of Rafah\u201d.
\nIt is rare for the US, a key ally and military backer of Israel, to talk about any forthcoming stages of the country\u2019s military offensive in Gaza – but this was a clear warning.
\nWashington sends around $3.8bn (\u00a33bn) in military aid to Israel each year, making the country the world\u2019s biggest recipient of such funding.
\nAround 1,300 people were killed during the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October, according to Israeli officials.
\nMore than 27,800 Palestinians have been killed and at least 67,000 injured by the war launched by Israel in response, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
\n\u201cThey are living in overcrowded makeshift shelters, in unsanitary conditions, without running water, electricity and adequate food supplies,\u201d was the stark assessment of the situation by UN chief Ant\u00f3nio Guterres on Thursday.
\n\u201cWe were clear in condemning the horrific acts of Hamas. We are also clear in condemning the violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza.\u201d
\nOn Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered troops to \u201cprepare to operate\u201d in Rafah and that \u201ctotal victory\u201d by Israel over Hamas was just months away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel-Gaza war Rafah The US has warned Israel that staging a military offensive into Gaza\u2019s southern city of Rafah without proper planning would be a \u201cdisaster\u201d. Some 1.5 million Palestinians are surviving in the city bordering Egypt in dire humanitarian conditions. The White House said it would not support major operations without due consideration for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-386209","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n