\u2018We\u2019re going to do it\u2019
\nIsrael is yet to say how it will protect the 1.4 million civilians crammed into the city from the planned assault
\nRafah
\nIsrael is determined to advance with its unspecified plans to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where millions of displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
\nPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his intention to extend the military operation in an interview broadcast late on Saturday. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do it,\u201d he declared and said that the plans are being worked on.
\nThe statement comes despite international alarm over the potential for carnage. An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are crammed into Rafah, and hemmed in by the border with Egypt, after being ordered by the Israeli military to evacuate their homes elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.
\nThe United States, Israel\u2019s main backer, has warned against the plan to expand the ground assault into the city, which has for months been subject to almost daily aerial bombardments.
\nAt least 25 Palestinians have been killed in overnight strikes on Rafah, according to Al Jazeera journalists on the ground, as the Israeli army has been ramping up its attacks this week. Over 28,000 Palestinians have now been killed since the start of the war on Gaza on October 7.
\nNowhere to go
\nNetanyahu said in the interview with US outlet ABC News that he agrees with Washington that civilians need to be evacuated from Rafah before any ground invasion.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave,\u201d he said, according to published extracts of the interview.
\nHowever, it\u2019 is unclear where such a large number of people, who are pressed up against the border with Egypt and sheltering in makeshift tents, can go.
\nWhen asked, Netanyahu would only say they are \u201cworking out a detailed plan\u201d.
\n\u201cThe areas that we\u2019ve cleared north of Rafah are \u2013 there are plenty of areas there,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThose who say that under no circumstances should we enter Rafah, are basically saying \u2018lose the war, keep Hamas there\u2019,\u201d he said.
\nReporting from Rafah, Al Jazeera\u2019s Tareq Abu Azzoum said desperate Palestinians in the area feel they have no choices left.
\nTensions with Egypt
\nEgypt has fiercely opposed the plan, which threatens to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into its Sinai Peninsula.
\nIt is also remaining highly cautious of increased Israeli military activity near its borders. Cairo has warned that its decades-old peace treaty with Israel could face jeopardy if Israel deploys troops on its border.
\nIsraeli Transportation Minister Miri Regev said that the Israeli government takes Egypt\u2019s sensitivity regarding the military operation in Rafah seriously and that the two sides will be able to reach an agreement.
\nMamoun Abu Nowar, a retired general of the Jordanian air force, told Al Jazeera that Hamas has deep tunnels in the area, some of which run through Egypt.
\n\u201cIn order to control these tunnels,\u201d he continued, \u201cthey have to work very hard, to cut these command posts or destroy them so [Hamas] loses this command as a whole, but this would be a very very difficult fight, it would take months.\u201d
\n\u2018Recipe for disaster\u2019
\nInternational warnings against an invasion of Rafah continue to roll in.
\nThe European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, in a post on X late on Saturday, backed warnings by the bloc\u2019s member states that an invasion of Rafah \u201cwould lead to an unspeakable humanitarian catastrophe and grave tensions with Egypt\u201d.
\nRegional leaders are also sounding the alarm. Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), said an attack on Rafah would further destabilise the region and harm Palestinians.
\nUNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said on Sunday that there is a sense of growing anxiety and panic in Rafah.
\n\u201cA military offensive in the middle of these completely exposed, vulnerable people is a recipe for disaster. I am almost becoming wordless,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2018We\u2019re going to do it\u2019 Israel is yet to say how it will protect the 1.4 million civilians crammed into the city from the planned assault Rafah Israel is determined to advance with its unspecified plans to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, where millions of displaced Palestinians are sheltering. Prime Minister Benjamin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386567,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-386536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n