Amnesty International issued a severe warning, yesterday, stressing that Benjamin Netanyahu's orders to the IOF planning an attack on Rafah in the Gaza Strip constitute a "grave risk of genocide" for Palestinians.

Andalou agency reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed yesterday the IOF to submit a "military plan" to evacuate Palestinians from Rafah and "defeat Hamas battalions there."

Amnesty International Secretary-General, Agnes Callamard, posted a statement on X, expressing concern about the feasibility and safety of evacuation measures, shedding light on the misery Palestinians are experiencing in Gaza as a result of the Israeli genocide against them.

Callmard emphasized, "The statement published by the office of PM Netanyahu, which instructs the Israeli military to produce a plan for the 'evacuation of the civilian population' of Rafah has spread panic in the southern governorate raising fears that a massive ground operation is imminent."

"Such an operation will have catastrophic consequences for more than a million people – the vast majority of them displaced - who are living in desperate conditions in Rafah, squeezed into overcrowded areas, makeshift tents and schools or sleeping on the streets, who have nowhere to go," she added. 

She further urged the international community to support the Palestinian people who are facing "the real and imminent risk of genocide."

Satellite imagery of rural areas of Rafah show a mass of tents and other temporary structures that have risen since mid-October. In urban areas of Rafah, a mass of people and new temporary structures can be seen on the streets ⬇️

© Planet Labs pic.twitter.com/MfhRQKDWIp

— Amnesty International (@amnesty) February 9, 2024

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Around 1.4 million Palestinians are currently in Rafah after hundreds of thousands of them were deliberately displaced by the IOF from Nothern Gaza, according to estimates. 

Even though the International Court of Justice's provisional ruling ordered the occupation to take all provisional measures to prevent genocide and allow aid into Gaza, the IOF have extended their aggression to Rafah.

As of yesterday, at least 27,947 Palestinians have been declared killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, and 67,459 others injured since October 7, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

The Israeli genocide against Gaza has left 85% of its population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of its infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Netanyahu neglects the ICJ ruling, expands into Rafah

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin stated on February 7 that the next phase of the ground invasion in Gaza after Khan Younis will be Rafah, noting that the war on the Strip "will continue till the end."

Over 126 days into the war, the Israeli military is yet to achieve any of its main declared objectives.

In a Wednesday press conference, Netanyahu said that reaching "victory" in Gaza will require "months" and not years, and this can't be accomplished with the "military collapse [of Resistance Hamas]. There will not be a civilian collapse [of Gaza government] without a military one."

“We are on the way to complete victory. The victory is within reach,” he claimed.

“I set absolute victory as the goal from the start,” he said, adding, “We won’t settle for any less than that.”

Netanyahu denied reports that Hamas was re-deploying in areas in northern Gaza where Israelis have withdrawn, claiming that the military has dismantled the group’s brigades and military chain of command there. 

“There is no alternative to the military collapse [of Hamas]. There will not be a civilian collapse [of Hamas rule] without a military one,” the Israeli PM said.