US requests Rafah invasion pause during Ramadan, fears escalation

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen Net
10 Feb 2024 23:46
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While "Israel" prepares for a full-scale invasion of Rafah, the United States has requested a pause in aggression for the month of Ramadan.

Palestinians search for survivors after an Israeli airstrike on a residential building In Rafah, Gaza Strip, Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 (AP)

The United States administration addressed a letter to "Israel" requesting a pause in aggression on Rafah during the holy month of Ramadan, Israeli media reported.

The political analyst of the Israeli channel Kan, Amichai Stein, stated that this "categorical American message shows their fear of "Israel's" conduct in Rafah during Ramadan because not only would it escalate the situation in Gaza, but the entire region as well."

Stein also revealed that several Arab countries requested the cessation of escalations in Gaza during Ramadan.

According to Stein, the American and Arab requests are the reason why Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing for the Israeli military operation in Rafah before the start of Ramadan.

🚨US tells Israel it will not support Rafah offensive as it would be a ‘disaster’ pic.twitter.com/HsAuPSBnA2
— Faizal Mammar (@faizal_mammar) February 9, 2024

International rejection of the invasion of Rafah

The regime announced earlier this month plans to invade the city of Rafah in Gaza's far south, where more than one million Palestinians have sought refuge. After failing to agree on concessions proposed by Hamas for a ceasefire, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue the war until the unrealistic goal of eliminating the resistance is reached.

Netanyahu's diabolical plan for Rafah has been the center of rejection and backlash among Arab and Western parties alike.

The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, warned of the serious consequences of the Israeli occupation launching an offensive on the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip.

"The occupation's blatant plans to displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who sought refuge in Rafah as a last resort from the indiscriminate attacks on civilians are rejected through and through. These plans impose serious threats to regional stability," Aboul Gheit underlined.

"The world should be aware of the danger of Israeli practices driven by an extremist right-wing agenda, aiming to empty [Gaza] of its inhabitants and achieve comprehensive ethnic cleansing, which should have no place in this era," he underlined.

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.

EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday said that the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) plan to launch a military offensive on Rafah is "alarming".

"1.4 million Palestinians are currently in Rafah without a safe place to go, facing starvation," Borrell wrote on X.

"Reports of an Israeli military offensive on Rafah are alarming," he added. "It would have catastrophic consequences worsening the already dire humanitarian situation and the unbearable civilian toll."