Israeli Cabinet 'Approves Expansion' Of Rafah Operation, Risking Clash With US And Further UN Outcry

The Israeli security cabinet voted last night to approve the expansion of its military operation in Rafah, local media reports said on Friday, amid growing international outcry over the country’s war to eliminate Hamas in Gaza. According to The Times Of Israel, the expansion is viewed as measured, aiming not to exceed what the US considers a “major operation.”

President Joe Biden this week made it clear that the US would halt certain offensive weapons shipments to Israel if it entered into the population centers of Rafah due to concerns over the one million-plus civilians sheltering there. The Israeli media reports said the expansion would be limited enough to avoid upsetting one of its closest allies. Meanwhile, some still believe that the latest Israeli move could be seen as a step too far.

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‘A massive ground attack’

Hostage negotiating?

The security cabinet also voted to instruct Israel’s hostage negotiating team to continue its efforts to try and reach a hostage deal by putting together a new proposal in the hopes of reaching a breakthrough, according to US-based Axios. It was reported that far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich voted against the decision but were outnumbered.

After negotiators left truce talks in Cairo without a deal, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Friday that an Israeli ground attack in Rafah would lead to an “epic humanitarian disaster”. “A massive ground attack in Rafah would lead to (an) epic humanitarian disaster and pull the plug on our efforts to support people as famine looms,” Guterres said during a visit to Nairobi, adding that the situation in the southern Gaza city was “on a knife’s edge”.

‘Over 100,000 people to flee’

“We are actively engaged with all involved for the resumption of the entry of life-saving supplies — including desperately needed fuel — through Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings,” he said. This concern comes as Heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants on the outskirts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah has left crucial nearby aid crossings inaccessible and caused over 100,000 people to flee north, a United Nations official said Friday.

Over a million Palestinians have fled to Rafah to escape fighting elsewhere, with many packed into UN-run shelters or squalid tent camps. The city on the border with Egypt is also a crucial hub for bringing in food, medicine, fuel and other goods. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA, says about 110,000 people have fled Rafah and that food and fuel supplies in the city are critically low. Georgios Petropoulos, an OCHA official working in Rafah, said the two main crossings near the city remain closed, cutting off supplies and preventing the movement of humanitarian staff.

“Even if there were assurances to us being able to pass through a corridor, the proximity so close to a military involved in fighting is just not acceptable for something that has to be a humanitarian zone,” he said. The UN’s World Food Program will run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday unless more aid arrives, Petropoulos said. He said about 30,000 people were leaving Rafah daily in search of safety, but that humanitarian workers had no supplies to help them set up camp in a new location. “We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said.

(With agency inputs)