Israel's offensive on Rafah will likely kill more civilians and is being carried out despite explicit warnings against it from European Union member states and the United States, the EU's top diplomat said on Tuesday.
Josep Borrell © EC
Israel's offensive on Rafah will likely kill more civilians and is being carried out despite explicit warnings against it from European Union member states and the United States, the EU's top diplomat said on Tuesday.
"The Rafah offensive has started again, in spite all the requests of the international community, the US, the European Union member states, everybody asking (Israeli Prime Minister)Netanyahu not to attack", Josep Borrell told journalists.
"I am afraid that this is going to cause again a lot of casualties, civilian casualties. Whatever they say", he said, adding: "There are no safe zones in Gaza."
Palestinian militant group Hamas on Monday agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with strikes in Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on a deal.
Josep Borrell is not a friend of Israel. He has demonstrated this since October 7.
His statements contain no mention of the responsibility of Hamas, which is a terrorist organization according to the EU.
Mr. Borrell would be better advised to demand a surrender from Hamas to avoid further civilian casualties and to allow a return to peace.
Reporting by Tassilo Hummel with Mena Today
Joe Biden is expected to use Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to wind down the war in Gaza, but in the waning months of his term the U.S. president may lack leverage to bend the Israeli leader to his will.
Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the Gaza war, was killed on Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said.
Israel said on Thursday that Yahya Sinwar, the overall leader of Hamas and the architect of the Palestinian group's Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israeli soil, had been killed.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.