The Israeli defense minister said that Israel is planning to launch a military attack against the city of Rafah in Gaza. But there are more and more worries about the safety of the many Palestinians who have fled there because of the many dangers that could happen if they decide to attack.
President Joe Biden of the United States is putting pressure on Israel to stop this attack on Rafah unless they have a plan to keep people safe. He is also telling them to use whatever tools they need to end the fighting instead. A cease-fire has been pushed hard for by many people in power.
About 1.4 million Palestinians have been forced to move into Rafah for safety reasons. Most of them had to leave their homes elsewhere because of the war and attacks. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Rafah is the next place Israel wants to attack because of this.
Gallant said, “We are carefully planning our future operations in Rafah, which is a major Hamas stronghold.” They have only said that they plan to get rid of all people from the area first, which is what Biden and other political leaders are worried about.
People in charge have said that these people have nowhere really “safe” to go because Israel keeps bombing the only places they can go. Egypt has warned many times not to push these civilians over the border into Egypt because it could violate the Peace Agreement of 1979 between Israel and Egypt. The country is running out of places to keep citizens safe.
“The state of Israel has no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt,” Israel said. We accept and value the peace deal we have with Egypt. Egypt is an important partner and a key part of keeping the peace in the region.
Egypt doesn’t believe this, though, because they’ve been seen building walls and leveling land along their border with Gaza, as if they were ready for this to happen.
