#news #situation #Gaza
Palestinians continue to leave the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, Gaza, due to ongoing Israeli attacks on May 8. (Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images)
Senior international officials have criticized Israel’s military action in eastern Rafah, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday ordered residents there to “evacuate immediately” as they carry out an operation in the city.
Approximately 50,000 people have left the southern Gaza city in the past 48 hours as a result of Israel’s evacuation order, a senior official at the UN refugee agency (UNRWA) told CNN on Wednesday.
Many of those leaving Rafah have previously been displaced several times as Israel’s focus has shifted from city to city.
Hamas said the Israeli army’s move on Rafah constituted a “humanitarian catastrophe” that posed “a direct threat to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday that “Australia has been clear about our objections to a major Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, and we have reiterated this to Israel again today.”
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong speaks during a joint news conference in Melbourne, Australia, May 1, 2024. (REUTERS/ Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/)
“The impacts on Palestinian civilians of an expanded military operation would be devastating,” he added.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned in immediately the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings.
Qatar has condemned “in the strongest terms the bombing of the Rafah governorate by the Israeli occupation forces, the invasion of the land crossing and the threat to displace citizens from accommodation and shelter centers.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock speaks to the media in Berlin, Germany, April 25. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
The African Union, which brings together 55 countries, said it “strongly condemns the extension of this war to the Rafah crossing, the only corridor for humanitarian aid.”
The Indonesian Foreign Ministry wrote in
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Tuesday described the situation in Rafah as a “humanitarian disaster,” according to the country’s state media outlet, TASS.
