Blinken said Israel has not presented a plan to protect civilians in Rafah city where some 1.5 million people are now crammed after fleeing Israeli attacks on all other parts of the Gaza Strip.
“Absent such a plan, we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable,” Blinken told the McCain Institute’s Sedona Forum in Arizona on Friday, the AFP news agency reports.
Despite international apprehension over civilian harm, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains committed to deploying troops to target what he claims to be Palestinian fighters in Rafah.
Concurrently, despite ongoing ceasefire negotiations in Cairo, the Israeli military maintains its offensive pace across Gaza, with no signs of slowing down.
The persistence of artillery shelling and drone surveillance in densely populated Rafah, along with other areas of Gaza, underscores the relentless nature of the attacks. Tragically, overnight strikes claimed three lives within a residential dwelling in Rafah, including evacuees from Gaza's northern region and a local resident, intensifying both civilian casualties and internal displacement.
This cycle of displacement and insecurity has become a grim reality for Rafah's inhabitants, with residents voicing the absence of safe havens. Meanwhile, in Gaza's central region, Israeli military operations persist, particularly in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Since October 7, 2023, Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 34,622 Palestinians and wounded 77,867.