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- Over 1.4 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah
- Netanyahu vowed to invade, said date is set without disclosing it
- State Department spokesperson: Invasion would harm civilians
FILE – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu chairs a cabinet meeting at the Kirya military base, which houses the Israeli Ministry of Defence, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Sunday, Dec . 24, 2023. Critics say Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is increasingly using his perch as wartime leader to improve his political fortunes. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, Pool, File)
() Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a date has been set to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, despite U.S. officials warning against such a move.
Around 1.4 million Palestinians, displaced from other parts of the Gaza Strip because of Israel’s bombardment of the area, have been living in Rafah.
However, Netanyahu said in a video Monday that invading the city is necessary to “achieve victory” over Hamas.
“It will happen. There is a date,” Netanyahu said, although he did not elaborate on when exactly the invasion will happen.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday said the United States has not been briefed on a date for the Rafah invasion, nor have officials been provided with a “credible plan” for evacuating the 1.4 million civilians living there.
“We have made clear to Israel that we think a full-scale military invasion of Rafah would have an enormously harmful effect on those civilians, and that it would ultimately hurt Israeli security,” Miller told reporters.
Israel’s military has said that Hamas has embedded itself in civilian infrastructure. Still, Benjamin Radd, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Center for Middle East Development, told this doesn’t absolve Israel of its responsibility “and making sure civilian casualties are kept at a minimum.”
The expected invasion comes as negotiators are still in Cairo trying to broker a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would also free some of the hostages the militant group took during its Oct.7 attack on Israel, which killed some 1,200 people.
Over 33,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, with women and children making up two-thirds of the dead, according to the Associated Press.
Calls for a cease-fire have grown as Israel’s offensive has caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, leaving more than 1 million people on the brink of starvation, according to AP.
Last week, U.S. President Joe Biden had a phone call with Netanyahu shortly after Israeli airstrikes killed seven food aid workers in Gaza. During the call, Biden said U.S. policy when it comes to Israel will be determined by whether the country implements concrete steps to address “civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers” in Gaza.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
