Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Sunday that only the United States could prevent Israel from invading Gaza’s border city of Rafah, adding that the assault, which he expects to begin within days, might compel many Palestinians to abandon the territory.
“We urge the United States of America to persuade Israel not to continue the Rafah onslaught. “America is the only country capable of preventing Israel from committing this crime,” Abbas stated at a World Economic Forum gathering in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Israel, which has threatened to launch an all-out attack on the area, claiming its purpose is to eliminate Hamas’ surviving battalions, increased airstrikes on Rafah last week.
Western nations, including Israel’s closest ally the United States, have urged it not to strike the southern city, which borders Egypt and is home to more than a million Palestinians who fled Israel’s seven-month assault on much of Gaza.
“What will happen in the coming few days is what Israel will do with attacking Rafah because all the Palestinians from Gaza are gathered there,” Abbas said, adding that even a “small strike” on Rafah will drive the Palestinian people to escape the Gaza Strip.
“The biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people’s history would then happen.”
Abbas repeated his opposition to the displacement of Palestinians into Jordan and Egypt, and expressed fear that after Israel has completed its operations in Gaza, it would seek to drive the Palestinian population out of the West Bank into Jordan.
Israel commenced its offensive in Gaza following Hamas’ onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, in which Israel said 1,200 people were murdered and 253 were taken captive.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been murdered, with the majority of the population displaced.
Israel has launched a deadly onslaught in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border strike by the Palestinian organisation Hamas on October 7, which Tel Aviv says killed fewer than 1,200 Palestinians.
Since then, nearly 34,400 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of them women and children, with over 77,400 injured as a result of catastrophic damage and chronic shortages of basic goods.
Israel is accused of genocide by the International Court of Justice. An interim verdict issued in January ordered Tel Aviv to halt genocidal activities and take steps to ensure that residents in Gaza get humanitarian aid.
