French lawmaker condemns Israeli plan to attack Rafah

PARIS

French left-wing lawmaker Mathilde Panot has condemned Israeli plans for a ground invasion in Rafah, Gaza Strip, saying it cannot attack those trapped in the city after forcing all Gazans to move toward south.

Deputy group leader of the La France Insoumise party spoke to Anadolu during a demonstration near the Foreign Ministry demanding an immediate cease-fire in the enclave.

"You cannot attack them after asking for the entire population to go to the south of Gaza, where 1.5 million people are now stranded with almost no water, electricity, food or medicine, unable to go anywhere,” she said.

That is why everyone must realize that a threshold has been crossed in the horror in Gaza, Panot said.

Calling on France to do everything in its power to ensure an immediate and unconditional cease-fire in Gaza, Panot said France has clearly failed in this regard because it was chairing the UN Security Council in January and did not use the crucial position to push for an immediate and unconditional truce.

Since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,000 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

After starting its military offensive, the Israeli military had asked residents to move from north Gaza to the south of the strip.

Roughly 1.4 million Palestinians are currently sheltering in cramped conditions in Rafah.

*Writing by Zeynep Cetin