WASHINGTON

US Senator Bernie Sanders on Thursday warned that any Israeli military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah would further deteriorate the situation in the Gaza Strip.

"An attack on Rafah would simply make an unspeakable situation even worse," Sanders said in a statement.

As a result of the displacement, 80% of the population of Gaza, about 1.3 million people, including 600,000 children, are sheltering in Rafah, he said.

It is "densely crowded" with roughly 50,00 people per square mile, he added.

"President (Joe) Biden is right – the United States cannot continue to provide more bombs and artillery shells to support (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s disastrous and inhumane war policies," Sanders stressed.


Biden paused last week the delivery of a weapons shipment that included 2,000-pound bombs, which Israel previously used to flatten wide swathes of Gaza. Biden’s decision to halt the shipment was made due to his concerns over Israel's planned invasion of Rafah.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack in October, which killed less than 1,200 people.

More than 34,900 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children. Over 78,500 others have been injured, according to Palestinian health authorities. Thousands remain missing.

Seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN. Most of the displaced have sought refuge in Rafah following earlier Israeli evacuation orders.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in the coastal enclave, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians.