Palestine warns of Israeli ‘genocide’ in Rafah

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Palestinian Authority (PA) warned Monday of an Israeli “genocide” in Rafah amid Israeli plans to invade the city in the southern Gaza Strip.

“The Israeli authorities have effectively begun preparations for committing a major genocide by invading Rafah,” PA spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said in a statement.

He held the US administration responsible for "these dangerous Israeli policies."

“The US administration, which provides financial and military support to the (Israeli) occupation, is encouraging [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and his government to continue their massacres against the Palestinian people,” he said.

The spokesman warned that invading Rafah would mean that 1.5 million Palestinians would be subjected to “a genocidal massacre and displacement attempts.”

The Israeli army issued immediate evacuation orders on Monday for Palestinians in the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah and called on them to move to the town of al-Mawasi in southern Gaza.

Around 100,000 Palestinian civilians are estimated to be living in the areas to be evacuated, according to Israeli Army Radio.

Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 that killed nearly 1,200 people.

Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Nearly 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.

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

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul