After UN resolution urges cease-fire, Israel’s Ben-Gvir calls for ground attack on Rafah

By Abdelraouf Arnaout

JERUSALEM (AA) – Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called Tuesday for launching a ground attack on the city of Rafah, a refuge some 1.4 million Palestinians at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip.

"We should enter Rafah now," Ben-Gvir told Israeli Army Radio.

His call came one day after the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Fourteen countries voted in favor of the resolution, presented by 10 elected members of the council, and none voted against, while the US abstained from voting.

"I remind you that we have fought several wars without the support of the US and the entire world,” Ben-Gvir said.

The US opposes Israeli plans to launch a ground attack on Rafah, where more than 1.4 million people have taken refuge from Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

Over 32,400 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 74,800 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in its 172nd day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ, which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul