At Algeria’s request, UN Security Council to hold closed-door session on Rafah

By Hassan Jebril

ALGIERS, Algeria (AA) - At Algeria’s request, the UN Security Council will hold an urgent closed-door session on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Rafah.

Algeria’s state-run news agency said that the request came due to the "dangerous developments" in the occupied Palestinian territories, after Israel's Sunday attack on a camp for displaced people in Rafah.

At least 45 people were killed, mostly women and children, and nearly 250 others were injured in the Israeli strike on the camp for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday.

The attack came despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice that ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the Israel-Hamas war before it was invaded on May 6.

The UN Security Council session on Rafah is scheduled to start at 15:30 New York local time (1930 GMT).

On Tuesday, the Israeli army began expanding its incursion into Rafah amid heavy shelling and bombing, forcing thousands to flee western Rafah towards Khan Younis and areas in the central Gaza Strip.

Before the launch of the Israeli military operation against Rafah on May 6, it was home and shelter to over 1.5 million displaced Palestinians who fled their areas across the Gaza Strip due to the Israeli onslaught that started on Oct. 7, 2023.

Israel's current expansion of its incursion into Rafah makes the Israeli army close to fully in control of the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, a demilitarized buffer zone running along the Gaza-Egypt border.

The Israeli army has so far seized control of almost two-thirds of the corridor area as it advances through heavy bombardment and shelling.

Israel continued its brutal offensive on Gaza despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children, and over 81,000 others injured since October following an attack by Hamas.

More than seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the ICJ, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara