Germany warns against Israeli ground attack on Rafah city in Gaza Strip

By Oliver Towfigh Nia

BERLIN (AA) — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Saturday warned Israel against a military attack in the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip.

“To act now in Rafah, in the last and most crowded place, as announced by the Israeli defense minister, would simply not be justified,” Baerbock said in an interview with the RND editorial network.

“The majority of the victims are women and children. Let’s just imagine: they are our children,” she added.

Israeli media has reported that the Israeli army intends to expand its offensive in the Gaza Strip to the city of Rafah, the Palestinian enclave's southern-most city on the Egyptian border.

Citing a statement by Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the daily Times of Israel has said the army plans to eliminate the forces of Palestinian group Hamas in Rafah, just as it is currently targeting Hamas fighters in Khan Yunis, the city just north of Rafah.

Baerbock said she was shocked to learn of the announcement.

“I and our American partners have been making it clear to the Israeli government for some time that the people of Gaza cannot disappear into thin air.”

More than 1.3 million people are now said to be living in Rafah and the surrounding area — more than half of the approximately 2.2 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip.

Nearly four months after the start of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, ground troops have moved deep into the enclave. The southern end of the sealed-off coastal area, which borders Egypt with the divided city of Rafah and the border crossing of the same name, is so far out of reach to Israeli ground forces.