Israel started its aggression on Rafah without announcing it: Palestine

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said the Israeli army started its aggression on Rafah, southern the Gaza Strip, without announcing it.

In a statement, the ministry condemned the Israeli overnight airstrikes across Rafah that targeted civilian homes and left several Palestinians killed and injured.

"Israel started its aggression on Rafah city, didn't wait for permission from anyone, and didn't announce it to avoid international reactions," the Foreign Ministry statement said.

It considered the Israel's "bloody airstrikes on Rafah" as a beginning to expand its crimes into Rafah, which is home to more than a million displaced Palestinians.

The ministry also said the Israeli raids on Rafah are "an official Israeli disregard" to the international and US demands to protect the civilians in Rafah.

Early on Tuesday, the US State Department said Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled this week to visit the region to discuss efforts to reach a deal between Israel and the Hamas group on a cease-fire in Gaza and a prisoner swap deal.

The Israeli army continues to strike Rafah despite international warnings to Israel not to launch a ground operation against the city which is heavily populated with over 1.4 million displaced Palestinians.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on several occasions vowed to keep ahead with plans to attack Rafah, the last area in Gaza that has not been yet attacked from the ground.

Israel waged a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed more than 31,700 victims and injured nearly 73,000 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught 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 International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara