By Ibrahim Al-Khazen
ISTANBUL (AA) - The Gulf nation of Oman on Sunday warned of “serious repercussions” over the Israeli army’s intention to invade Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, adjacent to the Egyptian border.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of the aggravating and dangerous repercussions of the Israeli occupation forces continuing their indiscriminate aggression against the Gaza Strip and now heading towards storming and targeting the city of Rafah,” the Omani Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It added that Rafah “has now sheltered hundreds of thousands of defenseless Palestinian civilians displaced from the northern Gaza Strip as a result of this brutal aggression.”
The ministry reiterated Oman’s "categorical rejection” of the Israeli plans to invade Rafah and displace the Palestinian people, renewing its “appeal to the international community to take concrete practical measures that reflect the statements and political positions issued by it.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army on Friday to develop a dual plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah and defeat the remaining Hamas battalions.
The Palestinians have sought refuge in Rafah as Israel pounded the rest of the enclave following the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion. The bombardment has killed at least 28,176 people, mostly women and children, and injured 67,784 others, besides causing mass destruction and shortages of basic necessities.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi