By Awad al-Rujoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - The Palestinian Presidency warned on Friday against Israel’s planned attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, branding such an attack a "blatant violation of all red lines."
Earlier Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to set a dual plan to evacuate Palestinian residents from Rafah – home to over 1 million people seeking refuge from war – and to defeat the last Hamas battalions there.
In a statement quoted by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, the Palestinian Presidency in the West Bank "vehemently" rejected and condemned Netanyahu's statements on “plans to extend the ground Israeli onslaught to the overcrowded province of Rafah."
The statement held Israel fully responsible for the consequences of such an attack, also stressing "the special responsibility of the US administration to prevent what could be a disastrous escalation."
It said: "The Palestinian people will not abandon their land and will not accept being forcibly displaced from their homeland."
Since the start of the Israeli onslaught against Gaza on Oct. 7, Israel ordered all residents in the Gaza Strip's northern and central areas to evacuate toward the southern part of the enclave, leading to the current overcrowded conditions in the south, especially in Rafah.
Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza where at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.
Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.
The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.
*Writing by Ahmed Asmar