By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) – The UK on Friday expressed concern over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's orders to his army to plan an offensive on Rafah in the Gaza Strip, urging Tel Aviv to "take greater care to limit operations to military targets, avoid harming civilians," a government spokesperson told Anadolu.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday directed the army to submit a military plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah and defeat Hamas battalions there.
"We would be deeply concerned about the prospect of a military offensive in Rafah as over half of Gaza’s populations are sheltering in the area, and the Rafah crossing is vital to ensure aid can reach the people who so desperately need it," the spokesperson said.
"The priority in Gaza must be an immediate pause in the fighting to get aid in and hostages out, then progress towards a sustainable, permanent cease-fire," he added.
"Too many civilians have been killed in this conflict and all parties must respect International Humanitarian Law. We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians and destroying homes," he noted.
- What happened?
“It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” stated Netanyahu’s office on X.
“On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat,” it said.
“Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions,” the office added.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not specify the timeframe for developing this plan.
International estimates indicate the presence of between 1.2 million-1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah after the Israeli army forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in northern the Gaza Strip to evacuate to the south.