War in Gaza: “If the Israeli army enters Rafah, it will be a catastrophe”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the green light to new talks on a truce in Gaza. But in the meantime, the besieged Palestinian territory has been relentlessly bombarded by the Israeli army for almost six months. In Gaza, the news of these discussions for a truce is received with great caution.
Young Palestinians in a collapsed building after an Israeli bombardment in the Maghazi camp, March 29, 2024. © AFP
By: RFI with AFP
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The days go by, the war continues and the hope of a ceasefire is dwindling in the
Gaza
Strip , points out our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Sami Boukhelifa
. A truce was hoped for at the start of the month of Ramadan. This March 29 marks the third Friday of the holy month for Muslims and nothing has changed.
Israeli bombs are still crushing Palestinian territory. “
From north to south, no region is spared
,” Asma tells RFI. This Gazan is currently a refugee in Rafah. “
It was a tough night. There were bombings near us. They attacked and destroyed houses in Rafah
.” Israeli raids over the past 24 hours have left at least 71 dead, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health. In total, more than 32,623 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli retaliatory offensive, according to the same source.
Since October and in the wake of the Hamas attack which left more than 1,000 dead in Israel, the Israeli air force has been bombing the entire Palestinian enclave. But ground troops are carrying out staged offensives. Northern Gaza, Gaza City, Khan Younes... The final objective is Rafah, where Hamas fighters would be entrenched, according to Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu
. “
We hope that there will be no ground attack in Rafah. So that we can stay here until the end of the war. If the army enters Rafah, it will be a catastrophe,
” explains Asma. Nearly 1.5 million Gazans have found refuge, on the orders of the Israeli army, in Rafah.
Also read: Gaza: “Some died before our eyes, sometimes because all that was missing was a simple medical tool”
New talks
At the same time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the green light on Friday to new talks for a truce in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. In recent months, several negotiation sessions have taken place via international mediators - Egypt, Qatar and the United States - but without result, the protagonists accusing each other of blocking the discussions.
Since the start of the war, only one week-long truce has been established at the end of November. It allowed the release of around a hundred hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attack in exchange for Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel.
On Friday, Israel also said it was not involved in food distribution in Gaza, accusing UN agencies of being unable to manage the amount of aid arriving there each day. He also questioned a UN report which warned of the risk of famine in the Palestinian territory, judging that it contained “inaccuracies
”
. Faced with the trickle of aid arriving by land via Rafah, strictly controlled by Israel, several countries are organizing daily airdrops of food. But this remains very insufficient.
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