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Mahmoud Abbas
Photo: SPA / Xinhua / IMAGO
He plays no role in the current conflict between the terrorist organization Hamas and Israel, but now he is speaking out: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sharply condemned Israel's plans for a military offensive in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Abbas said on Friday evening at his official residence in Ramallah in the West Bank that these would represent a "dangerous prelude" to a policy of expulsion that Palestinians fear.
Shortly before, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had - probably also for domestic political considerations - ordered his country's military to submit plans to the government for a military offensive in Rafah and for the evacuation of the population there. He justified this by saying that the aim was to destroy the last fighting units of the Islamist Hamas there.
Abbas accused Israel and its ally USA of “destructive policies”. He called on the UN Security Council to take action. "These steps (considered by Israel) endanger security and peace in the region, they cross all red lines," he said.
A military offensive in Rafah, which lies in the very south of the Gaza Strip and borders Egypt, is considered highly problematic. The city, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war, is now said to be home to 1.3 million people. Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, some on orders from the Israeli military.
UN Secretary General António Guterres, the US government and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had already spoken out clearly against military action by Israel in Rafah in the past few days.
Abbas is the head of the Palestinian Authority. This administers parts of the West Bank on the basis of agreements between Israel and the Palestinians.
dop/dpa