TEL AVIV: The Israeli military said it conducted a “series of strikes” early Monday on Rafah, in southern Gaza, that have now “concluded.”
The Israeli military said it struck “terror targets in the area of Shaboura” — which is a district in Rafah, according to The Associated Press.
The military said the strikes had concluded but provided no other details.
Palestinian health officials did not immediately offer any casualty information, according to the AP.
However, Agence France-Presse reported that the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said at least seven people had been killed in the strikes.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised “safe passage” for tens of thousands of Palestinians out of Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah ahead of a planned Israeli ground offensive against Hamas militants.
It was not clear, however, where the displaced Palestinians will go.
Netanyahu, in an interview broadcast Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” show, reiterated his intention to order Israeli troops to attack four Hamas battalions in Rafah, saying victory cannot be achieved over the militants in Gaza without clearing them out of the town on the Egyptian border.
With more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people crammed into the far southern reaches of the territory, international critics of Netanyahu have expressed alarm at the prospect of an Israeli ground assault.
But the Israeli leader said, “We’re going to do it. We’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population so they can leave.”
When asked where the Palestinians — many already sheltering in makeshift tents — would go, Netanyahu said only that Israeli officials are “working out a detailed plan.”
Some world officials are expressing deep concerns about the Israeli war plan in Rafah and its promise of safety for the Palestinians there.
President Joe Biden spoke to Netanyahu by phone Sunday and told him Israel shouldn’t go forward with a military operation in Rafah without “a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of and support for the more than one million people sheltering there,” a White House statement said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there would be the risk of a “gigantic tragedy” if the Israel Defense Forces expand their offensive into the town.
(VOA)
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