SANA'A February 17. 2024 (Saba) -In conjunction with the American Zionist aggression against the Gaza Strip entering its 132nd consecutive day, and with the continued bombing of homes on the heads of their residents, committing massacres, besieging hospitals and sniping the displaced there...the Zionist enemy continues to threaten to invade the city of Rafah militarily, despite all Arab and international warnings.
In this context, the Netanyahu government continues to threaten from time to time with extensive ground entry into the Palestinian city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, claiming that Rafah is the last stronghold of Palestinian resistance.
At dawn on Monday, February 12, the city of Rafah witnessed a series of violent raids that left more than a hundred martyrs and dozens wounded.
Despite the question marks surrounding the details and circumstances of this operation, it constituted an incentive for the Prime Minister of the usurping entity, Benjamin Netanyahu to support his intentions to deepen the military operation towards this city crowded with displaced persons in the south of the Gaza Strip.
Despite the official political statements that successively warned against the development of the Zionist aggression towards Rafah, whether from Arab or European countries, and the conservative Egyptian position, Netanyahu does not seem to care about the extent of international condemnations is moving forward with promoting the expected attack on Rafah.
The United Nations warns of a catastrophic situation in the city of Rafah if the Zionist enemy carries out its threat to invade the city militarily.
In the same context, United Nations Aid Coordinator Martin Griffiths warned last Thursday of “the possibility of Palestinians crowded in Rafah flowing into Egypt if the Zionist enemy launches a military operation on the border city.”
It is noteworthy that the enemy forces are imposing a tight siege on the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis for the 25th day in a row, as their snipers target those present inside it, or in its courtyards, which led to the inability of medical teams to move between its buildings, in light of the presence of 300 health personnel and 450 patients and wounded.
The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) said in a statement: The Zionist enemy army’s storming of the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis is a continuation of the war of extermination and a challenge to international laws.
The statement added: “The policy of killing, destruction and barbarism pursued by the fascist enemy, which the whole world is watching without any serious and effective action to stop it, will not succeed in breaking the will of our Palestinian people.”
After 132 days of continuous aggression against Gaza, the city of Rafah turned into a shelter for displaced people from all areas of the Strip, as the United Nations estimated the number of refugees to the city at 1.4 million out of 2.3 million total population.
With the siege imposed on the city of Rafah from all four sides, it has today turned into a large refugee camp, with the number of residents now exceeding six times its original population before the start of the aggression.
The city of Rafah is located in the south of the Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, and together with its camps it constitutes the fifth governorate according to the administrative division of the Gaza Strip. The city’s area extends over 55 square kilometers, out of 151 square kilometers which is the entire area of the governorate.
Its population is 296,661 people, according to 2022 statistics, and it constitutes the Gaza Strip’s gateway to the outside world, and the Rafah crossing designated for citizens’ travel through Egypt located there.
The city of Rafah includes a military presence of various Palestinian resistance factions, and the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of Hamas.
Since the beginning of this February, the pace of statements made by the Prime Minister of the usurping entity about his intention to deepen the aggression against Gaza towards the city of Rafah accelerated.
Although no evidence has been documented of the existence of tunnels for smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip in Rafah, Egyptian military operations targeted the border area to destroy the tunnels and impose a buffer zone on the border with Gaza.
The Rafah invasion, once launched, will constitute a military and humanitarian dilemma for the Gaza Strip, and will open the floodgates to scenarios of forced displacement and a new Nakba for the residents of the Strip.
Historically, the city of Rafah was subjected to British rule in 1917, while in 1948 the Egyptian army entered Rafah and control over it transferred to Egypt, until it fell into the hands of the Zionist enemy entity in 1956 and then returned to Egyptian administration in 1957 until 1967; It was occupied by the Zionist enemy.
Following the Camp David Accords, Rafah was divided into two halves with barbed border wire. Egypt regained Sinai, and accordingly, Rafah Sinai separated from Rafah Gaza, and the area of the part located in Gaza was approximately three times the area of the part located in Egypt.
On the humanitarian side, most of Rafah's residents trace their origins to the city of Khan Yunis.
The eyes of the displaced people and even the entire world are directed towards the outcome of the Cairo talks regarding reaching an agreement leading to a ceasefire.
Today, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced that the death toll from the aggression on the Gaza Strip had risen to 28,663 martyrs and 68,395 wounded, confirming that the enemy committed nine massacres against families in Gaza, killing 87 martyrs and 104 wounded.
M.M
resource : SABA
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