Hamas urges UN to “convene immediately” over Israeli threats to attack Rafah

“We call on the UN Security Council to convene immediately and urgently to confirm its determination to oblige the ‘Israeli’ occupation to stop the genocidal war it is committing against the Palestinians in Gaza,” read the statement, warning of a “catastrophe and massacre that could leave tens of thousands martyred and wounded”.

More than 1.3 million people are believed to be in Rafah, the majority displaced from other parts of Gaza, according to the United Nations. The city is the last major population center in Gaza not occupied by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday stated that IDF would “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion”, and the next day directed the military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from the city alongside the defeat of Hamas, his office said in a statement. He added it was not possible to both eliminate Hamas and leave “four Hamas battalions in Rafah”.

Ahmed al-Sufi, the mayor of Rafah, has told Al Jazeera that “any military action in the city crowded with more than 1.4 million Palestinians will lead to a massacre and a bloodbath”.

“We appeal to the international community and every living conscience to stop the genocide against the Palestinian people,” al-Sufi said.

He added that the city is facing famine due to a lack of supplies and the aid that enters through the Rafah crossing is sufficient for only 10 percent of the city’s population.

Despite the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip, where at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, including 12,000 children and 8,190 women, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.