Israel’s allies voice alarm at Netanyahu’s latest military plans

“There’s nowhere for them to go,” warned Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, today as he joined a chorus of Israel’s closest allies in expressing his “deep concern” about Netanyahu’s planned ground offensive in a city deemed the only remaining safe zone for Gazan civilians. 

Rafah, in the southernmost part of Gaza on the Egyptian border, had a pre-war population of around 171,000. Some 1.5 million Palestinians – over half of the population of Gaza – are now sheltering there, after being displaced by Israeli operations elsewhere in the strip. 

Over the weekend, Netanyahu announced plans to send IDF troops into Rafah to destroy the four Hamas battalions he claims are hiding there. 

While a full-scale ground offensive of Rafah is yet to commence, IDF forces carried out heavy bombardment of the city overnight, killing at least 67 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 

This morning, Israeli special forces announced that they had rescued two more hostages, 60 year-old Fernando Simon Marman and 70 year-old Louis Har, from “deep inside Rafah” during an overnight raid.

The IDF insisted that their successful rescue “underscores the importance of our ground operation in Gaza, including in Rafah.” Others argue that the majority of hostages have been released through diplomacy and bloody fighting in Rafah would put the estimated 134 Israelis still held captive by Hamas in further peril.

Cameron is not the only Western ally to voice alarm over Netanyahu’s latest war objective. 

Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, who has been a staunch defender of Israel’s right to defend itself since Hamas’s October 7 massacre, said today: “An offensive by the Israeli army on Rafah would be a human catastrophe. The people in Gaza cannot disappear into thin air.”

Hanke Bruins Slot, the Dutch foreign minister, described the plans as “unjustifiable”, adding that it was inconceivable that a large-scale military operation in such a densely populated area would not lead to vast civilian casualties. 

And even US President Joe Biden warned Netanyahu yesterday that, without a “credible” plan to protect civilians, an offensive on Rafah would be “disastrous”. 

Egypt’s foreign minister has similarly condemned the plans, although Cairo appears more focussed on the fortification of its border than humanitarian concerns. Egyptian officials have reportedly threatened to suspend a peace treaty with Israel dating back nearly 50 years – a treaty considered a cornerstone of regional stability – if there is a large influx of Gazans into its territory.

Aside from an overall reluctance to host more refugees, Egyptian president al-Sisi is said to be afraid of radical Islamists entering from Gaza and strengthening the “Muslim Brotherhood,” who already have a significant base in Egypt and with whom al-Sisi has been fighting in recent years.

A Rafah ground offensive could also see Israel-Saudi normalisation talks halted once and for all, with Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry warning of “very serious repercussions” if troops stormed Gaza’s southernmost city. 

An invasion of Rafah may well help Netanyahu to achieve his war aim of eliminating Hamas. And yet, perversely, it could help Hamas to achieve one of its own: the horror simultaneously inflicted on Palestinian civilians would see Israel much more alienated on the global stage. 

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