Palestinian Foreign Ministry: The occupation defies the Security Council resolution and escalates its threats to invade Rafah

Occupied Al-Quds (ST) – The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stressed that the Israeli occupation is blatantly defying the UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and is escalating its threats and public incitement to invade the city of Rafah and expand the genocidal war it has been waging since last October 7 on Gaza Strip.

In a statement, the Ministry condemned the Israeli occupation’s continuing crimes against the Palestinian people and depriving them of their most basic rights and needs, warning of the consequences and dangers of invading Rafah and committing major massacres against the Palestinians and forcibly pushing them out of the afflicted Strip.

“It has become clear that the head of the occupation government, Benjamin Netanyahu, is trying to get rid of international pressure regarding not invading Rafah through gradual bombing of homes and entire residential blocks, thus imposing on the Palestinians either death by bombing or gradual displacement from Rafah”, the Ministry stated.

In turn, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, called for immediate steps to be taken for a ceasefire in Gaza, expressing his horror at the massive scale of death, destruction and human suffering caused by the Israeli aggression.

Wennesland said in a briefing at the Security Council on Palestine: “I condemn the killing of thousands of civilians in Gaza, most of them women and children. Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people”. He stressed the need to address the conditions that threaten the lives of more than 1.7 million in Gaza.

“I am deeply concerned about the potential nightmare of displacing more than a million people again, if Israel carries out its planned ground operation in Rafah”, Wennesland added.

He called on the occupying entity to adhere to the resolutions of international law and to allow and facilitate rapid and unhindered access of humanitarian aid to and throughout the Strip, and for the UN to be able to provide assistance safely.

Najla Khoury