2024-02-13 01:27:40
According to US President Joe Biden, the USA is working on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that will last “at least six weeks”. His administration is working on a “hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas that will bring immediate and sustained calm for the Gaza Strip,” Biden said Monday in Washington at a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
The civilians who are in Rafah on the border with Egypt must be protected, Biden said. Israel is currently considering a large-scale attack with ground troops in Rafah, where around a million civilians are staying. Abdullah II called in Washington for a “permanent ceasefire” for the Gaza Strip. Regarding an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, he said it would “certainly cause another humanitarian catastrophe.”
Biden once again urged the protection of the civilian population with strong words. A military operation in Rafah “should not take place without a credible plan to ensure the safety and support of more than a million people seeking protection there,” Biden said after meeting Jordan’s king at the White House.
Many people there have been displaced from other places, displaced several times, fleeing violence in the north. Now they are “crammed together, unprotected and defenseless” in Rafah. “They must be protected,” demanded Biden. The US government also made it clear from the start that it was against any forced expulsion of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II said urgent and immediate work must be done to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the Gaza Strip through all possible access points and available mechanisms. He stressed: “No other UN agency can do what UNRWA is doing to help the people of Gaza through this humanitarian disaster.” It is vital that the United Nations Palestinian Relief Agency continues to receive the support it needs to fulfill its mandate.
In the war against the Islamist Hamas, Israel is currently preparing for a military offensive in the city that borders Egypt. For this purpose, the military should develop plans that also provide for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of civilians who are seeking protection in a very small space. The planned project in the overcrowded city has met with strong international criticism.
A military offensive in Rafah, which lies in the very south of the Gaza Strip and borders Egypt, is considered problematic. According to UN figures, 1.3 million people are currently living in the town, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war. Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, partly on orders from the Israeli military.
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