Egypt is threatening to suspend its peace treaty with Israel if Israeli troops are sent into the densely populated town of Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border, and warning that fighting could shut down the besieged territory’s main aid supply route, two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat said Sunday.
The threat to suspend the Camp David Accords, a cornerstone of regional stability for nearly a half-century, came after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said sending troops into Rafah was necessary to win the four-month war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million have fled to Rafah to escape fighting in other areas, and they are packed into sprawling tent camps and UN-run shelters near the border. Egypt fears a mass influx of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees who may never be allowed to return.
The standoff between Israel and Egypt, two close U.S. allies, took shape as aid groups warned that an offensive in Rafah would worsen the already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, where around 80 per cent of residents have fled their homes and where the UN says a quarter of the population faces starvation.
Arif Husain, chief economist for the World Food Program, told Rosemary Barton Live that ‘pretty much everybody’ living in Gaza is suffering from hunger, and about a quarter of the population is ‘literally starving.’
The Hamas Al-Aqsa television station quoted an unnamed Hamas official as saying that any invasion of Rafah would “blow up” talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar aimed at achieving a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.
Civilians could go north, Israeli PM says
Netanyahu, in an interview on ABC News’ This Week with George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday, suggested civilians in Rafah could flee north, saying there are “plenty of areas” that have been cleared by the army. He said Israel is developing a “detailed plan” to relocate them.
But Israel’s offensive has caused widespread destruction, particularly in northern Gaza, and heavy fighting is still taking place in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis. In Gaza City on Sunday, the remaining residents covered decomposing bodies in the streets or carried bodies to graves. Some streets were piled high with sand from bombings. Smoke billowed from…
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