CAIRO, February 10. /TASS/. An anticipated military operation of the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip will reverberate across the Palestinian enclave, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said.
"The Rafah developments (preparations for the Israeli military operation - TASS) portend further deterioration throughout the Gaza Strip," the Egyptian minister said, as quoted by the al-Qahera el-Ekhbariya television.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Cairo with his Bulgarian counterpart Mariya Gabriel, Shoukry said that, in his belief, "Israel’s military activity poses the threat of new casualties and a catastrophic humanitarian situation in the enclave."
Earlier, the Palestinian leadership warned that the Israeli plans to press ahead with its military operation in the Gaza Strip, especially in its south, would be a prelude to ousting Palestinians from their lands. The Palestinian leadership highlighted an extreme threat of this "Israel’s destructive policy" and placed the responsibility for its consequences on the "current Israeli government and the US administration, which supports it." The Palestinian leadership believes that it is high time for the world to take responsibility and to "prevent the beginning of another catastrophe, which will push the region toward endless wars."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier that the prime minister had instructed the country’s military to work out a plan to evacuate civilians from the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and exterminate Hamas battalions still entrenched in the city. On February 7, Netanyahu said that the Israeli military was ordered to prepare for an operation in the city of Rafah located near the border with Egypt.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres earlier warned against Israel’s plans to expand its military operation in Gaza to Rafah, which gives shelter to thousands of Palestinians as this will only worsen the humanitarian situation in the enclave.