Palestinians face impossible choice as Israeli ground offensive looms

Himanshu 

 Palestinians are deciding whether to flee the last refuge in Gaza as the UN aid chief warns that Israel’s planned ground offensive could lead to ‘a slaughter’

• Footage released by IDF purportedly shows Hamas leader in Gaza tunnel 1:2

• Live Updates International opposition to Israel’s military plans in Rafah mounting

• Palestinian women describe terror of 12-mile escape on foot from Gaza City

• Some Palestinians flee Rafah ahead of threatened Israeli offensive 3:22

Himanshu 

Panic is soaring in Rafah as desperate Palestinians decide whether to flee the last refuge in Gaza as Israel draws up plans for a ground offensive that the United Nations aid chief has warned could lead to “a slaughter.”

A growing number of countries and international organizations are now scrambling to convince Israel to halt its planned offensive, with Ireland’s Taoiseach (or prime minister) Leo Varadkar accusing the country of becoming “blinded by rage.”

The South African government made an “urgent request” to the International Court of Justice Tuesday to determine if Israel’s extended military actions in the southern Gazan city require it to “use its power to prevent further imminent breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza.”

Israel has been bombarding Rafah with airstrikes for weeks and says it is committed to a ground offensive as the alternative “is to surrender to Hamas and to sacrifice 134 people,” Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner told CNN Tuesday, referring to the Israelis held hostage in Gaza. “That is not an option from Israel’s perspective,” he said.

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It remains unclear how or when a ground offensive would unfold, and that uncertainty is adding to anxiety among Palestinians in Rafah about where to go and what to do.

Impossible choice for 1.3 million people

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week directed the country’s military to plan for the “evacuation of the population” from Rafah after saying that the Israel Defense Forces would “soon go into Rafah, Hamas’s last bastion.”

IDF spokesperson Lerner said the military aims to create a plan that evacuates civilians “out of harm’s way” and differentiate civilians between Hamas militants. However, it has not yet presented its evacuation plan to the government, he told CNN on Tuesday.

Himanshu