Neighbours warn Israel on Rafah push

RAFAH: Israel’s neighbours and key mediators have warned of disaster and repercussions if its military launches a ground invasion in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, where Israel says Hamas strongholds are located – along with more than half the besieged territory’s population.

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 44 Palestinians – including more than a dozen children – in Rafah, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he asked the military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people ahead of an invasion.

The announcement set off panic. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, which borders Egypt. Many fled there after complying with Israeli evacuation orders that now cover two-thirds of the territory. It’s not clear where they could go next.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said any Israeli ground offensive on Rafah would have ‘‘disastrous consequences’’ and asserted that Israel aims to eventually force the Palestinians out of their land. Egypt has warned that any movement of Palestinians into Egypt would threaten the four-decade-old peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Another mediator, Qatar, also warned of disaster, and Saudi Arabia warned of ‘‘very serious repercussions’’. There’s even increasing friction between Netanyahu and the United States, whose officials have said a Rafah invasion with no plan for civilians there would lead to disaster.

‘‘The people in Gaza cannot disappear into thin air,’’ German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on X, adding that an Israeli offensive on Rafah would be a ‘‘humanitarian catastrophe in the making’’.

Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes in Rafah, a rare entry point for Gaza’s badly needed food and medical supplies, during its ground combat in Khan Younis just to the north.

In Khan Younis, Israeli forces opened fire at Nasser Hospital, the area’s largest, killing at least two people and wounding five, according to the medical charity, Doctors Without Borders.

Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said hospital staff are no longer able to move between buildings because of the intense fire. He said 450 patients and 10,000 displaced people are sheltering there.

The Israeli military said troops were not operating inside the hospital but called the surrounding area ‘‘an active combat zone’’.

Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Herzl Halevi, said more than 2000 Hamas fighters in Khan Younis had been killed in airstrikes and ground combat, but the offensive in the city was far from over.

The Gaza Health Ministry said the bodies of 117 people killed in Israeli airstrikes were brought to hospitals over the 24 hours to yesterday morning (AEDT), raising the death toll from the offensive to 28,064, mostly women and children. The ministry said more than 67,000 people have been wounded.

Netanyahu’s office says it is impossible to eliminate Hamas while leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah. The United Nations says the city that’s normally home to less than 300,000 people now hosts 1.4 million others who fled fighting elsewhere and is severely overcrowded. AP