France called on Israel to end "immediately" its military operation in Rafah, which threatens to create a "catastrophic situation" for the population of the Gaza Strip. The appeal was made in a statement by the French Foreign Ministry, published in "Aix, France Press reported, quoted by BTA.
"We call on the Israeli authorities to immediately end this military operation and return to the path of negotiations, which is the only possible way to achieve the immediate release of the hostages and a permanent ceasefire," the text said.
"Such an operation threatens to cause a catastrophic situation for the civilian population of Gaza, which has already been repeatedly displaced," added in the statement of French diplomacy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that an operation in Rafah is necessary to defeat "Hamas". Despite international warnings, since Tuesday the Israeli army has repeatedly entered the eastern part of Rafah and even took control from the Palestinian side of the border crossing of the same name with Egypt, thus closing a key entrance for humanitarian aid convoys.
Yesterday, the army said it was continuing the "precision counter-terrorism operation" in some sectors of the eastern part of Rafah and that it has "eliminated terrorist cells".
"France calls on Israel to immediately reopen the crossing point "Rafah" to Egypt, which is essential both for humanitarian access to the civilian population and to enable the most vulnerable people to leave the Gaza Strip," French diplomacy said.