“VIOLATION”
Military spokesman Effie Defrin said the offensive would include “moving most of the population of the Gaza Strip … to protect them”.
China said it opposed Israel’s military actions in Gaza and was “highly concerned” by the situation, urging all parties to “effectively implement the ceasefire agreement”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Paris “very strongly” condemns Israel’s planned Gaza offensive, calling it “unacceptable”, and adding its government was “in violation of humanitarian law”.
For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe – the mass displacement in the war that led to Israel’s creation in 1948.
On Monday, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 2,459 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign on Mar 18, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,567.
Hamas’s Oct 7 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Out of the 251 people abducted by militants that day, 58 are still held in Gaza including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Talks for a truce in Gaza, mediated by the United States, Qatar and Egypt have stalled with Israel insisting on a limited-duration ceasefire and Hamas’s disarmament while the Palestinian group has said the negotiations should lead to a permanent end to the war.
