Israeli army insists it will invade Gaza's Rafah despite int'l hue and cry

Despite growing international opposition, an Israeli military commander has said the army will invade Rafah city as part of Tel Aviv’s ongoing offensive in Gaza.

"We are going to Rafah," Army Radio quoted the commander of the 932nd Battalion, who was identified as Dotan, as he addressed his soldiers on the outskirts of the Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday.

"The people of Israel rely on you to do the best you can in Rafah as well," he added.

The army withdrew from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza on Wednesday following an 8-day raid, leaving behind several people dead and a trail o f destruction.

The Israeli army has unveiled plans to invade Rafah, where more than 1.4 million people have taken refuge from Israel's ongoing war on the Palestinian enclave, despite opposition from several countries, including the US.

Accused of genocide

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on Gaza since an October 7, 2023 cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas in which nearly 1,200 people were killed.

At least 33,900 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and over 76,600 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war has pushed 85 percent of Gaza's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 percent of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.