Israel-Palestine Escalation
Israel was hit by an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, with Hamas movement's troops infiltrating border areas. On October 8, the Israeli government announced that it had invoked Article 40 of the Basic Law, which means the country was officially in a state of war.

Israel Should Not Conduct Ground Operation in Rafah in Gaza Strip, Egyptian Top Diplomat Says

© AP Photo / Fatima ShbairMembers of the Al-Rabaya family break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan outside their destroyed home by the Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 18, 2024.
Members of the Al-Rabaya family break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan outside their destroyed home by the Israeli airstrikes in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, March 18, 2024. - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 22.03.2024
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CAIRO (Sputnik) - Israel should not carry out a ground operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has said, adding that the international community emphasizes the need to avoid a military operation in Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he had already approved the plan for the ground operation by the Israeli military in Rafah, and a plan to evacuate civilians from the combat zones would soon be adopted.
"It is necessary that Israel does not conduct any operations in this area," Shoukry told a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Cairo on Thursday.
Shoukry said there are about 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah now, adding that the international community emphasizes the need to avoid such military action in Rafah.
Blinken told the press conference that Palestinian movement "Hamas can be effectively dealt with without a major ground operation in Rafah."
The EU leaders, following a summit in Brussels on Thursday, urged Israel to refrain from carrying out a ground operation in the city of Rafah and called for an immediate humanitarian pause in the Gaza Strip that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire.
The statement comes on the same day that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced that the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, as well as the UAE secretary of state for international cooperation and the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive chief, called for the opening of all border crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Last October, Hamas launched a large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border, killing 1,200 people and abducting around 240 others. Israel launched retaliatory strikes, ordered a complete blockade of Gaza, and started a ground incursion into the Palestinian enclave with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages. Over 31,900 people have been killed so far in the Gaza Strip, local authorities said.
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