(CN) — With an Israeli invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza looming, Israel was under mounting international pressure on Tuesday to enter into a cease-fire, a key step in stopping the bloodshed in Gaza and tempering an escalating conflict across the Middle East.
Calls for restraint from the world's powers — including American, European, Chinese, Russian and Middle Eastern leaders — are growing as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes ahead with attacks on Rafah and a possible ground invasion of the desperately overcrowded and cut-off city in southern Gaza.
The White House and European allies are stepping up warnings against an invasion of Rafah, even though U.S., British and EU leaders continue to stop short of taking stronger actions to deter Israel.
On Tuesday, South Africa submitted an urgent request to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to use its power to stop an Israeli incursion into Rafah. In late January, the World Court ruled there was a risk of genocide in Gaza.
American and European powers continue to ship weapons to Israel, leaving them open to accusations of complicity in Israel's invasion of Gaza, especially after the World Court ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide.
By Tuesday evening, a cease-fire appeared more possible after William Burns, the CIA director, met with the head of Israeli intelligence, David Barnea, in Cairo to discuss a potential truce to exchange of Hamas-held hostages and Palestinian prisoners. Officials from Qatar and Egypt were also involved. In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden said the “key elements” of a deal were “on the table.”
Still, Israel appeared defiant in the face of international condemnation. Netanyahu has said “complete victory” cannot be achieved without rooting out Hamas fighters and leaders in Rafah. Israel is telling civilians in Rafah to evacuate, even though there was no obvious place for them to go. The border with Egypt remains closed and other parts of Gaza have been destroyed.
Rafah has turned into an overcrowded and traumatized city with more than 1.4 million Gazans, the vast majority of them people who have fled the Israeli invasion. Before the outbreak of war, Rafah had a population of about 250,000 people.
The United Nations warned an invasion of Rafah would exacerbate the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.
“If the assault takes place, the question is, ‘Where will the civilians go?’ There is absolutely no safe place in Rafah anymore and the fear is that the number of people killed and injured might again significantly increase,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UNRWA, the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel has drawn up a plan to move civilians to 15 tent cities along the coast of Gaza.
On Tuesday, the health ministry in Gaza reported that 28,473 Palestinians have been killed and 68,146 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking hundreds hostage. The ministry said 133 Palestinians were killed and 162 wounded in the past 24 hours.
The conflict in Israel has continued to escalate into a broader war. American military bases in the Middle East have come under attack and Houthi forces in Yemen have kept up their attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. A U.S.-led naval coalition is responding with missile strikes against Houthi targets.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops and settlers are carrying out attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank while tensions are running high on Israel's northern border with Lebanon as Hezbollah and Israeli forces exchange fire.
Since the International Court of Justice ruling, the tone in Europe against Israel's actions has sharpened.
On Monday, Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, reprimanded the U.S. and other nations for providing Israel with weapons.
Referring to Biden's statement last week that Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas was “over the top” because so many civilians had been killed, Borrell said it was “logical” then for Washington to not supply so many weapons to Israel.
“Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed,” Borrell told reporters in Brussels.
Showing frustration, he said “Netanyahu doesn't listen to anyone” and he vented that it was impossible for civilians in Rafah to evacuate.
“They're going to evacuate. Where? To the moon?” he said.
“If the international community believes this is a slaughter, that too many people are being killed, maybe they have to think about the provision of arms,” he said.
Also Monday, an appeals court in the Netherlands ruled that the Dutch government must stop shipping spare parts for F-35 fighter jets to Israel because of the risk that Israel is violating international humanitarian law. Lawyers for Amnesty International and Oxfam brought the case before Dutch courts, arguing the Netherlands was complicit in war crimes by supplying the parts.
Human rights groups in the United Kingdom have brought a similar lawsuit. Meanwhile, Spain and the Wallonia region in Belgium have stopped issuing weapons export licenses for Israel.
Opposition to Israel's actions may be growing among some European governments, though Tel Aviv continues to receive the support of the majority of EU countries.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Belgium and Slovenia have criticized Israel's actions. Ireland and like-minded EU members are in talks about recognizing a Palestinian state after the conflict is over, according to news reports. Ireland also has called on the EU to review its close trade relations with Israel, though any change is highly unlikely because it would need to be approved by all 27 EU members.
On Tuesday, France announced sanctions against 28 Israeli settlers, saying they had committed human rights abuses against Palestinians in the West Bank. The 28 Israelis would be banned from entering France, French authorities said. Similar sanctions have been issued by the U.S. and U.K.
The U.N. has recorded more than 516 settler attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7.
In Ireland on Tuesday, Prime Minister Leo Vardakar told the Irish Parliament that he believed Israel had become “blinded by rage” and he doubted it was listening to even Washington.
He said there was risk of a massacre in Rafah and that a ground assault would be a “gross violation of international law on top of all of the other violations of international law which Israel is responsible for,” as reported by RTE, an Irish public broadcaster.
Simon Coveney, Ireland's minister for enterprise, accused Israel of “behaving like a rogue state.” His comments came after Gaza authorities said 67 people were killed when Israel launched an overnight raid in Rafah on Monday that freed two hostages.
Coveney said it was not acceptable to “behave like a monster to defeat a monster.”
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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