02/23/2024

Why Rafah Marks a Turning Point in the Gaza War

Rafah is where more than half of the Strip's 2.3 million people are sheltering

For months, Israel's staunchest allies in the U.S. and Europe had largely avoided using the C-word. To call for a ceasefire, they argued, would be to deny Israel its right to root out Hamas from Gaza in retaliation for its Oct. 7 massacre. But as the humanitarian situation in the Strip has deteriorated and as calls for an end to the hostilities have grown, pressure has mounted on Israel and its backers to change tack. Now, as the Palestinian death toll nears 30,000 and as Israel prepares its ground invasion of the Gazan city of Rafah, where more than half of the Strip's 2.3 million people are sheltering, many Western capitals are doing just that.

Among the first notable shifts came from Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which on Feb. 15 issued a joint statement calling for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire," noting that an Israeli ground offensive on Rafah would be "devastating" and would force its Palestinian civilian population to "pay the price of defeating Hamas." Days later, 26 of the E.U.'s 27 member states echoed those concerns, calling for an "immediate humanitarian pause that would lead to a sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza. (Hungary, among Israel’s staunchest European allies, was the sole outlier.) Meanwhile in the U.K., the opposition Labour Party, which is widely expected to form the country's next government, announced that it too backs an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire,” adding that an offensive on Rafah “must not happen.” (Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservatives continue to oppose a full ceasefire, urging instead for an “immediate humanitarian pause” to allow for the release of Israeli hostages and the flow of more aid into Gaza.) So pronounced is the issue that even the British Royal Family weighed in with a rare statement by Prince William, who on the eve of a House of Commons vote on a nonbinding ceasefire resolution urged an end to the fighting "as soon as possible."

But perhaps the most notable shift came from the U.S., which this week put forward a draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a “temporary ceasefire in Gaza as soon as practicable.” Although a far cry from another resolution put forward by Algeria calling for an immediate ceasefire—which was vetoed by the U.S. on Tuesday on the grounds that it would disrupt ongoing negotiations—it marks the first time that the U.S. has called for a ceasefire at the U.N. since the war began and follows warnings from the Biden administration that an offensive on Rafah would be a “disaster” absent a credible plan to protect civilians. 

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.