Foreign leaders condemn Israel’s military action in eastern Rafah

Top international officials have criticized Israel’s military action in eastern Rafah, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday ordered residents there to “evacuate immediately” as it conducts an operation in the city.

Roughly 50,000 people have left the southern Gazan city in the last 48 hours as a result of Israel’s evacuation order, a senior staffer at the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) told CNN on Wednesday.

Many of those leaving Rafah have been previously displaced multiple times as Israel’s focus has moved from city to city.

Hamas said the Israeli military’s move on Rafah constituted a “humanitarian catastrophe” that posed “a direct threat to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.”

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday that “Australia has been clear about our objections to a major Israeli ground offensive into Rafah, and we have reiterated this to Israel again today.”

“The impacts on Palestinian civilians from an expanded military operation would be devastating,” she added.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned on X against a “major offensive” on Rafah, saying: “One million people cannot vanish into thin air. They need protection. They urgently need more humanitarian aid. To this end, the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings must be reopened immediately.”

Qatar has condemned “in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation forces’ bombardment of the Rafah governorate, invasion of the land crossing and threat to displace citizens from shelter and housing centers.”

The African Union, which comprises 55 countries, said it “strongly condemns the extension of this war to the Rafah crossing, the only corridor for humanitarian aid.”

Indonesia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on X that it “strongly condemns” the “attack” on Rafah as well as the Israeli military’s “control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing.”

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Tuesday described the situation in Rafah as a “humanitarian disaster,” according to the country’s state media outlet TASS.