RAFAH / UNITED NATIONS: While Abdeljabbar al-Arja excavated his deceased neighbors’ bodies from the debris in Gaza, birds sang and airplanes thundered overhead.
An overnight Israeli strike hit the home where a displaced Palestinian family was sheltering in the southern city Rafah, relatives and neighbours told AFP as they scraped at the soil with their hands.
“We discovered arms and feet among the bones of mothers and children that we recovered. They were all shattered into bits. Al-Arja stated, “This is terrible, it’s not normal,” and that the explosion claimed the lives of at least ten individuals.
Not long after the conflict started on October 7, Israel ordered Gaza’s northern Palestinian population to relocate to “safe zones” in the southern part of the enclave, such as Rafah.
A “full-scale regional conflict” is discouraged by Guterres, and Washington is anticipated to deny Palestine’s application for UN membership.
However, more than half of the inhabitants of the territory—roughly 1.5 million people—live in shelters in the city, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now promised to invade.
“What makes Rafah a safe area?” stated Zeyad Ayyad, a victim’s relative.
Eight family members’ corpses—five children and two women—were found by rescuers in a separate attack on a home in Rafah’s Al-Salam neighborhood overnight on Tuesday, according to Gaza’s civil defense service.
Senior US and Israeli officials convened virtually on Thursday, with the expectation that the agenda would cover Israel’s intentions regarding the southern Gaza city of Rafah as well as the potential for retaliation action against Iran.
In order to prevent more Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza, where Palestinian health officials report that Israel’s assault has killed over 33,000 people, President Biden has encouraged Israel not to launch a major offensive in Rafah.
“On the verge of catastrophe”
Secretary General Antonio Guterres presented a dire image of the Middle East scenario at the UN, announcing that escalating tensions stemming from the Gaza War and Iran’s attack on Israel may turn into a “full-scale regional conflict.”
Additionally, Guterres claimed that the Gaza Strip’s beleaguered civilian population was living in a “humanitarian hellscape” as a result of Israel’s military assault.
Special Palestinian Authority representative Ziad Abu Amr informed the Council that “granting Palestine full membership at the United Nations will lift some of the historic injustice that succeeding Palestinian generations have been subjected to.”
“It will create many opportunities before a just and lasting peace.”
The Middle East is at a critical juncture. There has been a dangerous increase in words and actions in recent days. He urged all sides to show “maximum restraint,” saying that “one miscalculation, one miscommunication, one mistake, could lead to the unthinkable – a full-scale regional conflict that would be devastating for all involved.”
Hours before the Security Council was to vote on the Palestinians’ application for full UN membership, he made his speech.
Prior to being approved by a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly, a request to join the UN must first receive a recommendation from the Security Council, which is equivalent to at least nine votes in favor out of fifteen and no vetoes. However, the US has already expressed opposition, thus the initiative is probably going to be vetoed.
