Forcibly displacing Rafah civilians would be war crime, France warns Israel
Israeli soldiers with military vehicles gathered at a position on the southern border with the Gaza Strip, near Rafah. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA
Israel will be committing a war crime under international law if it seeks to forcibly displace Palestinian civilians from Rafah, in Gaza, France has warned.
The French foreign ministry issued the statement after President Emmanuel Macron spoke with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Sunday night. He used the discussion to restate his opposition to a Rafah offensive, shortly before Israel ordered an evacuation designed to move initially at least 100,000 refugees as part of a military effort to drive the remaining Hamas battalions out of Gaza.
The Jordanian foreign minister, Ayman Safadi, said the international community would be left with an “indelible stain” if it allowed Israel’s threatened attack on Rafah to go ahead. He was speaking before a private lunch on Monday between King Abdullah of Jordan and the US president, Joe Biden.
“Another massacre of the Palestinians is in the making,” he said. “Israel is warning Palestinians to leave Rafah as it threatens an attack. All must act now to prevent it. Failure to prevent the massacre will be an indelible stain on the international community. Too many massacres have been allowed. Enough.”
Ceasefire talks in Cairo have broken down over a Hamas call for the ceasefire to be permanent, which Israel believes would leave Hamas in power in Gaza. The Qatari foreign ministry said on Monday that mediation efforts were still under way, in partnership with Egypt and the US, to reach an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. It said it condemned the Israeli threats to storm Rafah and warned of a humanitarian catastrophe.
European diplomats seemed unwilling to accept claims that the evacuation order was simply a limited operation to move some refugees and so force Hamas to accept the terms Israel is offering on a ceasefire and hostage deal.
The US and allies have repeatedly said they could not support an Israeli attack on Rafah without seeing credible plans to protect the civilian population. It remains to be seen if the US is willing to ban arms exports to Israel as a deterrent, but even this measure seems unlikely to deter Netanyahu, who has said he is willing to see Israel isolated internationally in its attempt to secure a final victory against Hamas.
In the call on Sunday, Macron urged Netanyahu to complete the negotiations with Hamas that could lead to the release of the abductees, the protection of civilians through a ceasefire, and the reduction of regional tensions. The French government said Macron had “reiterated his firm opposition to an Israeli attack on Rafah and the urgent need to ensure a massive entry of humanitarian aid through all access points to the Gaza Strip”.
The foreign ministry said on Monday that France was strongly opposed to an offensive on Rafah, “where more than 1.3 million people are taking refuge in a situation of great distress. The forced displacement of a civilian population constitutes a war crime under international law.”
The EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said on Monday: “Israel’s evacuation orders to civilians in Rafah portend the worst: more war and famine”
Four days earlier, he had said Israel’s partners and neighbours were speaking with one voice against a Rafah offensive. “Rafah must not be attacked. We all demand the immediate release of all hostages. The elimination of Hamas cannot come at the unbearable cost of thousands of civilian deaths,” he said.
Petra De Sutter, Belgium’s deputy prime minister, said: “The Israeli call for the evacuation of the citizens and refugees of Rafah, and the announced invasion, will lead to massacre. Belgium is working on further sanctions against Israel.”
She said she was meeting with the Palestinian special envoy Dr Riyad al Malki and would reiterate Belgium’s support for Palestine being recognised as a state at the UN. Belgium said it also wanted to start a trade banon products exported by Israel from occupied territories.
A German foreign ministry spokesperson said: “The negotiations must not be jeopardised and all sides must make maximum efforts to ensure that the people in Gaza are supplied with humanitarian goods … and that the hostages are freed.”