Netanyahu and Biden prepare a bloodbath in Rafah

At the time of writing, Netanyahu is preparing to order the assault on Rafah. This is the southernmost town in the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt, which – in agreement with Israel – controls a crossing point there. Before October 7, Rafah had a population of 160,000. After four months of bombardment and destruction, one after the other, of the towns of Gaza, Khan Younes and the adjoining refugee camps, almost one and a half million Palestinians have taken refuge there.

In Rafah, tens of thousands of Palestinians are crammed into makeshift tents, their feet in mud from the rain. There’s not enough to eat: an egg now costs one US dollar! Epidemics take their toll. Every man, woman and child is entitled, on average, to 1.5 liters of water a day for drinking, cooking and washing.

But, pushing the logic of Zionism to the limit, Netanyahu and his government have decided: like the cities of Gaza and Khan Younes, Rafah must be wiped off the face of the earth. And those who survive the carnage, the Israeli Prime Minister hopes, will leave for Egypt and the Sinai desert. The bombardment of Rafah has begun. According to the New York Times, “Israeli strikes have terrified refugees in Rafah, many of whom are living in makeshift tents and have nowhere else to go« . And after the bombardments, Netanyahu promised a ground offensive against Rafah on February 9, which he wants completed by March 10.

On the Egyptian side, Marshal Sissi’s military regime has threatened to « suspend » the peace agreement with Israel (signed in 1979 under the aegis of the United States) if any Palestinians cross the border, reports the Wall Street Journal (February 9). Solidarity with the Palestinian people is clearly not what motivates Sissi’s regime, which is complicit in the blockade of Gaza and whose cargo ships deliver daily to Israeli ports. On the other hand, the Egyptian regime is aware that welcoming hundreds of thousands of Palestinians onto its soil would be unmanageable at a time when the country is already on the brink of a social explosion. Reuters reports that dozens of Egyptian tanks and armored vehicles have been stationed on the other side of the Rafah crossing, while a concrete wall (sinking six meters below ground) and sand barricades have been erected to prevent any passage.

For his part, in a long telephone call to Netanyahu on February 12, Biden reportedly asked him not to enter Rafah without a « credible plan for the civilians » there. These statements were intended to reassure his Egyptian vassal. After all, who can believe for a moment that Biden cares about the civilians of Gaza, given that every day he delivers thousands of « made in the USA » bombs to Israel, without which the genocide could not take place?

Against the barbarity and bloodbath in preparation, against the criminal complicity of all the major powers, let us salute the appeal of Israeli journalist Gideon Levy in the daily Haaretz of February 11: « All we can do now is ask, beg, shout: don’t enter Rafah! An Israeli incursion into Rafah would be an attack on the world’s largest camp for displaced persons. It would involve the Israeli army in war crimes of a gravity that even it has not yet committed. It is impossible to invade Rafah today without committing war crimes. If the IDF invades Rafah, the city will become a mass grave.”

Dominique Ferré