Israel steps up airstrikes on Rafah ahead of ground operation
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00:00This Thursday, a senior Hamas figure said that the Islamist group will lay down its
00:06arms if a two-state solution is implemented.
00:09The words of Khalil al-Hayya to the Associated Press come as refugees are leaving Rafa, fearing
00:15Israel's next move.
00:17Israel stepped up airstrikes on Rafa overnight, saying it would evacuate civilians from the
00:21southern Gazan city and launch an all-out assault in spite of allies' warnings that
00:26this could cause mass casualties.
00:28And of course, chief among those allies is U.S. President Joe Biden.
00:33In Gaza, Israel's military says there are still around 100 Israeli hostages being held
00:38by Hamas, as well as the remains of another 30.
00:41Israel's war cabinet has been meeting this Thursday to discuss how it can get rid of
00:45the last vestiges, it says, of Hamas.
00:48Here at France 24, this report from Leo McGuinn.
00:55A ground assault on Rafa is now a matter of when, not if, as confirmed by the Israeli
01:01government on Wednesday.
01:03Israel is moving ahead with our operation to target Hamas in Rafa.
01:09We will, as usual, be making every effort to move civilians out of harm's way, as we
01:15have done in the past.
01:17We believe that we've destroyed at least 18 or 19 of Hamas's 24 battalions, but the
01:25four battalions which remain in Rafa cannot be shielded from Israel.
01:31They will be attacked.
01:34Rafa is currently home to 1.4 million Palestinians who have fled the war.
01:39Ahead of the Israeli assault, sources suggest that they will be relocated to the city of
01:44Han Yunis, just three kilometres away.
01:48According to the defence ministry, 40,000 tents have been bought in preparation, each
01:53with a capacity for 10 to 12 people.
01:56Satellite pictures seem to confirm as much.
01:59This image shows the same stretch of land in Han Yunis just two weeks apart, now packed
02:04with hundreds of white tents.
02:07Civilian evacuations would take around a month.
02:11Many NGOs have warned against the human cost of any assault, saying it will not be possible
02:16for everyone to leave the city, resulting in a lot of civilian casualties.
02:21For those currently sheltering in Rafa, they see the city as the last safe haven left in
02:26Gaza.
02:27There is no safe place in all of Gaza except for this area here, because it's on the border
02:34with Egypt.
02:35If the Israeli army enters here, there will be no safe place left in Rafa.
02:40Western countries, including the United States, have urged Israel to hold back from attacking
02:45Rafa, with US President Joe Biden warning that any assault on the city would be a mistake.
02:53Let's bring in Rob Williams, Chief Executive Officer of War Child UK.
02:57Rob, welcome back to France 24.
02:59We always appreciate your presence and your analysis.
03:02Tell us of your fears for the children of Rafa right now.
03:07We're really worried about what will happen if Israeli forces move in.
03:11We have to remember that there is no space in Rafa.
03:15Any kind of sustained military activity is going to cause civilian casualties in much
03:21higher numbers, even than we've seen in the last few months in Gaza, because this place
03:25is so crowded.
03:26One and a half million people in a very, very, very small area.
03:32The population also is very weak.
03:34They haven't had enough food for six months.
03:36There's about 30% of this population which is at the highest level of poor nutrition
03:43on the five level scale, which we use to measure nutritional health, which means they are on
03:49the edge of starvation.
03:52The imaginative idea that you can move this population safely from a very crowded area
03:58into another very crowded area where there isn't enough shelter and there won't be enough
04:03aid distributed without causing high levels of death just from the fact of moving very,
04:08very weak people is not credible.
04:13The impact on civilians is going to be huge.
04:16They have a right to be there.
04:17They have a right to seek safety.
04:19If you move them forcibly, you are breaking international law.
04:24The laws of war are really clear about Israel's obligation in this situation.
04:29They can't move civilian populations by force and they have to ensure that civilian populations
04:35are getting enough food.
04:37But they seem to be intent on doing the thing which is illegal and not following through
04:42on their responsibilities to this population which is trapped in Gaza and this small place
04:48in Rafah.
04:49It is the only place left where people will feel any kind of comfort or safety because
04:54they know where they're going to go next will be less safe and less secure.
04:58It's worth pointing out to people who perhaps don't realise this but not everybody who is
05:02in Rafah of course is a member of Hamas.
05:05Not everybody who is in the Gaza Strip took part in the October 7th atrocities and those
05:09atrocities were just that.
05:11No one can begin to justify what happened.
05:13It was horrific what Hamas did but what's happened since of course is this mass loss
05:17of life in the Gaza Strip, over 34,000 killed so far, many of them women and children which
05:23again brings me to the question, children the biggest victims of this conflict and that's
05:27set to get worse.
05:28It is, so 13,000 children have died, the numbers of children injured we estimate to be around
05:3575,000 to 80,000 so 5% of Gaza children are either dead or injured.
05:42Many many more thousands are very very weak from malnutrition.
05:47Imagine a five year old child who's not getting enough food, their condition deteriorates
05:51much faster than an adult, this is because they haven't got the stocks of fat and energy
05:57that older people have in their bodies so they are the most vulnerable people.
06:03One week of diarrhoea for a six year old is a very very life-threatening situation whereas
06:09for an adult it's a bad week but you can recover.
06:13The water that these children have been drinking for the last six months comes from unpurified
06:18sources and is never enough anyway but the drinking water which they know has a high
06:25risk of causing them severe illness including hepatitis and cholera.
06:30So the basic part of the rules of war are you have to distinguish between a combatant
06:37and a non-combatant and unless you do that you have very high casualty rates which is
06:42what we're seeing here and these children have a right to protection.
06:46The rules of war are very clear about the need to consider the vulnerabilities of children
06:52in particular and keep them apart from the conflict.
06:55That hasn't really happened at all and Israel's allies are telling them the truth which is
07:01that if they try and go into Rafah with military force it will be a humanitarian catastrophe.
07:08The allies are telling them that, Egypt is telling them that and just as the mood amongst
07:14our staff in Gaza was about a month ago that although Netanyahu was saying he would go
07:21into Gaza they just thought it just wouldn't be politically possible.
07:25Now I think what I'm hearing from our team on the ground is they really do think that
07:30there's a high chance of it happening and so the levels of anxiety in Rafah have skyrocketed.
07:36I would say in the last week when they suddenly realised that this might actually happen.
07:41Rob, you mentioned your team on the ground and obviously they're risking their lives
07:45to try to help as they can.
07:48What can they do given the shortage of everything?
07:52Do they feel it's worth the risk to keep staying, to keep trying, to keep trying to help Palestinian children?
07:57Yeah, absolutely.
08:00What's remarkable is what they have been able to do.
08:03They've been able to find pockets of food here and there and access food on trucks coming
08:08through and they've been able to distribute that to the most vulnerable families.
08:13Lots of informal distribution networks have been created and small distribution sites,
08:19even small sites where we're able to provide some kind of education.
08:23We found places in Rafah where we can do that and one of the things that we're most upset
08:28about is if this population is forced to move very quickly, those informal and resilient
08:36ways of distributing food and aid will suddenly unravel again.
08:40All the work that's been done in the last few months to make sure that food can get
08:44to the most vulnerable families will be completely destroyed and that will all have to be rebuilt
08:49again somewhere else.
08:53We'll see pictures of children dismantling shelters made of corrugated iron and tarpaulin
08:59and dragging them two or three kilometres up the road, desperately seeking a safe place.
09:05They're not really in a condition to do that, they're so weak at the moment.
09:09Those that have survived are at risk, as you say, you've outlined all the reasons why.
09:14Education of course has gone completely out the window.
09:17This is a big question but I need a brief answer.
09:19What is the future for Gaza's children, Rob?
09:23The future has to be a major effort to reconstruct what's been destroyed.
09:29The future, yes, but also the networks of mental health support and education.
09:34Education can happen anywhere as long as you have teachers.
09:37Whilst this place is rebuilt, there needs to be a huge commitment to providing for children
09:42what they need, which is food, basic needs, education and psychological support.
09:48That's all possible if we get a ceasefire, but not really anywhere near possible if we don't.
09:54Rob Williams, Chief Executive Officer of War Child UK.
09:57Thank you once again for joining us here on France24.
10:00We appreciate your time and your analysis and most of all your insight.
10:03Thank you sir, very much indeed.
10:04His team working in Gaza to help the children there who are the innocent victims of this conflict.
10:10Rob, thank you very much for joining us.
10:12Thank you for watching.
10:13Do stay with us, we'll take a very short break.