Syria has warned about the “catastrophic repercussions” of an impending Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip's southernmost city of Rafah, saying such a move will seriously jeopardize the security and stability of the West Asia region.
“Syria stresses that allowing Israel to implement its dangerous and inhumane schemes in Gaza, crafted by the United States, will pose a major threat to security and stability in the region,” the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said in a statement on Monday.
The statement added that the Israeli decision to launch a military onslaught against Palestinian civilians constitutes a grave breach of international law, and the most fundamental human rights.
“The displacement of Palestinians is morally condemned. The international community is required to protect them and provide them with humanitarian assistance immediately and permanently,” the Syrian foreign ministry noted.
It added that Syria renews its appeal to the international community, especially the International Court of Justice, to make Israel stop the genocide it is committing against the Palestinians in Gaza, and to hold to account fascist Israeli leaders for the catastrophic fallout stemming from assaults on civilians and destruction of private and public property in the besieged coastal territory.
Despite international alarm over potential carnage in Rafah, Israel says its forces are determined to invade Gaza’s southmost city, crammed with 1.4 million people.
Rafah is the most densely populated city in the besieged strip sheltering Palestinians forced from their homes by Israeli bombing and evacuation orders.
Global leaders say the planned Israeli offensive would cause a humanitarian catastrophe as Palestinians have nowhere to go.
Israel waged the bloody war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas launched Operation al-Aqsa Storm in the occupied territories in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s incessant crimes against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Since the start of the aggression, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 28,340 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory.
The campaign has devastated large swathes of Gaza, destroyed hospitals and displaced half of its population of 2.4 million.
Israel has also imposed a “complete siege” on the coastal sliver, cutting off fuel, electricity, food and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.