Israel is facing growing international pressure over its intention to launch an all-out military assault on the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, in the wake of a ferocious hostage rescue operation that killed dozens of Palestinians.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, furiously rounded on the Israeli leader amid growing international alarm at the rising death toll in Gaza – which reached 28,340 on Monday – saying that Netanyahu “doesn’t listen to anyone”.
Hundreds of thousands of families from other parts of Gaza who are now living in makeshift tents in Rafah, which sits on the border with Egypt, have moved up to half a dozen times in the past four months in desperate attempts to flee bombardment and ground fighting.
The White House has said that before the rescue took place, Joe Biden told Netanyahu on Sunday that Israel should not launch a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan to ensure the safety of people sheltering there.
On Monday, a court in the Netherlands ordered the Dutch government to halt the export of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel, ruling that there was a “clear risk” that the planes could be used to violate international humanitarian law.
The appeals court said: “It is undeniable that there is a clear risk that the exported F-35 parts are used in serious violations of international humanitarian law … Israel does not take sufficient account of the consequences for the civilian population when conducting its attacks.”
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