US Senator Bernie Sanders warned that any Israeli military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah would further worsen the situation in the Gaza Strip.
"An attack on Rafah would simply worsen an already unspeakable situation," Sanders said in a statement.
As a result of the displacement, 80% of Gaza's population, some 1.3 million people, including 600,000 children, have taken refuge in Rafah, he said.
It is "very crowded" with approximately 50,00 people per square mile, he added.
"President Joe Biden is right, the United States cannot continue to provide more bombs and artillery shells to support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's catastrophic and inhumane war policies," Sanders stressed.
Biden last week halted a weapons shipment that included 2000-pound bombs that Israel had previously used to level a large part of Gaza. Biden's decision to halt the shipment was made because of his concerns about Israel's planned occupation of Rafah.
Israel has been hitting the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack in October that killed about 1,200 people.
More than 34.900 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since then, the vast majority of whom have been women and children. More than 78,500 others have been injured, according to Palestinian health authorities. Thousands remain missing.
Seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, driving 85% of the enclave's population internally displaced amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN. Most of the displaced have sought refuge in Rafah following earlier Israeli evacuation orders.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). An interim ruling in January said it was “credible” that Tel Aviv was committing genocide in the coastal enclave and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee the provision of humanitarian aid to civilians.
(AA/BalkanWeb)
