The prime ministers of Spain and Ireland called on the European Union to urgently confront Israel’s “grave and imminent threat” in the crowded southern town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
In a joint letter, Pedro Sanchez and Ireland’s Leo Varadkar said they were “deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation” in the besieged Gaza Strip.
“The expansion of Israeli military operations in the Rafah region poses a grave and immediate threat that must be urgently confronted by the international community.”
The prime ministers of the two EU member states sent a letter to the EU Commission.
An EU spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter and said Brussels “calls on all sides to respect international law when it comes to Israel.”
“We note that violations of international law must be respected and there must be accountability,” he said.
In separate remarks in the Irish parliament, Mr Varadkar said Israeli leaders were “blind with anger”.
He said it was “very clear” that the administration was “not listening to any country in the world.”
“There is a serious risk of a massacre in Rafah in the event of a ground attack.”
A growing number of countries and international organizations are now calling on Israel to halt plans for a ground attack on Rafah, a town in southern Gaza that is the last refuge for displaced Palestinians.
More than half of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people are currently forcibly relocated to Rafah. Regime forces have already been bombing the overcrowded city for weeks.
Martin Griffiths, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a post on X that any military attack in Rafah could lead to “genocide in Gaza.”
He also said such an attack “could put an already fragile humanitarian operation at death’s door.”
Mr Griffiths called on regime leaders to heed the international community’s warnings against the “dangerous consequences” of a ground invasion.
If these calls are ignored, “history will not be kind,” he said.
More than 28,570 Palestinians have been killed in regime airstrikes in Gaza since early October, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.