EU Warns Israel Against ‘Catastrophic’ Rafah Offensive 

Palestinian brothers warm up by a fire in front of a destroyed building during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. (EPA) 
Palestinian brothers warm up by a fire in front of a destroyed building during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. (EPA) 
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EU Warns Israel Against ‘Catastrophic’ Rafah Offensive 

Palestinian brothers warm up by a fire in front of a destroyed building during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. (EPA) 
Palestinian brothers warm up by a fire in front of a destroyed building during an Israeli military operation in the Al Nusairat refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip, 19 February 2024. (EPA) 

The European Union on Monday warned Israel against launching an offensive in Rafah that ministers said would create a disaster for the roughly 1.5 million refugees crammed into the city on the southern edge of Gaza.

"An attack on Rafah would be absolutely catastrophic ... it would be unconscionable," Ireland's Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said before a meeting with foreign ministers from the 27 EU member states in Brussels.

"Over 1.5 million people are crowded into a very small corner of Gaza. They're weary, they are exhausted, they have nowhere else to go - how can anyone contemplate adding to that trauma?" he said.

Israel is preparing to mount a ground invasion of the enclave's southernmost city, which it has called a last bastion of Hamas control after nearly five months of fighting.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Friday the Israeli military (IDF) was planning operations in Rafah targeting Hamas fighters, command centers and tunnels, stressing that "extraordinary measures" were being taken to avoid civilian casualties.

Israel accuses Hamas fighters of hiding among civilians, something the militant group denies.

But EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that avoiding those casualties would be impossible.

"We have to continue putting pressure on Israel to make them understand that there are so many people in the streets of Rafah, it will be impossible to avoid civilian casualties," he said.

"This, certainly, will be against the respect of humanitarian law."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also called on Israel to respect humanitarian law, but added Israel had the "right to self-defense" as she said it was clear that Hamas fighters were still operating from Rafah.

"The most important thing would be that Hamas would lay down its weapons," she said.

"But Israel has to comply with international humanitarian law. Over a million people went to the south of Gaza because the IDF told them so. They can't just disappear in the sky."

Baerbock repeated her call for a "humanitarian ceasefire", to allow refugees to go back home in the north of Gaza.



Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel's military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.

Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.

In a statement, the military said troops "completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria."

"For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and "carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers".

On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed "terrorist cell" in southern Syria and seized weapons.