Israel Decides To Hold Military Operations In Rafah, White House: We Will Not And Cannot Support

John Kirby. (Wikimedia Commons/The White House)

JAKARTA - The United States said it could not and would not support Israel's military operations in Rafah, because there were no clear plans regarding the fate of civilians in the region, when Israel decided to carry out attacks on the region.

The White House said on Sunday it still had not seen any "credible" plans from the Israeli government about how they would protect hundreds of thousands of civilians in southern Gaza if they carried out military operations in Rafah City.

"We will not support, cannot support, operations in Rafah that have no plans that can be implemented, can be verified, and can be achieved to take care of 1.5 million people who are trying to seek refuge in Rafah," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby at "Fox News"., reported CNN March 18th.

Kirby further explained that the Israeli government said it had an evacuation plan called "humanitarian islands". The US is only open "any credible plans to take care of the islands. But we haven't seen them yet."

The comments came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Rafah's operational plans had been approved.

Earlier, speaking at Sunday's cabinet meeting, PM Netanyahu said Israel would attack Rafah, the only region in Gaza that has been relatively safe so far in a war that has been going on for five months.

"We will operate in Rafah, and that will happen," he said, without explaining whether he meant the attack would last for weeks or would start in a few weeks.

"It will take a few weeks, and that will happen," said PM Netanyahu.

PM Netanyahu further explained, "the operational plans for action in Rafah, including advancing measures to evacuate civilian residents from the combat zone," have been approved.

"This is an important stage ahead of military action," he said.

Although he said Israel had plans to evacuate civilians from Rafah, Israel's aid agencies and allies remain skeptical.

It is known that the Head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other aid agencies have raised concerns about a potential attack on Rafah, saying Palestinians sheltering there have fled from other places in the region and do not have a safe place to live.