German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock warned on Saturday against a possible offensive by the Israeli army on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, saying it would amount to a “declared humanitarian disaster”, AFP reports. Agerpres.

“The suffering in Rafah is beyond comprehension. 1.3 million people look there to protect themselves from fighting in a very limited space. An offensive by the Israeli army on Rafah would be a declared humanitarian disaster,” the German minister said in a message posted on the X (formerly Twitter) platform.

The international community is concerned after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the army to “prepare” an offensive on Rafah, the last refuge for people displaced by the war in Gaza.

“Israel must defend itself against the terror of Hamas, but by alleviating the suffering of the civilian population as much as possible,” insisted the head of German diplomacy. She reiterated Germany’s calls for a ceasefire so that “the Israeli hostages are finally released” and announced that she would travel to Israel again next week to discuss the issue.

On Saturday, Hamas warned that an offensive on Rafah could lead to “tens of thousands killed and wounded.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday asked the army to develop a “combined plan” to evacuate civilians from Rafah and “destroy” Hamas fighters from the southern Gaza city, which is also the last refuge of Palestinian refugees from Rafah. the rest of the territory after the repression launched by Israel after a bloody attack by the Islamist movement on October 7 last year, Reuters and AFP note.