The already difficult situation in Gaza would make even the best evacuation plan difficult to implement, says Riikka Eela from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In Gaza, more than 1.2 million people have fled the fighting in the north to the southern border town of Rafah.
Israel is believed to be preparing a ground attack on Rafah and the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered military officials to draw up a plan for the evacuation of Rafah.
A PhD researcher from the University of Helsinki who visited in the morning Antti Tarvainen and unit manager of the Middle East unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Riikka Eela consider Rafah’s situation very difficult.
– If hell on earth used to be in northern Gaza, now it has moved to the south, Tarvainen describes.
Eela is doubtful about the possibility of evacuations.
– In this situation, it is difficult to implement the best plan for evacuating civilians, Eela states.
Criticism of Israel is gentle
Among others, the United States, the UN and Egypt have expressed their concern that the expansion of Israel’s attack would further worsen the humanitarian crisis in Rafah.
President of the United States Joe Biden said on Monday that efforts are being made to negotiate a ceasefire lasting at least six weeks in the Gaza Strip. Representatives of the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar have held talks this week in Cairo.
The United States has been a solid supporter of Israel in its fight against the extremist organization Hamas, but ‘s correspondent Juri von BonsdorffAccording to the White House, frustration with the situation can be felt as the number of Palestinian victims increases.
– The rhetoric of the White House has become more critical, von Bonsdroff stated in ‘s morning.
The United States has also imposed sanctions on individual Jewish settlers. Dissertation researcher Antti Tarvainen sees it as problematic that the sanctions are not aimed more widely at the Israeli administration.
– This shows the inability of the international system to target real political actions that would force Israel to change its military strategy or agree to a truce, Tarvainen criticized.
Riikka Eela from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not entirely on the same lines as Tarvainen, but considers the sanctions to be very exceptional. Eela reminds that even at the beginning of October, when the extremist organization Hamas launched its attack on Israel, international criticism and condemnation was strongly aimed at the perpetrator of the attack.
Over time, the horizontal cup has started to tilt in the other direction as well. Eela considers it significant that the United States, as Israel’s most important ally, has started imposing sanctions.
– Even though the sanctions only target a few people and their effects are small, it is still symbolically such a thing that no one would have believed that this would happen even in November.
International criticism of Israel has increased, but in Tarvainen’s opinion the criticism is still gentle.
Watch the entire interview in morning: