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full screen Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M). Archive image. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT
After the Israeli withdrawal of certain military personnel from parts of the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, Foreign Minister Tobias Billström (M) says that the measure is difficult to interpret.
But according to Billström, it is very serious if it is done – as Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant says – in order to later launch a ground offensive into the densely populated city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
– It is something the Swedish government firmly opposes, he says in SVT’s Agenda.
He points out that there are about 1.5 million Palestinians crammed into the city, and that the humanitarian situation with a lack of medical care and food supplies is already very strained.
Billström says that there are question marks about whether Israel follows humanitarian international law and that a military operation into Rafah risks worsening the situation further.
– It is not something we are ready to accept.