"So far, about half a million people have been removed from the Rafah combat zone. The humanitarian catastrophe that we have been talking about has not happened and will not happen," the head of government said, quoted in a statement.

Israeli forces are "fighting throughout the Gaza Strip", including Rafah, "while removing the civilian population and fulfilling their obligations to meet humanitarian needs," he added.

On July 7, the Israeli army began a series of ground military operations from the east of the city of Rafah, preceded and supported by aerial bombardments, advancing into urban areas and approaching the city center.

Before these operations, the army urged the inhabitants of the targeted areas to leave through leaflets and messages sent to mobile phones. But, according to the population, the bombings occur very quickly, forcing people to flee in panic.

Eliminating the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas is a necessary step to ensure that on the "next day" (after the war) no one in Gaza will threaten us," Netanyahu insisted in the press release released today.

As for the future of the Palestinian territory, he considered that "as long as it is not clear that Hamas no longer controls Gaza militarily, no entity will want to take over the civil management of Gaza for fear", so that "discussions about the "next day", while Hamas is in power, are just words, and empty words".

On Tuesday, the United Nations estimated that "about 450,000" people had been displaced from the eastern area of Rafah since the first messages were sent on May 6, denouncing that "there is no safe place in war-torn Gaza".

The ground operation in Rafah, announced months ago by Israel, has met with strong opposition from international diplomacy, which fears a massacre among civilians.

The European Union today urged Israel to "immediately cease" its military operation on the ground, under penalty of "deteriorating" its relations, while the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, said he was "shocked by the intensification of military activities" by Israel "in and around Rafah".

About a week after US President Joe Biden threatened to limit US military aid to Israel if it went ahead with a ground operation in Rafah, the US presidency informed Congress on Tuesday that it would deliver about $1 billion worth of weapons to Israel, according to the France Presse agency.

The current conflict in Gaza was triggered after an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas against Israel in October 2023, which caused about 1,200 deaths and two hundred hostages, according to Israeli authorities.

In retaliation, Israel launched an offensive that has already caused more than 35,000 deaths and 79,000 injuries, according to Hamas, which has controlled the Palestinian enclave since 2007.

The Israeli retaliation is causing a serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with more than 1.1 million people in a "catastrophic hunger situation" that is already claiming victims - "the highest number ever recorded" by the UN in food security studies in the world.

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