Saudi Arabia warned today that an Israeli military operation against the town of Rafah, the last refuge for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians, would cause a “humanitarian catastrophe”, calling for the intervention of the UN Security Council.

After ordering the military on Wednesday to prepare an attack on Rafa, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday asked him to submit a “two-pronged plan” to “evacuate” civilians and “destroy” the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in that city.

In a press release, the kingdom’s foreign ministry warned of the “extremely dangerous consequences” of such an operation.

He also underlined “the categorical rejection and unequivocal condemnation” of the “forced displacement… of hundreds of thousands of civilians forced to flee to escape the brutal Israeli attack” in the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia denounces “this continuous violation of international law” and underlines the need “to urgently convene the Security Council to prevent Israel from causing an imminent humanitarian disaster, the responsibility of which rests with all those who support the attack” , according to the press release.