Hungary has blocked the issuance of a joint EU appeal to the Israeli government not to launch a widespread ground offensive in Rafah, multiple European diplomats told the German news agency (dpa).

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell lobbied for such a joint appeal on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference and said he hoped a consensus would be reached to “officially” urge Israel not to invade this southern Strip city. of Gaza.

Instead, Borrell issued a statement of his own as the head of European diplomacy, calling on the “Israeli government not to take military action in Rafah that would worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.”

Rafah is the last refuge for over a million Palestinians displaced from other areas of the Gaza Strip.

Many of Israel’s allies, including the US, Britain and Germany, have expressed fears that a ground invasion could dramatically worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in the region.

A little earlier, however, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that if the Israeli military operation in Rafah does not continue, the Israeli army will “lose the war” against Hamas and announced that the Israeli army will continue its operation in Rafah even in the event of an agreement. with the Palestinian Islamist movement for the release of hostages still held in the Gaza Strip.