The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said today that only the US can stop Israel from attacking the border town Gaza Strip and added that the attack, which he expects within days, will force a large part of the Palestinian population to leave the enclave.

“We call on the United States of America to ask Israel not to proceed with the attack on Rafah. America is the only country that can prevent Israel from committing this crime,” said Mr Abbas addressing during the session of the World Economic Forum in the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh.

Israel, which has been threatening for weeks to launch an offensive in the region with the aim, it says, of destroying the remaining Hamas forces there, stepped up its airstrikes in Rafah last week.

Western countries, including Israel’s closest ally — the US — have appealed to Israel not to attack the southern city, which borders Egypt and is a haven for more than a million Palestinians who have taken refuge there since the war began. seven months ago.

“What will happen in the next few days is that Israel will attack Rafah because all the Palestinians from Gaza are concentrated there,” Abbas said, adding that even a “limited blow” on Rafah would force the Palestinian population to leave the Gaza Strip.

“Then the greatest catastrophe in the history of the Palestinian people will occur,” Abbas commented.

The Palestinian president reiterated that he rejects the displacement of Palestinians and their settlement in Jordan and Egypt and stressed that he is concerned that when Israel completes its operation in Gaza it will try to force the Palestinian people to leave the West Bank and take refuge in Jordan .