Palestinian presidency holds U.S. responsible for possible Rafah attack

RAMALLAH, April 25 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian presidency said the U.S. administration should be held responsible for any potential Israeli attack on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

"We hold the U.S. administration responsible for Israeli threats and escalations in the Gaza Strip, especially the dangerous talk about an imminent military operation in Rafah, which will lead to massacres, disasters, and the displacement of citizens," Nabil Abu Rudeineh, the official spokesperson for the presidency, said in a statement published by Palestine's official news agency WAFA Thursday.

The U.S. decisions to provide military and financial support, along with resorting to the use of the veto in the United Nations Security Council, make the United States "a partner in the genocide war," he added.

Despite growing global opposition, the Israeli army is preparing to launch a ground campaign in Rafah, which includes a widespread evacuation of the population.

According to Israeli Army Radio, the plan includes evacuating more than a million Palestinians in Rafah to shelters established during the past few months in the southern and central parts of the strip.

The plan has been presented to the United States, and will be implemented in stages, said the radio.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on Sunday to intensify military and political pressure on the Hamas movement in the coming days and deliver "more painful strikes" to it to free the hostages in the Gaza Strip.

Rafah has become the last refuge for more than 1.4 million Palestinians after they were displaced from the northern and central parts of the strip amid the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict for more than six months.