On Thursday, the leaders of Australia, Canada and New Zealand warned Israel of the potentially "catastrophic" consequences of launching a ground military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

While the three Commonwealth countries, in a rare joint statement of its kind, urged the Israeli government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu “not to take this path,” the leaders of countries allied with Washington expressed their deep concern about the months-long war in Gaza.

The statement said, "A military operation in Rafah would be disastrous. About 1.5 million Palestinians have taken refuge in this area, and civilians simply have nowhere else to go."

In the face of increasing international pressure and a death toll that the Gaza authorities say has now exceeded the threshold of 28,000 martyrs, the Israeli Prime Minister pledged to move forward with the war.

Netanyahu said in a message on his official account on the Telegram application, "We will fight until complete victory, which includes a strong movement in Rafah, after allowing the civilian population to leave the combat areas."

Israel believes that they are holed up in Rafah with a number of hostages who were seized by Hamas during its attack on October 7 of last year, on the “Gaza Envelope” settlements and Israeli towns in the south, and their number is estimated at 130.