The Israeli army began asking Palestinians to evacuate the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah, those on the Israeli border, in view of a possible offensive planned in the southern area of the Gaza Strip. The army itself made this known. Civilians were asked to move to an expanded humanitarian zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas. The IDF is launching leaflets in the eastern part of Rafah, in the south of the Strip, inviting the civilian population to temporarily move towards the enlarged humanitarian areas, in anticipation of possible military action in the southernmost city of the Strip. The military spokesman made this known. The flyers are in Arabic and will be accompanied by text messages, telephone calls and media announcements, also in Arabic.
Palestinian families began to flee from the eastern areas of Rafah after the Israeli army ordered them to evacuate. Sky News reports it. The Israeli order comes ahead of a ground attack by Israeli forces in Gaza’s southernmost city. Some Rafah residents have already gathered their belongings to leave the area by horse-drawn carts, cars and even on foot.
Gallant, ‘Hamas left no other choice’
Hamas left “no choice but to begin the operation” in Rafah. According to his office, quoted by the media, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said this to his US counterpart Lloyd Austin. In the conversation, Gallant added that “Israel is doing everything to arrive at a draft for the release of the hostages and a temporary ceasefire”, but “at this stage Hamas rejects any proposal that would allow this”.
‘A temporary operation’
A “temporary” and “limited scope” operation. This is how the Israeli army described the start of the operation to move civilians from the eastern part of Rafah to the south of the Strip. “We have started a limited-scale operation for the temporary evacuation of people who – said a military spokesperson – live in eastern Rafah”. According to some data, there are currently hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians in the city area.
The evacuation from eastern Rafah involves 100,000 people
The Israeli army announced it is evacuating around 100,000 people from eastern Rafah, ahead of a planned ground assault on the southern Gaza Strip city. “The estimate is around 100,000 people,” a military spokesman told reporters when asked how many people would be evacuated. According to the World Health Organization, around 1.2 million people are currently taking refuge in Rafah.
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