The Israeli army Monday began forcibly evacuating Gazans living in eastern Rafah to an “expanded humanitarian area” in the Palestinian territory, ahead of an expected military operation in the southern Gaza city.
“IDF (military) encourages the residents of eastern Rafah to advance towards expanded humanitarian area,” the military said in a statement.
The Israeli army said Monday it was evacuating about 100,000 people from eastern Rafah.
“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” a military spokesman told journalists when asked how many people were being evacuated.
About 1.2 million people are currently sheltering in Rafah, according to the World Health Organization.
The prospect of an invasion in Rafah has triggered major alarm from global aid groups and world leaders.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said Israel had yet to present “a credible plan to genuinely protect the civilians who are in harm’s way,” and without such a plan Washington “can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah.”
Soon after the war in Gaza began on October 7, Israel told Palestinians living in the north of Gaza to move to “safe zones” in the territory’s south – including Rafah.
But Rafah has been repeatedly bombed from the air and Palestinians regularly say that no area of Gaza is safe.
“The IDF has expanded the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi to accommodate the increased levels of aid flowing into Gaza,” the military statement said, referring to a coastal area near Rafah.
“This morning … we began a limited scope operation to temporarily evacuate residents in the eastern part of Rafah,” a military spokesman told journalists in an online briefing. “This is a limited scope operation.”
In its statement, the military added that messages “to temporarily move to the humanitarian area will be conveyed through posters, SMS messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic.”
The military claimed it was pursuing Hamas militants “everywhere in Gaza” and would continue to do so “until all hostages that they are holding in captivity are back home,” the statement said.
With AFP
