After a seven-month offensive against Hamas, Israel says thousands of fighters from the radical Palestinian movement remain in Rafah and that victory is impossible without capturing the city.
“The military is encouraging residents in the eastern part of Rafah to move to expanded humanitarian areas.He said in a statement.
About 1.2 million people, displaced by the war, are in Rafah, according to the UN. estimated, against which Israel has been insisting for months that it intends to launch a major military strike. The Israeli military vowed that the move to remove the population would be temporary and “limited.” However, it is not confirmed whether this is the start of a wider invasion of the city. In October, Israel also did not formally announce the ground invasion that continues to this day.
The attempt comes a day after Hamas militants launched an attack from Rafah that killed three Israeli soldiers, an attack claimed by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.
Hamas has already called Rafa’s eviction order “a dangerous escalation that will have consequences”.
“We have launched a limited-scale operation to temporarily evacuate people living in the eastern part of Rafah.A military spokesman told a press conference: “This is a limited-scale operation.”
Asked about the number of victims, the spokesman said, “It is estimated that there are now around 100 thousand people (…)”.
In a statement released by the Army, “Appeals for temporary relocation to the humanitarian zone will be sent through leaflets, text messages, phone calls and messages in Arabic on social media.”.
A resident of Rafah told France Press that some had received voice messages on cellphones telling them to leave and text messages with maps showing where to go.
After a seven-month offensive against Hamas, Israel says thousands of fighters from the Palestinian Islamist group remain in Rafah and that victory is impossible without capturing the city.
The military spokesman added that “the plan is designed to keep civilians out of harm’s way” and that “the objective is to fight Hamas, not the people and Gaza. That is why we are carrying out this particular withdrawal.”
CIA Director William Burns, one of the key mediators in the ceasefire talks, was due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this Monday. It is not known whether this meeting will take place.
With more than a million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, the prospect of an operation with high casualties worries Western powers and neighboring Egypt.
The conflict in the Middle East began after Hamas surprised Israel in a cross-border attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and took 252 hostage, according to Israeli records.
New talks in Cairo on Saturday and Sunday came against the persistence of both sides, with Hamas continuing to call for a firm ceasefire while Israel vowed to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement, which launched an unprecedented offensive along its border on October 7. War.
The Hamas health ministry said 34,683 people have been killed so far in Israel’s retaliatory strikes on the Gaza Strip. Israel has vowed to destroy the Islamist movement, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, and considers it a terrorist organization, as do the United States and the European Union.
w/ international agents