7 months ago
21
Soon after Israel’s evacuation order, some Palestinians began trundling away in chilly spring rain. Some piled children & possessions onto donkey carts, while others left by pick-up or on foot through muddy streets
The
Israeli military
Monday said it was asking about 1,10,000
Palestinians
sheltering in eastern
Rafah
in the Gaza Strip to temporarily
evacuate
to what it described as a humanitarian zone, a sign that Israel was inching closer to invading the city in defiance of international pressure.
By 9am local time, the military had begun dropping leaflets in eastern Rafah ordering people to evacuate.
An Israeli military spokesman wouldn't say if or when troops would enter the city, but described the evacuation as "part of plans to dismantle Hamas" and to bring back hostages taken on Oct 7.
Israeli military carried out air strikes in Rafah on Monday, residents said, hours after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate. Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV said Israel had targeted areas near neighbourhoods given evacuation orders. Instructed by Arabic text messages, phone calls, and flyers to move to what the Israeli military called an "expanded humanitarian zone" around 20 km away, Palestinian families began trundling away in chilly spring rain. "It has been raining heavily and we don't know where to go," one refugee said via a chat app. Witnesses said the areas where Israel wants to move people are already crowded with little room for more tents.
A Hamas official said the evacuation order was a "dangerous escalation". Hamas later in a statement said any offensive in Rafah wouldn't be a "picnic" for Israeli forces and that it was fully prepared to defend.
Aid agencies have warned that the evacuation order will lead to an even worse humanitarian disaster in the crowded coastal enclave of 2.3 million people reeling from seven months of war. "Forcing over a million displaced Palestinians from Rafah to evacuate without a safe destination is not only unlawful but would lead to catastrophic consequences," British charity ActionAid said. Nick Maynard, a British surgeon trying to leave Gaza, said in a voice message from the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt: "Two huge bombs have just gone off outside the crossing. There's a lot of gunfire as well about 100 metres from us."
The prospect of a high-casualty operation worries neighbouring Egypt. Sources said Egypt had raised its military level of preparedness in north Sinai, which borders Gaza.
In an overnight air attack on Rafah, Israeli planes hit 10 houses, killing 20 and wounding several, officials said. Israeli military said it had attacked the site of Sunday's mortar launch by Hamas near Kerem Shalom crossing that killed four Israeli soldiers.
