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Israel has issued sweeping evacuation orders covering most of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, indicating it could soon launch another major ground operation.
Palestinian officials say at least 921 people have been killed in the 12 days since Israel effectively ended a two-month ceasefire by launching some of its deadliest strikes so far of the war, which was sparked by Hamas’s attack on 7 October 2023.
Just days after issuing evacuation orders for Gaza City, the Israeli military did the same on Monday – during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr – for much of the city of Rafah, which lies on the border with Egypt.
The military ordered Palestinians to head to Muwasi, a sprawl of tent camps along the coast. Israel was reported to have widened its ground operations in the Rafah over the weekend.
Israel previously launched a major military operation in Rafah last May, where many of Gaza’s more than two million inhabitants had fled to in a search for relative safety after being displaced by bombings and clashes elsewhere in the 25-mile Strip. Large parts of Rafah were left in ruins.
The war was triggered by an attack by Hamas inside Israel on 7 October 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. At its height, the war had displaced some 90 per cent of Gaza's population, with many fleeing multiple times.
While the ceasefire deal struck with Hamas in January called for Israel to withdraw from a strategic buffer zone its forces had seized along Gaza’s southern border, as well as the Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza's only gateway to the outside world that was not controlled by Israel. However, Israel later refused to, citing the need to prevent weapons smuggling.
After restarting airstrikes earlier this month, alleged by Palestinian officials to have killed more than 400 people, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that Israel’s army had been instructed to “take strong action” after “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages, as well as its rejection of all proposals it has received from US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and from the mediators”.
A total of 59 hostages – just two dozen of whom are still believed to be alive – continue to be held captive by Hamas.
Israel has vowed to escalate the war until Hamas returns the hostages, along with demands for Hamas to give up power, disarm and send its leaders into exile. Prior to breaking the truce, Israel also cut off all supplies of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid in a bid to pressure Hamas to accept changes to the ceasefire agreement.
On Sunday, Mr Netanyahu claimed that Israel would take charge of security in Gaza after the war and implement US president Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Gaza's population in other countries, describing it as “voluntary emigration”.
That plan has been universally rejected by Palestinians, who view it as forcible expulsion from their homeland, and human rights experts say it would likely violate international law.
It came after Yarden Bibas – a former Israeli hostage, who learned upon his release that his wife and two young children had been killed in captivity in Gaza – urged Mr Trump to bring an end to the war.
In his first interview since being freed in a ceasefire last month, Mr Bibas told CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday that Mr Trump is “the only one” who can convince Mr Netanyahu and Hamas to halt the renewed fighting.
Describing being held in tunnels under Gaza during Israeli strikes, he said: “You're afraid for your life. Everything could collapse at any moment.”
Associated Press contributed to this report
