Israel again orders Palestinians to evacuate Rafah

2024-05-11 15:17:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Israel again orders Palestinians to evacuate Rafah

Illustrative photo

Israel on Saturday ordered Palestinians in several other parts of the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to evacuate and go to what it calls expanded humanitarian areas in Al-Mawasi.

This is another indication that the Israeli army intends to implement the plan for the full occupation of Rafah.

In a post on social media, an Israeli army spokesman called on residents and displaced people in the Jabaliya area and 11 other neighborhoods in the enclave to immediately go to the west of Gaza City to take shelter.

Gaza's Health Ministry said on Saturday that at least 37 Palestinians, 24 of them from central Gaza areas, were killed during overnight attacks across the enclave, including in Rafah.

The Israeli military said its warplanes struck dozens of targets across the Gaza Strip over the past day. In Rafah, residents told Reuters that the new evacuation orders from the Israeli army apply to areas in the center of the city and that there is no doubt that Israel intends to carry out the planned offensive in the city.

"The situation is very serious, people are fleeing their homes in panic," said Khaled, a 35-year-old resident of the Shaboura neighborhood, whose residents have been ordered to leave.

Despite heavy pressure from the US and allies, Israel has said it will occupy Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge during the now seven-month war.

Israel says it cannot win the war without rooting out Hamas — the terrorist group designated by the United States and the European Union — whose fighters it believes are based in Rafah.

About 300,000 Palestinians have so far moved to the town of Al-Mawasi, which is located on the enclave's eastern coast, according to the Israeli military.

US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that the United States will not provide Israel with weapons to carry out an offensive in Rafah. But a day later on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the United States' threat to suspend the supply of some weapons would not stop Israel from continuing its war in the Gaza Strip, leaving it is understood that he may occupy the overpopulated city of Rafah.

Netanyahu said that "if we have to stand alone, we will stand alone. If forced, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than just nails."

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza started seven months ago, when members of this group carried out surprise attacks on Israeli soil, killing over 1,200 people.

In Israel's revenge war in Gaza, nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since then, according to health authorities in the enclave./ Rel