Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has said military action in Rafah is required due to Hamas’ refusal for a Gaza truce under which the Palestinian Islamist group would free some hostages. On Sunday, in a televised address, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu once more rejected Hamas’s demands for a definitive end to the war in Gaza.
Associated Press notes that about 1.4 million Palestinians – more than half of Gaza’s population – are jammed into Rafah and its surroundings. Most of them fled their homes elsewhere in the territory to escape Israel’s onslaught and now face another move.
They live in densely packed tent camps, overflowing U.N. shelters or crowded apartments, and are dependent on international aid for food, with sanitation systems and medical facilities infrastructure crippled. Israel has repeatedly bombed the Rafah area, and has also previously bombed the area it is now ordering Palestinians to flee to.
ActionAid in the UK has described the Israeli plan to evacuate Palestinians out of Rafah before launching a ground offensive as an “unlawful” act that will lead to “catastrophic consequences”.
In a statement it said:Our aid workers are reporting some of the most severe conditions in recent memory with widespread disease, starvation and chaos. Let us be clear, there are no safe zones in Gaza.
The international community must act swiftly to prevent further atrocities and hold themselves as well as the Israeli government to account – if an invasion of Rafah is your ‘red line’ will you do everything possible to stop this imminent attack?
Islamic Relief has also issued a statement, saying it is “appalled” and that the development will “put many lives at even greater risk”.
Noting that “heavy bombing in Rafah overnight has reportedly killed many civilians, including several children”, it said:As we have seen over the past seven months, forcing so many people to move is impossible without serious humanitarian cost and people will inevitably die as a result of the evacuation. The sick and wounded, elderly people, newborn infants and people with disabilities are particularly vulnerable and often cannot evacuate without support.
The area where people have been ordered to move – al Mawasi – has been designated a so-called ‘safe humanitarian zone’ but it is not safe. Civilians sheltering there say they continue to face attacks and severe shortages of food, water and other vital aid. Forcing more people there will make the humanitarian crisis even worse.
Some images are reaching us over the news wires that appear to show Palestinians beginning to move out of some areas of Rafah with whatever possessions they have to hand
One Palestinian has spoken to Reuters via chat app, telling the news agency “It has been raining heavily and we don’t know where to go. I have been worried that this day may come, I have now to see where I can take my family.”
The Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported that 22 Palestinians, including eight children, have been killed by Israeli strikes on Rafah since yesterday evening. It reported its correspondents in the Gaza Strip told it:
They said that four civilains, including two children, were killed in an Israeli bombing that targeted a house owned by Abu Lebda family in Al-Geneina neighbourhood, east of the city of Rafah, while nine people, including four children, were killed as a result of an Israeli bombing that targeted a house owned by Qishta family in Al-Salam neighbourhood in the city of Rafah.
Four citizens, including an infant, were killed as a result of the occupation warplanes bombing a house on George Street, east of the city of Rafah. An airstrike also targeted Khirbet Al-Adas, northeast of the city.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
Speaking from Amman in Jordan, the head of advocacy, media & communications for the Middle East and North Africa at Norwegian Refugee Council has said that an Israeli assault on Rafah will lead to “mass atrocities”
Interviewed by the Al Jazeera news network, Samah Hadid said:We’ve been warning that a military offensive on Rafah would cause mass atrocities. It will cause mass civilian deaths. And we’ve been urging the international community and allies of the Israeli government to put a stop to this, right now. We need every ally of the Israeli government, including the US government, to increase its pressure, to stop the arm sales, and put pressure on Israel to put a stop to this offensive, which will lead to mass atrocities
She told Al Jazeera that the conditions at al-Mawasi, where Israel says it is intending the civilian population to evacuate to, are “woefully inadequate”.
Hamas: Israeli order to evacuate Rafah is a 'dangerous escalation that will have consequences'
A senior Hamas official has said the Israeli order for civilians to evacuate Rafah is a “dangerous escalation that will have consequences”.
Sami Abu Zuhri made the comments to Reuters on Monday.
Israel’s military has issued a call for residents and displaced people to evacuate eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah and head to what it claimed was an “expanded humanitarian zone” in southern Gaza. The IDF said the operation was of “limited scope” and estimated it would need to move about 100,000 people.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it was making the call to evacuate through “announcements, text messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic”. Israel’s army said on social media that it would act with “extreme force” against militants.
Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant has said military action in Rafah is required due to Hamas’ refusal for a Gaza truce under which the Palestinian Islamist group would free some hostages. On Sunday, in a televised address, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu once more rejected Hamas’s demands for a definitive end to the war in Gaza.
Associated Press notes that about 1.4 million Palestinians – more than half of Gaza’s population – are jammed into Rafah and its surroundings. Most of them fled their homes elsewhere in the territory to escape Israel’s onslaught and now face another move.
They live in densely packed tent camps, overflowing U.N. shelters or crowded apartments, and are dependent on international aid for food, with sanitation systems and medical facilities infrastructure crippled. Israel has repeatedly bombed the Rafah area, and has also previously bombed the area it is now ordering Palestinians to flee to.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah group said it fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at an Israeli base in the Golan Heights, the AFP news agency has said.
Lebanese official media also said three people had been wounded in an Israeli strike earlier on Monday in the country’s east, with the Israeli army saying it had struck a Hezbollah “military compound”.
Hezbollah fighters launched “dozens of Katyusha rockets” targeting “the headquarters of the Golan Division... at Nafah base”, the group said in a statement, saying it was “in response to the enemy’s attack targeting the Bekaa region”.
If a Rafah offensive takes place it would lead to “the collapse of the aid response” that is reliant on the Rafah hub to distribute aid throughout that area of Gaza, the Norwegian Refugee Council has warned.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military have been dropping leaflets in the Rafah area. Maram Humaid of Al Jazeera English has this:
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