TEL AVIV — Israeli media reported that Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, on Friday said he has ordered the
Israeli Occupation Forces (
IOF) to prepare a plan to evacuate civilians from
Rafah ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of the densely populated southern Gaza city.
اضافة اعلان
The announcement came after heavy international criticism, including from the US, of Israeli intentions to move ground forces into the city bordering Egypt. Rafah, which had a prewar population of roughly 280,000, is now home to some 1.4 million additional people, according to the UN. They are living with relatives, in shelters, or in sprawling tent camps after fleeing Israel’s attacks elsewhere in Gaza.
Israel claims that Rafah is the last remaining
Hamas stronghold in Gaza after more than four months of war.
"It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,"
Netanyahu's office said. "On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat."
The operation will be a challenge on many levels. It remains unclear where civilians can go. The Israeli offensive has caused widespread destruction, especially in northern Gaza, and hundreds of thousands of people do not have homes to return to.
It said that
Natenyahu had ordered the military and security officials to come up with a ‘combined plan’ that includes both a
mass evacuation of civilians and the destruction of Hamas' forces in the town.
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