Israel Orders New Evacuations in Southern Gaza’s Rafah Amid Expanded Operations
Israel has ordered further evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more residents to flee as the military prepares to intensify its military operation.
The order comes as part of Israel’s expanded operations in Gaza and follows heavy international criticism, including from the US and the United Nations. Aid agencies have warned that the evacuations and military operation could lead to a humanitarian crisis.
Israel has already displaced over 1.4 million Palestinians, half of Gaza’s population, with many seeking refuge in Rafah. The latest evacuations will force them to move again to areas already devastated by previous Israeli attacks.
The military is also moving into northern Gaza, where Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, is believed to have regrouped after being pushed out of the area in a previous Israeli offensive.
The Israeli military has warned residents in the northern Gaza towns of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya to leave their homes and head to shelters in the west of Gaza City, saying they were in “a dangerous combat zone”.
Battles erupted this week in the Zeitoun area on the outskirts of Gaza City, where many families had sought shelter after fleeing their homes in other parts of Gaza.
Northern Gaza was the first target of the ground offensive. Israel said late last year that it had mostly dismantled Hamas in the area.
The United Nations agency supporting people in Gaza, known as UNRWA, said that some 300,000 people have been affected by evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya.
“We’re extremely concerned that these evacuation orders have come both towards central Rafah and Jabaliya,” Louise Wateridge, UNRWA spokesperson in Rafah, told The Associated Press.
Meanwhile, strikes are continuing across Gaza. At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza in strikes that hit the areas of Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah and an Associated Press journalist who counted the bodies.
Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.
