Israel’s ground invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip appears imminent. The Israeli army has asked some 100,000 Palestinian residents (according to Israel’s calculations) to begin evacuating the eastern neighborhoods of the city, close to the so-called Philadelphia corridor bordering Egypt, towards the “humanitarian zone” of Al Mawasi and the city of Khan. Yunis, as well as areas close to it, a few kilometers further northwest. The Hebrew armed forces have claimed to have expanded assistance to the area, with the installation of hospitals and tents, food and water.
After seven months of offensive against Hamas, Israel has claimed that Rafah is home to thousands of fighters from the Palestinian Islamist group and that victory is impossible without taking the city and destroying these battalions. But, with more than a million displaced Palestinians sheltered across the Rafah governorate, the prospect of an operation with a high number of civilian deaths worries Western powers and neighboring Egypt. The United States asked Israel to guarantee the safety of the civilian population before attacking the south of the strip. Hence today’s calls for evacuation, which the Hebrew army says it has sent to the Palestinian population through SMS, phone calls, Arabic television and pamphlets.
“(The Israeli army) is about to operate forcefully against terrorist organizations in the area where you currently reside, as they have done so far. Anyone who remains in the area endangers themselves and their families. For your safety, evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian zone in Al Mawasi,” says one of the pamphlets released. The army has not specified how much time residents have to comply with this forced evacuation.
Hamas appears to agree to the first phase of the deal (the exchange of prisoners for 33 hostages) and accepts US assurances. But Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Sunday that the Islamist group was not serious. about an agreement and warned of “a powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah” – plans that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also insisted on in recent days. His comments came after Hamas on Sunday attacked the Kerem Shalom crossing, Israel’s main border point for delivering aid, killing three soldiers. The border crossing remains closed and inoperative since the incident.
The Hamas delegation left Cairo on Sunday after two days of negotiations to agree on a truce in Gaza and deliver a response to the mediators, Egypt and Qatar, to the agreement proposal presented by the Egyptians. He is expected to be able to return to the negotiating table on Tuesday.
The director of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, denounced last night that Israel had twice denied him entry to Gaza in the last week, as well as an increase in attacks against humanitarian convoys and their staff. “In the last two weeks alone, we have recorded 10 incidents involving shooting at convoys, arrests of UN personnel, including harassment, stripping, threats with weapons, and long delays at checkpoints that forced convoys to move during the darkness or abort” their mission, Lazzarini said on his X account. “These incidents occur repeatedly at a time when we are immersed in a race against time to avoid famine in Gaza,” adding that they also generate “fear” among humanitarian teams.
Israel accuses UNRWA of being linked to Hamas, but both the European Union and other countries continue to support it after receiving the conclusions of a report that denied this.
