Israel asks Palestinians to evacuate Rafah for a “limited” operation

JERUSALEM: Israel’s military says it has begun ordering Palestinians to leave parts of eastern Rafah ahead of a “limited” operation in the southern Gaza city.

About 100,000 people are being directed to head to an “expanded humanitarian area” in Khan Younis and al-Mawasi.

After seven months of war, Israel says it must take Rafah to defeat Hamas.

But the UN and US warn that an assault on the city, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are sheltering, could have catastrophic consequences.

Israeli air strikes in Rafah reportedly killed at least 19 Palestinians overnight, after three Israeli soldiers were killed by Hamas rocket fire on the nearby Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom border crossing – the key entry point for aid into Gaza.

The attacks came as the latest efforts for a new ceasefire and hostage release deal stalled, although mediators said they were continuing their efforts.

In an initial briefing to journalists on Monday morning, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani stressed that the operation planned in Rafah was of “limited scope”.

He said that no time frame had been announced and that the evacuation affecting an estimated 100,000 people would be carried out in “a gradual way”.

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However, that will not allay the fears of locals and more than a million displaced Palestinians crammed into Gaza’s southernmost city that a wider offensive is on the cards.

For months, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been insisting that victory against Hamas cannot be won without a full-scale offensive there.

Israel says Rafah harbours four remaining Hamas battalions – amounting to thousands of fighters.

Western and Arab powers, as well as the UN, have repeatedly warned against such a wide ground operation in Rafah, because of the prospect of high numbers of civilian casualties.

Officials from Israel and its closest ally, the US, have been holding meetings to discuss alternative, more focused plans. It is not clear if the new evacuation orders are part of those.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas fighters stormed into southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 34,600 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.