|
Israeli Army Orders Evacuatio 05/06 05:35
The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians in
Gaza's southern city of Rafah to start evacuating from the area, signaling that
a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent.
JERUSALEM (AP) -- The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of
Palestinians in Gaza's southern city of Rafah to start evacuating from the
area, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent.
The announcement complicates last-ditch efforts by international mediators,
including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire. The militant Hamas
group and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that invading Rafah -- along the
border with Egypt -- could derail the talks, and the United States has
repeatedly urged Israel against the invasion.
However, Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold
after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said the invasion is
necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were
being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called
Muwasi. He said Israel was preparing a "limited scope operation" and would not
say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city. But after
Oct. 7 and the unprecedented attack on southern Israel by Hamas, Israel did not
formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.
Overnight, Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, told U.S. Secretary of Defense,
Lloyd Austin that Israel had no choice but to act in Rafah. On Sunday, Hamas
carried out a deadly rocket attack from the Rafah area that killed four Israeli
soldiers.
Shoshani said Israel published a map of the evacuation area, and that orders
were being issued through air-dropped leaflets, text messages and radio
broadcasts. He said Israel has expanded humanitarian aid into Muwasi, including
field hospitals, tents, food and water.
Israel's army said on the social platform X that it would act with "extreme
force" against militants, and urged the population to evacuate immediately for
their safety.
Israel's plan to invade Rafah has raised global alarm because of the
potential for harm to more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering
there.
About 1.4 million Palestinians -- more than half of Gaza's population -- are
jammed into the city and its surroundings. Most of them fled their homes
elsewhere in the territory to escape Israel's onslaught and now face another
wrenching move or the danger of staying under a new assault. 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.
The U.N. agency that has helped millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the
West Bank for decades, known as UNRWA, warned Monday of devastating
consequences of a Rafah offensive, including more civilian suffering and
deaths. The agency said it would not leave but stay in Rafah as long as
possible to continue providing lifesaving assistance.
Egypt's Rafah crossing, a main transfer point for aid going into Gaza, lies
in the evacuation zone. The crossing remained open on Monday after the Israeli
order.
But even as the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have pushed for a cease-fire
agreement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated last week that
the military would move on the city "with or without a deal" to achieve its
goal of destroying the Hamas militant group.
On Monday, Netanyahu accused Hamas of "torpedoing" the hostage deal and not
budging from its "extreme demands" while vowing to stop the militants from
retaking control of Gaza. In a fiery speech Sunday evening marking the
country's annual Holocaust memorial day, he rejected international pressure to
halt the war, saying that "if Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will
stand alone."
A Hamas official told The Associated Press that Israel is trying to pressure
the group into making concessions on the cease-fire, but that it won't change
its demands. Hamas wants a full end to the war, withdrawal of Israeli troops
from Gaza and the eventual reconstruction of the strip in exchange for the
Israeli hostages held by the militants.
Shoshani would not say whether the upcoming Rafah operation is a response to
Sunday's attack by Hamas that forced Israel's key border crossing for aid to
close. He said it would not affect how much aid enters Gaza as other crossing
points remain operational.
He wouldn't comment, however, on U.S. warnings not to invade and wasn't
clear on whether Monday's evacuation order was coordinated with Egypt.
Egypt, a strategic partner of Israel, has said that an Israeli military
seizure of the Gaza-Egypt border -- which is supposed to be demilitarized -- or
any move to push Palestinians into Egypt would threaten its four-decade-old
peace treaty with Israel.
In Rafah, people received flyers Monday morning in Arabic detailing which
neighborhood blocks needed to leave and where humanitarian zones had expanded
to. The flyers said that aid services would spread from Deir al Balah in the
north to the center of Khan Younis city in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
"Anyone found near (militant) organizations endangers themselves and their
family members. For your safety, the (army) urges you to evacuate immediately
to the expanded humanitarian area", it read.
Palestinians in Rafah said people gathered to discuss their options after
receiving the flyers. Most said they did not want to move alone and preferred
to travel in groups.
"So many people here are displaced and now they have to move again, but no
one will stay here it's not safe," Nidal Alzaanin told The Associated Press by
phone.
A father of five, Alzaanin works for an international aid group and was
displaced to Rafah from Beit Hanoun in the north at the start of the war. He
said people are concerned since Israeli troops shot at Palestinians as they
moved during previous evacuation orders.
Alzaanin said he has packed his documents and bags but will wait 24 hours to
see what others do before relocating. He said he has a friend in Khan Younis
whom he hopes can pitch a tent for his family.
But some people say they're too tired and fed up of months of devastation to
flee again.
Sahar Abu Nahel was displaced to Rafah with 20 of her family, her husband is
being held by Israel, her son-in-law in missing, she said.
"Where am I going to go? I have no money or anything. I am seriously tired
as are (my) children," she said wiping tears from her cheeks. "Maybe it's more
honorable for us to die. We are being humiliated," she said.
|
|