BarcelonaIsrael ordered the evacuation of the eastern neighborhoods of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, in the area adjacent to the border with Israel. Neighbors have already received text messages and phone calls asking them to leave for Al Mawasi, off the coast. So far, the army has not linked this evacuation order to the announced ground invasion of the city, which is the only city that was not destroyed in the war that began approximately seven months ago and is home to 1.5 million Palestinians, more than half of the Strip’s population.
The army statement also explained that the Al-Mawasi area near Khan Yunis has been expanded and is receiving more humanitarian aid such as “field hospitals, tents, more food, water, medicines, and additional supplies.” Guarantees that are not credible to either the Palestinians or the international community. The United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the main humanitarian agency in Gaza, denounced Israel’s restriction of its operations in the Strip to alleviate the humanitarian crisis resulting from the destruction of the health system and the blockade imposed on the flow of aid, leading to the spread of hunger. The agency’s director, Philippe Lazzarini, reported last night that Israel had refused him entry into Gaza twice during the past week. He also noted the increase in attacks against humanitarian aid convoys and their workers. “In the past two weeks alone, we have recorded 10 incidents of shootings at convoys, arrests of UN staff, including harassment, stripping and threats with long weapons. There have also been delays at control sites forcing convoys to move during darkness or abort” their mission, Lazzarini said on his account on the X website. He added, “These events are repeated repeatedly at times when we are in a race against time to avoid famine in Gaza,” adding that they also generate “fear” among humanitarian teams.
The evacuation order comes after the failure of the last round of ceasefire negotiations held this weekend in Cairo. A Hamas source explained to: The New York Times The agreement was very close, but it failed at the insistence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who would order the invasion of Rafah. The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) attacked an Israeli checkpoint at the Kerem Shalom border crossing on Sunday, killing three soldiers. Israel responded by launching 11 air strikes east of the city before issuing the evacuation order.
The Israeli government announced that Defense Minister Yoav Galant spoke this evening by telephone with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, to assure him that “military action, including in the Rafah area, is necessary in the absence of an alternative.” Hamas accused him of not being “serious” in its proposal to release dozens. Israeli hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attack.
There is no safe place
It should be noted that areas described by the Israeli army as “safe” were also bombed, and that people who moved to Rafah (which had a population of 300,000 before the Israeli attack) also did so in accordance with the slogans of the Israeli army. . Tel Aviv ordered residents of northern Gaza to move to Rafah, near the border with Egypt, which has also been classified as “safe.” For this reason, after learning of the failure of the talks in Cairo, many Palestinian families began leaving Rafah in anticipation of the invasion, but not to the evacuation zones designated by the army.
“Freelance social media evangelist. Organizer. Certified student. Music maven.”
