RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel orders new evacuations that of Gaza Rafah in the south of the country has forced tens of thousands of people to move as it prepares to expand its military operations closer to the densely populated central area, in defiance of growing pressure from its close ally, the United States and others.
The Israeli military also said it was heading toward a devastated area of northern Gaza, where it claimed the Hamas militant group had regrouped.
Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, considered the last refuge in Gaza. The United Nations and others have warned that the full-scale Israeli invasion of Rafah would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous increase in civilian casualties. Rafah borders Egypt, close to the main aid entry points, which have already been affected. Israeli troops captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossingforcing him to stop.
US President Joe Biden said he would not provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah. On Friday, the United States said it was ‘reasonable’ proof that Israel had violated international law protect civilians in the way it has waged its war against Hamas – the Biden administration’s strongest statement yet on the issue.
In response to the U.S. report, Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to the Israeli prime minister, told the AP that Israel acts in accordance with the laws of armed conflict and that the military takes extensive measures to prevent civilian casualties, in particular by alerting the population of military operations via telephone calls and SMS.
More … than 1.4 million Palestinians – half of Gaza’s population – have taken refuge in Rafah, most after fleeing Israeli offensives elsewhere. The evacuations are forcing people to return to the north, where areas have been devastated by previous Israeli attacks. Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 people had done so before Saturday’s order, representing an additional 40,000.
“What should we do here?” Should we wait to die on each other? So we decided to leave. This is better,” said Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari, as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings into vehicles.
“The Israeli army does not have a security zone in Gaza. They target everything,” said Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, previously displaced from Gaza City.
Many people have been repeatedly displaced and there are few places left to go. Some fleeing fighting earlier this week have set up new tent camps in the town of Khan Younis – half destroyed in a previous Israeli offensive – and in the town of Deir al-Balah, putting a strain on infrastructure .
Some Palestinians are sent to what Israel calls humanitarian safety zones along Gaza’s Muwasi coastal strip. But the area already has around 450,000 people living in squalid conditions, with the garbage-strewn camp lacking basic facilities.
Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the United Nations humanitarian agency in Rafah, said aid workers did not have supplies to help people settle into new sites. “We just don’t have tents, we don’t have blankets, we don’t have bedding, we don’t have any of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said. he declared.
The World Food Program has warned it will run out of food to distribute in southern Gaza by Saturday, Petropoulos said. Aid groups said fuel would also soon run out, forcing hospitals to halt critical operations and disrupt trucks delivering aid to southern and central Gaza.
Heavy fighting is also underway in northern Gaza, where Hamas appears to have regrouped in an area where Israel has launched attacks. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee asked Palestinians in Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters west of Gaza City, warning that people were in “a dangerous combat zone” and which Israel would strike with “great force.” .”
Northern Gaza was the first target of Israel’s ground offensive after Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 others hostage. They still hold around a hundred captives and the remains of more than 30 people.
Israel said late last year that it had dismantled most of Hamas in northern Gaza.
The United Nations population aid agency in Gaza, known as UNRWA, said about 300,000 people were affected by the evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya, but that figure could likely be higher because these are highly built-up areas.
“We are extremely concerned that these evacuation orders have reached both central Rafah and Jabaliya,” Louise Wateridge, UNRWA spokesperson in Rafah, told the Associated Press.
Israel’s bombings and ground offensives have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel blames Hamas for civilian losses, accusing it of establishing itself in densely populated residential areas.
At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza in strikes that hit the Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al Balah areas, according to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah and an AP journalist who counted the body.
A new round of ceasefire talks in Cairo ended earlier this week without any progress.
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Mednick reported from Tel Aviv and Magdy from Cairo. Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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