The Israeli army orders the evacuation of the Gaza Rafah

By Wafaa Shurafa and Fatma Khaled

Deir al -Balah, Gaza Strip (AP) – The Israeli army published radical evacuation orders on Monday covering Rafah and the neighboring regions, indicating that it could soon launch another important operation on the ground in the southern city of the Gaza Strip.

Israel put an end to its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and land war at the beginning of the month. At the beginning of March, he cut all the supplies of food, fuel, medicine and humanitarian aid to around 2 million Palestinians in the territory to put pressure on Hamas to accept the modifications proposed to the truce agreement. Hamas has been appointed as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

The Israeli army ordered the Palestinians to go to Muwasi, a sprawl of sordid tent camps along the coast. Orders came during Eid al-Fitr, a normally festive Muslim party marking the end of the month of Ramadan fast.

Last May, Israel launched a major operation in Rafah, on the border with Egypt, leaving large parts in ruins. The soldiers seized a strategic corridor along the border as well as the crossing of Rafah with Egypt, the only Gaza gateway to the outside world which was not controlled by Israel.

Israel was supposed to withdraw from the corridor under the cease-fire which he signed with Hamas in January under American pressure, but he then refused to do so, citing the need to prevent the smuggling of weapons.

Doctors killed by Israeli fire are buried

Dozens gathered during the funeral for some of the 15 emergency speakers killed by Israeli fires during a ground operation in Rafah last week. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies called it as a deadliest attack on its doctors for several years.

Raed al-Nems, spokesperson for the Palestinian Red Crescent, said that paramedical paramedics had been “killed in cold blood despite the port of uniforms and operating in clearly labeled ambulances. During the funeral prayers, their shrouds were draped in banners of the Red Crescent.

The Israeli army said that its forces had opened fire on several vehicles that have raised suspicion by advancing without headlights or emergency signals. The army said that an agent in Hamas and eight other combatants were one of the people killed.

The United Nations Humanitarian Bureau said that the dead included eight Red Crescent workers, six members of the Gaza Civil Defense, which operates under the government managed by Hamas and a United Nations worker.

The rescuers were not allowed to access the area that almost a week later to recover the bodies. Images of the Sunday recovery operation released by the United Nations showed that civil defense workers dug in a mound of sand and draw a body bearing the same orange vest as theirs.

Netanyahu promises to implement Trump’s Gaza Plan

Israel has promised to intensify its military operations until Hamas publishes the remaining 59 hostages it holds – including 24 which would be alive. Israel also demanded that Hamas disarm and leave the territory, conditions that were not included in the cease-fire agreement and that Hamas rejected.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel would take care of security in Gaza after the war and implement the proposal of US President Donald Trump to reinstall the population of Gaza in other countries, describing it as a “voluntary emigration”.

This plan was universally rejected by the Palestinians, who consider him a forced expulsion of their homeland. Human rights experts say it would probably violate international law.

Hamas insisted on the implementation of the signed agreement, which asked for the publication of the rest of the hostages in exchange for a sustainable ceasefire and an Israeli judgment. Negotiations on these parties of the agreement were to start in February, but only preliminary talks took place.

The war began when terrorists led by Hamas stormed Israel on October 7, 2023, unleashing through the basics of the army and agricultural communities and killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians. Terrorists took 251 other hostage people, most of whom were released in ceasefires or other transactions.

Israel’s reprisal offensive killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not say how much civilians or combatants were. At its peak, the war had moved some 90% of the population of Gaza, many fleeing several times.

Large Gaza areas have been destroyed, and we don’t know how or when everything is rebuilt.

Khaled reported Cairo.

Originally published: March 31, 2025 at 8:41 pm PDT