The Israeli military said on Monday it had begun evacuating Palestinians from parts of the southern Gaza city of Rafah, ahead of an expected military operation during which about half of the enclave's entire population is looking for refuge.
“For your safety, the IDF appeals to you to immediately evacuate to the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,” said Avichay Adraee, head of the Israel Defense Forces' Arabic media department, wrote in a post on Xin accordance with a Google translation from Arabic.
“The IDF will act with the utmost severity against terrorist organizations in your residential areas, as it has done so far. Anyone who is close to terrorist organizations is putting their life and that of their family at risk,” the post says.
Al Mawasi is a small strip of coastal scrubland, just over 800m wide and 14km long, and is already home to several hundred thousand displaced Palestinians. Currently, greater than 1.2 million people live in RafahMost of them fled from other parts of the Gaza Strip, lived mostly in tents and lacked access to sufficient water, food and basic medicine.
The White House – in addition to the United Nations, WHO and other multinational organizations – have urged Israel against an offensive in Rafah and warned of catastrophic humanitarian consequences. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said an operation there was crucial to his country's victory within the war against Hamas.
“Total victory”
Netanyahu and his far-right ruling coalition have rejected Washington's pleas, saying Israel would perform its offensive in Rafah with or without US support.
“The idea that we stop the war before we have achieved all of its objectives is out of the question. We will invade Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without.” [cease-fire] Deal to realize total victory,” Netanyahu said this on Tuesday during a speech in Jerusalem.
The IDF believes there are between 5,000 and eight,000 Hamas fighters within the densely populated southern city, said to be the last remnant of the militant group.
Monday's announcement got here after the most recent round of negotiations over a hostage-taking and ceasefire agreement resulted in Cairo on Sunday, with each Hamas and Israeli officials trading blame for the collapse of the talks.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday: “We see signs that Hamas has no intention of reaching an agreement.” Israel didn’t send a delegation to Cairo for the talks, which were brokered by Qatar and Egypt.
Hamas has proposed the discharge of plenty of hostages in exchange for a whole and everlasting ceasefire, which the Israeli government says is a no-go because it plans to proceed its military offensive in Gaza until it deems the group completely eliminated . The Hamas delegation left Egypt on Sunday for Qatar, where it has a political office, saying “in-depth and serious discussions” had taken place in recent days. She will return to Cairo on Tuesday to proceed talks.
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