The Israeli military on Monday stated the evacuation of civilians from parts of Rafah, a move that might pave the way for an offensive on Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is airdropping leaflet and using all forms of communication to guide Rafah residents out of the potential combat zone. “In recent hours, flyers were dropped calling on the residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate temporarily toward the expanded humanitarian area,” the military said in a statement. “Calls to temporarily move to the humanitarian area are conveyed through flyers, SMS messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic.”
The IDF is expected to relocate “approximately 100,000 people … to facilitate further ground maneuvering in the region,” the Israeli TV i24NEWS reported Monday morning:
The ongoing conflict, now in its 213th day, has prompted the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to undertake targeted evacuation operations in specific areas of Rafah. It is estimated that approximately 100,000 people will be evacuated to facilitate further ground maneuvering in the region. In tandem with the evacuation efforts, the IDF is expanding the humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi to accommodate the influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This expanded humanitarian area includes field hospitals, tents, and increased provisions of essential supplies such as food, water, and medication.
The Israeli news website YNET reported the ongoing humanitarian operation to evacuate parts of Rafah:
The IDF on Monday began evacuating the population in Rafah neighborhoods, following the collapse of the hostage deal negotiations and Hamas’s demand to end the war in Gaza. Sources familiar with the details told Ynet the terror group’s official response to the proposed Egyptian deal has yet to be received.”The IDF is expanding the humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi and is calling on the population to temporarily evacuate from the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah to the expanded humanitarian space,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement, that was also conveyed to the Gazan population by an IDF spokesperson in Arabic.In the morning hours, the IDF dropped missives with instructions for the evacuation via designated routes for residents in eastern Rafah to reach defined safe areas prepared by the military to the north of the city near Al-Mawasi. The IDF estimates that about 100,000 Palestinians reside in the evacuated area, out of 1.3 million residents in the entire Rafah region.
The plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah comes after hostage negotiations suffered a major blow when Hamas on Sunday fired rockets at a humanitarian border crossing, killing four IDF soldiers, Arab media reports suggest.
“Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera news TV quotes an unnamed “high-level” source as saying that Hamas’s deadly attack on Gaza’s Kerem Shalom crossing yesterday has caused an impasse in the hostage-truce deal talks,” The Times of Israel reported Monday. “Four IDF soldiers were killed when Hamas fired a barrage of rockets at the area near the crossing.”
Lebanon-based Iranian proxy terrorist group Hezbollah on Monday intensified attacks along Israel’s northern border, anticipating an IDF operation to take Rafah, the Jerusalem Post reported:
The Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah claimed to target Israel with “dozens” of katyusha rockets on May 6. The attack targeted the Golan where sirens were heard in several areas in the central Golan. Hezbollah said it had targeted the “Golan division headquarters” in a statement to Al-Mayadeen.The report on the attack said that “the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon – Hezbollah announced that it had targeted, on Monday morning, the headquarters of the Golan Division (210th) at the Nafah base with dozens of ‘Katyusha’ rockets.” This is part of a series of Hezbollah escalations in the last days. It also attacked Kiryat Shmona on May 5 with 20 rockets and carried out an additional attack in the north with around 40 projectiles on May 5. (…)The Hezbollah escalation comes as Iran is likely watching the developments in Gaza amid Israeli calls for civilians to evacuate eastern Rafah. This means that Iranian-backed proxies and terror groups may increase their attacks.
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