Israel developing dual plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of strike on Hamas: Netanyahu
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday ordered his military to prepare an evacuation plan for Palestinian citizens in Rafah ahead of the expected invasion.
Many Gazans have been flooding to the city, which is located on the Gaza-Egypt border, as Israel has been focusing its attacks in the North.
Now as IDF sets its sights on Rafah, it is preparing a plan to evacuate the more than one million people living there, Netanyahu announced Friday.
Israel says that Rafah is the last remaining Hamas stronghold in Gaza. “It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” Netanyahu’s office said.
“On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat.”
Netanyahu has ordered the military and security officials to come up with a “combined plan” that includes both a mass evacuation of civilians and the destruction of Hamas’ forces in the town.
It is not clear where Israel plans on evacuating the Palestinian citizens, as most can’t return to the northern region due to widespread destruction.
They also more than likely cannot move into Egypt without violating a four-decade peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.
The border between Gaza and Egypt is already a humanitarian aid entry point.
The plan has been met with criticism, including from the US, as Israel has intentions of moving ground forces into the city.
Netanyahu has largely rebuffed international criticism of the civilian death toll, which has risen to more than 28,000 in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilian and military deaths.
Netanyahu says Hamas is responsible for endangering civilians by operating and hiding in residential areas, but the criticism has heightened since IDF announced plans to invade Rafah.
President Biden said Thursday that Israel’s conduct is “over the top,” and claims the invasion of Rafah “would be a disaster.”
In addition, the US has been trying to broker a cease-fire deal with Egypt and Qatar between Israel and Hamas.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the region Thursday without an agreement, but he said he still believed a deal featuring an extended pause was possible.
Netanyahu appeared to snub Blinken, saying he will settle for nothing short of “total victory.”
Israel has vowed not to stop the war until Hamas has been eliminated and all the hostages have been returned, which he says requires them to attack Rafah. Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, said Thursday that going ahead with such an offensive “with no planning and little thought in an area where there is sheltering of a million people would be a disaster.”
John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said an Israel ground offensive in Rafah is “not something we would support.”
Israel has already begun to strike Rafah Friday through airstrikes. Two areas in central Gaza were bombed too, including an old kindergarten schoolhouse that has been used as a shelter.
With Post wires