The Israeli army, which is preparing a major offensive against Rafah, began on Monday a “limited-scale operation” aimed at “temporarily” evacuating around 100,000 people residing in the east of this city in the Gaza Strip. , calling on them to join “humanitarian zones”.
“We have started a limited-scale operation to temporarily evacuate people residing in eastern Rafah,” an army spokesperson said at a press briefing, repeating: “This is an operation of limited scale.”
Asked about the number of people concerned, this spokesperson indicated that “the estimate was around 100,000 people (…) immediately”.
Earlier in a statement, the army had indicated “to encourage the inhabitants of eastern Rafah to move towards the expanded humanitarian zones”, specifying that “calls to move temporarily towards the humanitarian zone would be relayed by leaflets, SMS, telephone calls and messages in Arabic in the media.
A Rafah resident told AFP that some had received voice messages on their phone inviting them to leave and text messages with a map telling them where to go.
The army assures in its press release that it has “expanded the humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi”, around ten kilometers from Rafah, where “field hospitals, tents and an increasing volume of food, water, medicine and others”.
According to the UN, around 1.2 million inhabitants, the majority pushed there by the fighting, are crowding into Rafah, a town on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip.
Fearing a bloodbath among civilians, capitals and international organizations are opposing the announced operation by Israel, which says it is essential for its troops to enter Rafah to destroy the last battalions of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.
“This evacuation plan aims to keep civilians away from danger,” the army spokesperson said, “our goal is to fight Hamas, not the people of Gaza. And that’s why we’re carrying out this specific temporary evacuation.”
