Israeli armored vehicles gathered along the border fence with the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday.
Photo: KEYSTONE/EPA/ABIR SULTAN
Israel began Monday to evacuate 100,000 people from the east of the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, where the army is preparing a major offensive in its war against Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been announcing for weeks an upcoming offensive on Rafah, which he presents as the last major bastion of the Islamist movement in the Palestinian territory.
‘We have started a limited-scale operation to temporarily evacuate people residing in eastern Rafah,’ an army spokesperson said on Monday, repeating: ‘This is a limited-scale operation.’
Benjamin Netanyahu promised to launch this offensive whatever the outcome of the current discussions, through the mediating countries, to try to impose a truce associated with the release of hostages held in Gaza.
/ATS
