RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Saturday, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its military operation closer to the densely populated central area, in defiance of the growing pressure. in the middle of the war from our close allies, the United States and others.
As pro-Palestinian protests Following this, the Israeli military also said it was heading towards a devastated area of northern Gaza, where it claimed the Hamas militant group had regrouped.
Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, considered Gaza’s last refuge. The United Nations has warned that the planned full-scale invasion of Rafah further paralyze humanitarian operations and cause an increase in the number of civilian casualties.
Rafah borders Egypt, close to the main aid entry points, which are already affected. Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to close.
Egypt has refused to coordinate with Israel the delivery of aid through the Rafah crossing due to “unacceptable Israeli escalation”, state broadcaster Al Qahera News reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed official. . The channel maintains close ties with Egyptian security agencies.
US President Joe Biden said he would not provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah. On Friday, the Biden administration said there were ‘reasonable’ measures proof that Israel had violated international law protect civilians – Washington’s strongest statement on the issue.
In response, Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to the Israeli prime minister, told The Associated Press that Israel acts in accordance with the laws of armed conflict and that the military takes extensive measures to prevent civilian casualties, including alerting the population of military operations via phone calls and text messages.
More … than 1.4 million Palestinians – half of Gaza’s population – have taken refuge in Rafah, most after fleeing Israeli offensives elsewhere. The evacuations are forcing some people to return to the north, where areas have been devastated by previous Israeli attacks. Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 people had left before Saturday’s order, representing an additional 40,000 people.
“Are we all waiting to die on top of each other? So we decided to leave. This is better,” said Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari, as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings into vehicles.
“The Israeli army does not have a security zone in Gaza. They target everything,” said Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, previously displaced from Gaza City.
Many people have been displaced several times. There are few places left to go. Some fleeing fighting earlier this week have set up tent camps in the town of Khan Younis – half destroyed in a previous Israeli offensive – and in the central town of Deir al-Balah, straining infrastructure .
Some Palestinians are sent to what Israel calls humanitarian safety zones along the Muwasi coastal strip, which already has about 450,000 people living in squalid conditions. The garbage-strewn camp lacks basic facilities.
Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the United Nations humanitarian agency in Rafah, said aid workers did not have supplies to help people settle into new sites. “We just don’t have tents, we don’t have blankets, we don’t have bedding, we don’t have any of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said. he declared.
The World Food Program has warned it will run out of food to distribute in southern Gaza by Saturday, Petropoulos said – an added challenge as parts of Gaza face what the WFP chief called “total famine”. Aid groups said fuel would soon run out, forcing hospitals to halt critical operations and halt trucks delivering aid.
Heavy fighting was also underway in northern Gaza. Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee asked Palestinians in Jabaliya, Beit Lahiya and surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters west of Gaza City, warning that people were in “a dangerous combat zone” and which Israel would strike with “great force.” .”
The United Nations population aid agency in Gaza, known as UNRWA, said about 300,000 people were affected by the evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya, but that figure could likely be higher.
Northern Gaza was the first target of Israel’s ground offensive after Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 250 others hostage. They still hold around a hundred prisoners and the remains of more than 30 people. Hamas said Saturday that hostage Nadav Popplewell died after being injured in an Israeli airstrike a month ago. Hamas has not provided any evidence to support this claim.
Israel’s bombings and ground offensives have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures. Israel blames Hamas for civilian losses, accusing it of establishing itself in densely populated residential areas.
Gaza civilian authorities on Saturday gave more details about mass graves announced earlier this week by the Health Ministry at Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in northern Gaza and the target of a previous Israeli offensive. Authorities said most of the 80 bodies were patients who died due to lack of treatment. The Israeli military said that “any attempt to accuse Israel of burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false.”
At least 19 people, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza in strikes that hit the Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al-Balah areas, according to the Al Martyrs Hospital. Aqsa and an AP journalist who counted the bodies.
“Children, what is the fault of the children who died? » declared a relative. A woman caressed the face of one of the children lying on the ground.
A new round of ceasefire talks in Cairo ended earlier this week without any progress.
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Sam Mednick reported from Tel Aviv and Samy Magdy from Cairo. Jack Jeffery in Jerusalem contributed to this story.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
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