Israel’s military yesterday called for the evacuation of Palestinians from eastern Rafah ahead of a ground invasion of the city, as Gaza aid officials said Israeli jets struck two areas where the warning had been issued.
The evacuation call followed intensified disagreement between Israel and Hamas over the Islamist group’s demands to end the seven-month war, during weekend talks in Cairo.
Consultations between two other mediators, the US and Qatar, were expected yesterday in Doha, but media in Egypt said negotiations had stalled after a rocket strike killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday.
Photo: Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to send troops in against Hamas fighters in Rafah regardless of any truce, and despite concerns from the US, other nations and aid groups.
The “limited” and temporary evacuation order aimed “to get people out of harm’s way” and followed the deadly rocket fire that Israel’s military said came from an area adjacent to Rafah.
Gazan civil defense and aid officials yesterday said that Israeli jets had struck al-Shuka and al-Salam, among other areas, both of which were told to evacuate the day before.
The main aid group in Gaza, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, said “an Israeli offensive in Rafah would mean more civilian suffering and deaths.”
It added that it “is not evacuating.”
When asked how many people should move, a military spokesman said: “The estimate is around 100,000 people.”
However, Ossama al-Kahlut, a Palestine Red Crescent representative in east Rafah, said the designated evacuation zone hosts about 250,000 people, many of whom are already uprooted from elsewhere in Gaza.
One resident, Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar, 36, said the area his family was told to seek refuge in “does not have enough room for us to make tents,” because it is already full of displaced people.
“Where we can go?” he asked.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said that Israel had yet to present “a credible plan” to protect civilians during the ground invasion that it has threatened for weeks.
Without it, Washington “can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah,” Blinken said.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell yesterday called the evacuation orders “unacceptable.”
They “portend the worst — more war and famine,” he said.
Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East coordinator for the Action Against Hunger charity, said that the areas now opened for evacuees had previously been “closed because they were considered dangerous.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
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