Israel yesterday ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands more people to move as it prepares to expand its operation, while saying that it is also moving into an area in northern Gaza where Hamas has regrouped.
Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah, pushing the operation to the edges of the heavily populated central area, although its move into the city has so far been short of the full-scale invasion that it planned. The order comes in the face of heavy international opposition and criticism.
US President Joe Biden has already said he would not provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah, and on Friday the US said there was “reasonable” evidence that Israel had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas — the strongest statement that the Biden administration has yet made on the matter.
Photo: AFP
The UN and other agencies have warned for weeks that an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties.
More than 1.4 million Palestinians — half of Gaza’s population — have been sheltering in Rafah, most after fleeing Israel’s offensives elsewhere. Considered the last refuge in the strip, the evacuations are forcing people to return north where areas are devastated by previous Israeli attacks.
Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 had done so before yesterday’s order that adds a further 40,000 to that number.
Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Rafah, said humanitarian workers had no supplies to help them set up in new locations.
“We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding, none of the items that you would expect a population on the move to be able to get from the humanitarian system,” he said.
Israeli troops have captured the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, forcing it to shut down. Rafah was the main point of entry for fuel.
The World Food Program had warned that it would run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by yesterday, Petropoulos said.
Heavy fighting was also under way in northern Gaza, where Hamas appeared to have once again regrouped in an area where Israel has already launched punishing assaults.
Israeli Army spokesman Avichay Adraee told Palestinians in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya cities and the surrounding areas to leave their homes and head to shelters in the west of Gaza City, saying that Israel was going to strike with “great force.”
Meanwhile, the UN General Assembly on Friday voted by a wide margin to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the UN Security Council to reconsider Palestine’s request to become the 194th member of the international organization.
The General Assembly approved the Arab and Palestinian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 143-9 with 25 abstentions. The US voted against it, along with Israel, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea.
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