The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuasked the army to deliver a “combined plan” for the “evacuation” of civilians from Rafah and “destruction” of the Islamist movement Hamas in that city in the south of the Gaza Strip.
“It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war without eliminating Hamas and leaving four battalions of Hamas in Rafah” and for that it is also necessary for “civilians to evacuate combat zones,” indicated the office of Netanyahu it’s a statement.
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Nearly 1.3 million Palestinians are crowded into Rafahon the border with Egypt.
The figure corresponds to more than half of the population of the Gaza Stripso there are fears that a military offensive will cause a bloodbath.
In that context, Netanyahu “ordered Israeli forces and security officials” give you a “combined plan (…) to evacuate the population and destroy the battalions of Hamas”the statement added.
USAmain ally of Israelwarned on Thursday that Rafah a military operation “without planning and without reflection” in Rafah could cause a humanitarian “disaster.”
At the beginning of the war, four months ago, Israeli forces concentrated their operations in the city of Loopin the north of the Stripeand then they moved towards Jan Yunisfurther south.
But on Wednesday, Netanyahu ordered to prepare an offensive in Rafahpopulated mostly by displaced people who fled from other areas of the Strip due to Israeli operations against the Islamist movement Hamaswhich governs Loop since 2007.
The war broke out on October 7 when Islamist militants killed more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 in an attack in southern Israel, according to an AFP report based on official Israeli data.
In the Israeli bombings and retaliatory operations in Loop 27,940 people died, mostly women, children and adolescents, according to Hamas, an organization classified as terrorist by the European Union and USA.
