By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
JERUSALEM/RAFAH (Worthy News) – The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Monday they have begun moving the Palestinian population from the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah to “a humanitarian zone” ahead of an expected Israeli military invasion in that city in southern Gaza.
The evacuations came after the latest round of Gaza cease-fire talks broke down Sunday in Cairo, Egypt, with Hamas saying they had “in-depth and serious discussions” but that Israel again rejected its demands.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Hamas wasn’t serious about a deal and warned of “a powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah” and other places across all of Gaza as Hamas attacked Israel’s main crossing point for delivering badly needed humanitarian aid, killing three soldiers.
Israel’s military said it believed Hamas was targeting soldiers massed on the Gaza border in preparation for a possible Rafah invasion.
Monday’s early evacuations suggested such an invasion was imminent and came just hours after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned his nation would defend itself.
He said Sunday on Israel’s annual Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah in Hebrew): “If we do not defend ourselves, no one else will defend us. And if we have to stand alone – we will stand alone.”
NO CHOICE
Netanyahu spoke on the day that Israel remembers the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, also known as the Shoah.
Days earlier, he stressed, “We will enter Rafah because we have no other choice. We will destroy the Hamas battalions there; we will complete all the objectives of the war, including the return of all our hostages.”
He referred to October 7, when Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took hundreds hostage in Israel.
Israel has made clear it will do all it can to avoid civilian casualties and will help citizens to escape the fighting. The IDF said a new humanitarian zone “includes field hospitals, tents, and increased provisions of food, water, medicine, and other supplies.”
The IDF said it began evacuating civilians from eastern Rafah early Monday to “a new expanded humanitarian zone,” which includes al-Mawasi and parts of Khan Yunis and central Gaza.
Additionally, the IDF is working with “international groups and several countries” to allow an increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, the IDF said.
NEW ZONE
The IDF urged civilians to evacuate temporarily from the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah to the new zone. “Calls to temporarily move to the humanitarian area will be conveyed through posters, SMS messages, phone calls, and media broadcasts in Arabic,” the IDF added in remarks monitored by Worthy News.
“There has been a surge of humanitarian aid going into Gaza,” the IDF said.
“In accordance with the approval of the government, an ongoing situation assessment will guide the gradual movement of civilians in the specified areas to the humanitarian area,” the military added.
Yet the United States has expressed concern about an invasion of Israeli troops into Rafah, where reportedly roughly half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population seeks shelter.
Over the weekend, several officials confirmed that the U.S. had delayed delivery of ammunition to Israel in another sign of tensions between the two allies.
That decision came at a difficult moment for Israel as security threats continued, with Israel’s Air Force saying it “intercepted an [unmanned aerial vehicle] (UAV) coming from the east overnight.”
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