RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, defying population growth and preparing to expand military operations closer to what is believed to be Gaza's last refuge. As a result, tens of thousands more people were forced to leave. pressure from close allies such as the United States;
as Pro-Palestinian protests continued to oppose warIsraeli forces also said they were advancing into devastated areas of northern Gaza, where the militant Hamas group claimed to have regrouped after seven months of fighting.
Israel is currently evacuating an area in the eastern third of Rafah, with top army spokesman Maj. Gen. Daniel Hagari saying dozens of militants remain there as “targeted operations continue.” He said he was murdered. Due to the planned full-scale invasion of Rafah, the United Nations further paralyze humanitarian operations and cause a surge in civilian casualties.
Rafah, which borders Egypt near a major aid entry point, has already been affected. The Israeli army is occupied the Gaza side The Rafah intersection was closed. Egyptian state television channel Al-Kahera News reported on Saturday, citing unnamed officials, that Egypt has stopped coordinating aid deliveries with Israel through the border, citing “unacceptable Israeli escalation.” It is said that he is refusing to do so.
US President Joe Biden said he would not provide offensive weapons to Israel because of Rafah. On Friday, the administration called it “reasonable.” Evidence that Israel violated international law Protecting civilians — Washington's strongest statement yet on the issue.
In response, Ofir Falk, the Israeli prime minister's foreign policy adviser, told The Associated Press that Israel is acting in accordance with the laws of armed conflict and that the military has taken extensive measures to avoid civilian casualties. He said some of the measures include warning the public about military operations by phone and phone calls. text message.
is more than 1.4 million Palestinians Half of Gaza's population has taken refuge in Rafah, most after fleeing Israeli attacks elsewhere. Recent evacuations have forced some people to return to the north, where areas have been devastated by previous Israeli attacks. Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 people had fled before Saturday's order, with another 40,000 added.
“Are we going to wait until we're all piling up and dying? So we decided to leave. It's better that way,” he said as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings into cars. said Hanan Al Satari, a resident of Rafah.
“There are no safe areas in Gaza for Israeli forces. They are targeting everything,” said Abu Yusuf al-Dairi, who had previously been evacuated from Gaza City.
Many people have been forced to evacuate multiple times. There are only a few places left to go. Some people who fled the fighting earlier this week erected tent camps in the city of Khan Yunis, which was half destroyed in an earlier Israeli attack, and in the central city of Deir al-Balah, straining the remaining infrastructure.
Some Palestinians have been sent to what Israel calls a humanitarian safe zone along the Mwasi coast, where some 450,000 people are already crammed together in squalid conditions. The camp is littered with trash and lacks basic facilities.
Georgios Petropoulos, an official with the UN humanitarian agency in Rafah, said aid workers did not have the supplies to support operations in their new locations. “We simply don't have tents, we don't have blankets, we don't have bedding, we don't have any of the items that people on the move would expect to get from the humanitarian system,” he said.
The World Food Program has warned it will run out of food to distribute in southern Gaza by Saturday, Petropoulos said.Parts of Gaza are facing what the WFP chief says are further challenges. “Full-scale starvation.” Aid groups say they will soon run out of fuel, forcing hospitals to suspend critical operations and stopping trucks delivering aid.
Heavy fighting is also taking place in northern Gaza, where Hagari said the air force was carrying out airstrikes. Israeli military spokesman Avichai Adley told Palestinians in Jabaliya, Beit Rahiya and surrounding areas to head to evacuation centers west of Gaza City, warning that Israel would carry out a “massive” attack. .
Northern Gaza is under Israeli control, which began on October 7 after Hamas and other armed groups attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking another 250 hostages. It became the first target of a ground attack. They still house around 100 prisoners of war and more than 30 bodies. Hamas announced on Saturday that hostage Nadav Popplewell had died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike a month ago. Hamas offered no evidence of his claims.
Israeli artillery and ground attacks have killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its statistics. do not have. Israel accuses Hamas of infiltrating densely populated residential areas and causing civilian casualties.
Civilian authorities in Gaza have revealed details of a mass grave at Shifa Hospital, the largest hospital in northern Gaza and an early target of Israeli military attacks, as announced by the Health Ministry earlier this week. Authorities said most of the 80 bodies were patients who died due to lack of care. “Any attempt to accuse Israel of burying civilians in mass graves is completely false,” the Israeli military said.
At least eight people, including eight women and eight children, were killed in central Gaza overnight in attacks that hit Zawaida, Maghazi and Deir al-Balah areas, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and an Associated Press reporter who counted the bodies. 19 people died.
“Children, what is the fault of the children who have died?'' said one relative. The woman stroked the face of one of the children lying on the ground.
Tens of thousands of people took part in the latest anti-government protests in Israel on Saturday night. Another round of ceasefire talks in Cairo ended without progress earlier this week.
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Sam Mednick reported from Tel Aviv and Samy Magdy from Cairo. Jack Jeffrey in Jerusalem contributed to this story.
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