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Thousands of people are being evacuated from Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, hours after the Israeli military told residents and displaced people in the eastern neighborhoods to leave ahead of a long-threatened attack on the city and its environs.
Witnesses described frightened families leaving the city on foot, riding donkeys or cramming their belongings into overloaded trucks on Monday. Overnight, Israeli airstrikes increased “panic and fear,” prompting more people to heed instructions to move.
“There is extreme tension in all areas of Rafah, including the areas west of the city. Many have started thinking about evacuation and many have already evacuated,” said one witness.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they dropped leaflets and broadcast instructions through “messages, text messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic”, telling residents to head to an “expanded humanitarian zone” on the coast.
“This is an evacuation plan to get people out of danger,” an Israeli army spokesman told reporters.
Rafah is home to more than one million people displaced from elsewhere in Gaza during the seven-month war and is a key logistics base for humanitarian operations across the territory. Dense tent camps surround the city and are also already crowded al-Mawasithe coastal area about 3 miles northeast to which Israel told people to evacuate.
A rocket fire fired by Hamas on Sunday from Rafah at a military base near the Kerem Shalom checkpoint in northern Gaza, which killed four soldiers, may have led to Israel’s decision.
The IDF spokesman described the evacuation as “part of our plans to defeat Hamas … we had a violent reminder of their presence and their operational capabilities in Rafah yesterday.”
While indirect talks in Cairo for a ceasefire have failed in recent days, senior Israeli officials have repeatedly vowed to launch an attack on Rafah, despite strong international opposition and calls for restraint from the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally.
In a televised address on Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, rejected Hamas demands for a final end to the war in Gazasaying that any permanent ceasefire would allow the Islamist organization to remain in power and pose a constant threat to Israel.
Israeli officials have repeatedly said that “decisive victory” requires the destruction of a significant Hamas fighting force, which they say is based in Rafah, and the capture or killing of senior Hamas leaders believed to be hiding in tunnels under the city, possibly with dozens taken hostage by the militant Islamist group during the October 7 surprise attack on Israel that sparked the conflict.
On Monday, Yoav Galant, Israel’s defense minister, said Hamas’ apparent rejection of the latest offer by mediators in the ongoing ceasefire talks meant “military action in Rafah” was necessary.
A senior Hamas official described the Israeli order for civilians to evacuate Rafah as “a dangerous escalation that will have consequences.”
“The US administration, along with the occupation, is responsible for this terrorism,” Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
The IDF said the upcoming operation was of “limited scope” and estimated it would have to relocate around 100,000 people.
“This matter will progress gradually according to ongoing assessments of the situation which will be carried out throughout,” a spokesman said.
The IDF said it was expanding the “humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi with additional tents and field hospitals.
Aid workers and displaced people already living there describe severe overcrowding, insufficient food, limited fresh water and an almost complete lack of sanitation. Israeli forces have also bombed targets in Al Mawasi at least twice in recent months.
Aid officials have long warned of a massive disruption to efforts to prevent starvation in Gaza in the event of a major Israeli offensive in the south. Any attack on Rafah would lead to a “collapse of the aid response”, the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Monday.
The number of dead in Gaza since the Israeli military offensive is more than 34,500, mostly women and children. At least three Palestinians were reportedly killed in a crackdown on a house in Rafah. Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields, a charge the militant Islamist group denies.
A Hamas attack in October killed 1,200 mostly civilians in their homes or at a music festival in southern Israel. About 250 hostages were taken, of whom 105 were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails during the short-lived truce in November.
Netanyahu has been under domestic pressure to secure the release of the Gaza hostages, but appears so far to have prioritized the demands of far-right parties, who have threatened to withdraw key support for his coalition if a ceasefire is signed now.
Speaking a day after thousands of people again rallied in Tel Aviv to demand the release of the remaining Israeli captives, Netanyahu defended his decisions, saying his government was “working around the clock to formulate an agreement to return our hostages.”
Hamas and Israel appeared close to agreeing on new terms for a 40-day ceasefire and the release of dozens of hostages, but hopes of a breakthrough have dimmed in recent days.
A Hamas delegation that arrived in Cairo on Saturday announced late Sunday that it was leaving to consult with its leadership. There is still no sign of a final response from the group on the deal proposed by mediators and accepted by Israel last week. Israel has not yet sent a delegation to Cairo.
The conflict in Gaza continues to threaten wider regional violence and tension.
Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Islamist movement in Lebanon, said it fired “dozens of Katyusha rockets” at an Israeli base in the Golan Heights.
Lebanese state media said three people were wounded in an Israeli strike earlier Monday in the east of the country, with the Israeli military saying it hit a Hezbollah “military compound.”
Israel and Hezbollah have exchanged regular cross-border fire since the Gaza war broke out. In recent weeks, Hezbollah has increased its attacks on northern Israel, and the Israeli army has struck deeper into Lebanese territory.
On Sunday, Netanyahu’s cabinet decided to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel as the war in Gaza continued, claiming that the Qatari television network threatened national security.
Al Jazeera dismissed the allegation as a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that put journalists at risk.
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