Israel approached Saturday for Palestinians in an additional region of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah to empty and go to what it calls an extended compassionate region in Al-Mawasi. The move is a further sign that the military is squeezing ahead with its arrangements for a ground assault on Rafah, where it needs to target top Hamas pioneers and where the more significant part of Gaza’s regular citizen populace covers.
The move comes a day after Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant met with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and made clear that Israel is not deterred from conducting a ground operation in Rafah despite U.S. calls for it to delay such an operation. Several thousand Palestinians have already left the city. The United Nations says frightened families are heading to cities such as Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah, where there is little food, shelter, or access to health care.
Residents of a swath of eastern Rafah are now being told to evacuate to the north, according to an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman who spoke in Arabic in a post on the social media site X. He said they should go to the Al-Mawasi area, which is a few miles away. The Israeli military has dropped leaflets urging people to head there. But aid groups say Al-Mawasi is not suitable for human habitation and could be under attack, as is the rest of the southern Gaza enclave.
In a separate post on X, the army spokesperson also called on “all residents and displaced persons” in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, including the settlements of Al-Salam, al-Nour, Tal al-Zaatar, the Beit Lahia Project, and Ezbet Mlin, as well as the neighborhoods of Arnon, Khirbet al-Jeneina and Blocks 6-9 to head to the expanded humanitarian area. He warned that those who remained in the area would face an intensification of hostilities with Israel, saying that Hamas is trying to rebuild its capabilities in the region.
The Israeli military has also been pounding the area of eastern and southern Gaza for weeks. Its bombardment has killed more than 34,700 people, about two-thirds of them civilians, the U.N. says. The offensive has displaced nearly 1.9 million people, about 80% of the enclave’s population.
The displaced are struggling to cope with widespread malnutrition and shortages of essential items such as fuel for cooking and water. Many also suffer from mental health problems. The United Nations has said that unless all sides take urgent steps, a full-scale escalation is likely to lead to a catastrophic humanitarian catastrophe. The Gaza crisis was sparked by a massive rocket attack launched by Hamas on Oct. 7. Israel has responded with devastating airstrikes and a ground invasion of the enclave, backed by thousands of ground troops from neighboring Egypt. Almost half of the 2.3 million Palestinians living in Gaza have been driven from their homes by the violence. Hundreds of thousands are on the brink of famine, and about 80% live in poverty.
