Illustrative image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ordered on May 11 Palestinians in additional neighborhoods of Rafah to evacuate, as it prepares to expand ground operations in the city in the southern Gaza Strip.
Lieutenant Colonel Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman, published a list of the new zones that need to be evacuated alongside the announcement. The spokesman also warned Palestinians against moving toward the Israeli border.
The IDF’s new evacuation order covers the Rafah and Shaboura camps and the neighborhoods of Geneina and Khirbat al-Adas. Palestinian civilians were ordered to move to a so-called “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas.
The move comes after the security cabinet voted on May 9 night to approve a “measured” expansion of the IDF’s operation in Rafah.
A separate evacuation order was given for the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. In this case, civilians are told to move to shelters west of Gaza City.
“You are in a dangerous combat zone. Hamas is trying to rebuild its capabilities in the area, and therefore the IDF will work with great force against the terror organizations in the area in which you are located,” Lt. Col. Adraee said.
More than 1,4 Palestinians civilians are taking shelter in Rafaha, while Jabaliya is said to shelter between 100,000 and 150,000 others.
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
Click to see full-size image. (The Israeli Defense Forces)
The Israeli decision to expand operations in southern Gaza and re-enter the northern part of the Strip came as the IDF continues to receive blows from the Hamas Movement and other Palestinians armed factions in the enclave.
On May 10, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, released three videos showing its fighters targeting Israeli troops and vehicles in Rafah, sniping a soldier in Gaza City’s al-Zaitoun neighborhood in the northern part of the Strip and firing a barrage of rockets at the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva.
On the same day, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigade, released footage showing mortar attacks on IDF gatherings near Rafah.
The IDF has lost 271 troops since the start of ground operations in Gaza in the wake of the October 7 Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel. More than 1,500 others have been wounded in the Strip, so far.
On the Palestinian side, the Israeli war has so far claimed the lives of 34,943 people and left more than 78,572 others wounded, according to the latest update by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. Most of the victims were women and children.
In addition to the high number of casualties, the Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the Strip’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations.
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