The Israeli army on Monday called on civilians in eastern Rafah to evacuate as it prepares for a possible ground attack on southern Gaza city.
in a statementThe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it would deliver its message to the people in Rafah through “flyers, SMS messages, phone calls and media broadcasts in Arabic”. About 1.4 million people have sought asylum From the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Rafah.
This comes after ceasefire talks between the two sides under the supervision of Egyptian mediators The weekend ended without any success, Israel has previously said a ground operation in Rafah is necessary to eliminate Hamas, which was a declared goal of the war on the Islamic militant group following the October 7 terrorist attack that killed about 1,200 people inside Israel. Were. The fighting that followed killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s local health official, and plunged the region into an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.
Countries around the world, including the United Nations and Israel’s Western allies, warned that the attack on Rafah would worsen the already dire situation inside Gaza. World leaders are calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to explore alternatives.