Israel's military carried out airstrikes on Rafah, hours after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza City. Columns of smoke rose from explosions in Rafah on Monday (May 6) despite West's reluctance to permit any such operation.
Israel has been threatening to launch incursions in Rafah, where more than a million people uprooted by the war have been sheltering. Israel says Rafah harbours thousands of Hamas fighters and potentially dozens of hostages.
The Palestinian group Hamas said in a statement on Monday that any operation in Rafah will not be a "picnic" for Israeli forces and that it is fully prepared to defend Palestinians. A raid by Hamas on Israel on October 7 triggered the war, in which 1,200 people were killed and 252 hostages taken, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 34,700 Palestinians have been killed and more than 78,000 have been wounded in Israel's assault, according to Gaza's health ministry.
Over 1 lakh Palestinians needs to be evacuated
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel was preparing a “limited scope operation” and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city. But last October, Israel did not formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.
Shoshani said Israel published a map of the evacuation area, and that orders were being issued through leaflets dropped from the sky, text messages and radio broadcasts. He said Israel has expanded humanitarian aid into Muwasi, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.
Israel's army said Monday on the social platform X it would act with “extreme force” against militants and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.
IDF vows to carry on with plan despite global pressure
Israel's plan to invade Rafah has raised global alarm because of the potential for harm to more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there.
About 1.4 million Palestinians — more than half of Gaza's population — are jammed into the town and its surroundings. Most of them fled their homes elsewhere in the territory to escape Israel's onslaught and now face another wrenching move, or the danger of facing the brunt of a new assault. They live in densely packed tent camps, overflowing UN shelters or crowded apartments, and are dependent on international aid for food, with sanitation systems and medical facilities infrastructure crippled.
(With inputs from agency)
