Israel ordering new evacuations in Rafah, preparing to expand operations

Israel has ordered new evacuations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have fled, as it prepares to expand its military operations.

The people of Rafah were directed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to head north to the al-Mawasi area. IDF Arabic spokesman Avichai Adlai said early Saturday morning that the IDF had been directed to the west of Gaza City in preparation for the reestablishment of the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the area. post on social media platform X.

The call for Palestinians to evacuate the area comes as Israel faces international opposition as it attempts to carry out a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah. President Biden said earlier this week that he would refrain from sending bombs to Israel if it launched a full-scale operation in Rafah.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is one of the main aid agencies providing food, shelter and medicine to Palestinians. Said “At least” 300,000 people will be affected by the new eviction notices.

The agency estimates that around 150,000 people have been evacuated from Rafah since Monday.

“More than 100,000 people who have already been evacuated from Rafah face severe shortages of shelter, food, water and sanitation services.” according to to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The calls for new evacuations in the region come just days after the State Department released a long-awaited report that found a “reasonable assessment” of violations of international humanitarian law in war operations in the Gaza Strip. The investigation found no specific examples. Violations pointing to wrongdoing against U.S. allies.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said the report released Friday was “woefully inadequate.”

“The administration makes several important general findings in this report, including the conclusion that it is reasonable to conclude that Israel violated international law in its use of U.S. weapons. , all of which fall short of making difficult decisions in specific cases,” he said. Friday.