2024-05-06 14:58:01
image source, Reuters
Comment on the photo, Palestinian families began exodus from eastern Rafah
Last updated 5 minutes ago
US President Joe Biden, in a phone call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, demanded that Israel reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing for goods to Gaza, a main route for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, this which Netanyahu accepted.
Israel closed the crossing on Sunday following Hamas fired rockets from Rafah at an Israeli army assembly point near the crossing, killing four soldiers.
US website Axios cited a US official as saying the call lasted half an hour, during which Biden reiterated Washington’s concerns regarding the military operation in the city of Rafah.
Biden told Netanyahu that reaching a ceasefire with Hamas was the best way to protect the lives of Israeli “hostages” in Gaza.
Washington has confirmed that it will not support the ground invasion of Rafah without an integrated plan to secure civilians housed in the city, and despite ongoing ceasefire talks with Hamas.
The Israeli army carried out airstrikes on areas east of the town of Rafah, near neighborhoods that had received evacuation orders to the towns of Al-Mawasi and Khan Yunis, according to Reuters reported from Al-Aqsa television.
At the same time, Egypt warned Israel of the dangers of a possible Israeli military operation in the Palestinian region of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, as this escalation entails serious humanitarian risks that threaten more than a million Palestinians residing in this region.
A statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry called on Israel to exercise maximum restraint and avoid any further escalation during this extremely sensitive period of ceasefire negotiations, and to spare the blood of Palestinian civilians who have been exposed to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. disaster since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip.
The Union of Arab Tribes, which represents the tribes of Sinai, also warned of the repercussions and danger of the invasion of this densely populated region by the Israeli army.
In a statement, the Union called for the intervention of the UN Security Council and the competent authorities “to put an end to this aggression, which will have catastrophic consequences on the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and on the entire region.
Comment on the video, Israeli army warns to evacuate areas of Rafah
This comes as the Cairo news channel reported that a fire broke out at a humanitarian aid warehouse on the Palestinian side of Rafah, following a bombing that targeted it.
The channel broadcast live footage of the warehouse fires, and Egyptian firefighters helped put out the flames and spread them to the Palestinian side.
Egypt raised the alert at the Rafah crossing and intensified the presence of ambulances to transport people injured following the fire.
The channel also quoted its correspondent in Rafah as saying that Israeli military vehicles had already started moving towards eastern Rafah, in light of continued Israeli artillery bombardment on the city.
Comment on the photo, Footage of Egyptian firefighters helping to put out a fire at an aid warehouse in Rafah, Palestine
Hamas said on Monday that Israel’s preparations for an attack on the city of Rafah, home to around 1.2 million people, the majority of whom are displaced, ignore the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and the fate of hostages in Gaza.
The movement said in a statement that the steps taken by Israel to prepare for the attack on Rafah indicate that they are taking place in light of a “failure to fulfill the obligations of any agreement ending the aggression, and without regard to the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the country. Gaza Strip or the fate of enemy prisoners in Gaza.”
The Israeli army announced the start of a “limited-scale” evacuation operation, as it described it, which will affect around 100,000 Gazans, who will be moved from the eastern part of the city of Rafah to ” expanded humanitarian zones.
He said the areas to which the displaced will move will receive tents, food, water and medicine, in addition to field hospitals, according to the Israeli army.
Israeli Army Radio reported Monday that Israeli security services had informed Egypt of the start of an evacuation operation in areas east of Rafah, while Reuters indicated an Egyptian security alert in the north of Sinai in anticipation of an Israeli military operation in Rafah.
The radio said the operation would be “limited” to the eastern outskirts of Rafah and not in depth, while the Israeli army warned Gazans in its leaflets once morest approaching the Egyptian border.
The radio reported that the area where the military operation began included the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing.
Israel’s Channel 13, citing a War Council minister, explained that the decision for a military operation in Rafah was taken unanimously.
The channel quoted a War Council minister as saying that the ground military operation in the city of Rafah would likely begin this week.
Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official, accused the Israeli order to evacuate Rafah as a “dangerous escalation,” noting that the action “will have repercussions.”
In an interview with Reuters, Abu Zuhri held the US administration and Israel responsible for “this terrorism”, he said.
The Palestinian presidency warned that Israel had in fact begun preparing to commit “the greatest crime of genocide by invading Rafah.”
Its official spokesperson, Nabil Abu Rudeina, held the US administration responsible for these dangerous Israeli policies, according to what was reported by the Palestinian News Agency.
Witnesses in the town of Rafah told Reuters that Palestinian families had already started leaving areas east of the town following receiving orders to evacuate from the Israeli army.
An Israeli army spokesperson told an initial briefing to journalists that the evacuation would be “limited in scope” and would take place gradually following the Israeli government approves the plans.
He said the operation is part of Israel’s efforts to dismantle Hamas, saying the movement demonstrated its ability to launch attacks from the city following launching rockets from Rafah yesterday.
The attack resulted in the death of four Israeli soldiers near the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Israel has since launched airstrikes on Rafah overnight.
Comment on the video, Gaza War: Palestinians begin to flee east of Rafah
An Israeli leaflet aimed at residents of Rafah: don’t go north of the valley
Requests from the Israeli army to evacuate sites are made via text messages, paper bulletins, social media and phone calls to “encourage” the movement of civilians into designated areas, according to a military statement. Israeli.
The Israeli army released two different versions, one in red and the other in blue.
The red version targeted specific areas of Rafah, where the Israeli military said its forces would operate there “with extreme force”, warning that “any person will expose themselves and their family members to danger if it is close to terrorist organizations. »
The Israeli army called on civilians to move to the “humanitarian zone” in the Al-Mawasi area and “avoid heading towards the northern Gaza Valley or approaching security barriers in the east and the south.
While the blue version indicated the continuation of humanitarian aid.
Local sources indicated that the areas that Israeli forces have requested to be evacuated east of Rafah are filled with displaced people from different areas of the Gaza Strip.
The area was subjected to heavy shelling last Sunday evening, targeting around 11 houses, and a number of citizens are still under the rubble of these houses, according to the Palestinian News Agency (Wafa).
Speaking to Gaza Today, eyewitnesses recounted what had happened to them since the morning, with one saying: “This morning we received text messages asking us to evacuate the area in which we find ourselves.
image source, gettyimages
Comment on the photo, “Do not head north of the valley and we will continue to provide assistance. »
UNRWA says it will stay in Rafah to continue providing aid
For its part, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) warned of the consequences of an Israeli attack on Rafah, and declared that it would not leave the city, following Israel’s call to evacuate 100,000 people.
UNRWA said in a message posted on the website 4 million people.
The agency said it would not evacuate its sites and said: “We will remain in Rafah as long as possible and continue to provide lifesaving assistance to people.”
The ActionAid charity also called on the international community to act – urgently – to prevent further atrocities, and said: “Forcing more than a million displaced Palestinians in Rafah to evacuate without a safe destination is not only illegal, but will lead to catastrophic consequences. .”
The charity continued in a statement: “Clearly there are no safe areas in Gaza. »
image source, Reuters
Comment on the photo, Estimates indicate that around 1.4 million Palestinians have been displaced to the city of Rafah due to the ongoing war since October 7.
image source, Reuters
Comment on the photo, Some hostage families have expressed concerns regarding the possible consequences of the Rafah operation for Gaza detainees.
Families of hostages ‘very afraid’ of Rafah attack
In Israel, some families of hostages have expressed concerns regarding the possible consequences of the Rafah operation for the detainees.
“Unfortunately, we, the families of the hostages, are very afraid of what is going to happen,” Jill Dickman, a relative of the hostages in Gaza, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
He added: “The families of the detainees are very afraid that the Rafah operation will endanger not only the lives of innocent people or soldiers, but also those of the hostages.”
The war began following waves of Hamas militants stormed the Gaza-Israel border on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage.
During the war launched by Israel since that day in Gaza, more than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 77,900 others injured, according to figures published by the Ministry of Health.
image source, Reuters
Comment on the photo, Displaced people flee eastern Rafah neighborhoods following Israeli army begins evacuating Palestinian civilians
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