The military should present the government with a “combined plan to evacuate the population and destroy the battalions” of the radical Islamic group Hamas in Rafah, the prime minister’s office said on Friday. High-ranking Hamas officials are said to be in the region.
More than a million Palestinian internally displaced people have sought refuge in Rafah since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. The war between Israel and the Islamist Hamas, which has now been going on for four months, has dramatically worsened the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of people fled the fighting to the south of the Palestinian territory, which is now also under fire.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu said he ordered an expansion of military operations to the southern city of Rafah, near the border with Egypt.
