Israel prepares the attack on Rafah and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders the evacuation of civilians from the city in the southern Gaza Strip, where the army's next operation will focus. Netanyahu calls on defense establishment to submit plans to dismantle Hamas battalions in Rafah area. In a note, we read that the prime minister states that “it is impossible to achieve the war objective of eliminating Hamas and leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah”. “On the other hand – he adds – it is clear that a massive operation in Rafah requires the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat zones”.
After the North of the Strip and Khan Yunis, therefore, a new step is looming in the operation that began after the Hamas attack last October 7th. The United States warned Israel yesterday that an operation in Rafah, home to around 1.3 million displaced Palestinians, would be “a disaster”.
The script, meanwhile, appears outlined. “We are determined to change the security reality and this is already happening these days, and we continue to prepare for the expansion of the war and the offensive,” says the commander of the Northern Command of the Israel Defense Forces, Major General Ori Gordin, meeting with the mayors of the evacuated Lebanese border towns. The general specifies that “our objective is to change the security situation in the north so as to allow residents to return safely”.
The military's goal is to “change the security situation in the north so as to allow residents to return safely”, the army continues “to prepare the expansion of the war and go on the offensive” against Hezbollah, he says Gordin.
80 thousand people have been evacuated from northern Israel after the Shiite militia began bombing the area on 8 October, the day after the massacre carried out by Hamas in Israel which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
In a context of constant high tension, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accuses Netanyahu of wanting to expel the Palestinians from the Strip. This step represents “a real threat and a dangerous prelude to implementing the already rejected Israeli policy aimed at transferring the Palestinian people from their land”, reads a statement from the Palestinian presidency, released by the Wafa news agency.
In this way, “security and peace in the region and in the world are threatened. This is a clear violation that goes beyond any red line”, continues the statement, calling for UN intervention. “The time has come for everyone to take responsibility for themselves”, concludes the Palestinian presidency, speaking “of a catastrophe that will push the entire region towards endless wars”.
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