Gaza war
Netanyahu: Army to present plan to evacuate Rafah and “destroy” Hamas
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a press conference in Jerusalem
© Marc Israel Sellem/JINI/Xinhua/Action Press
The Israeli army could soon enter Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparently demanding that the army come up with a plan to evacuate the southern border town.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the country’s army to launch an offensive on the southern city Preparing for Rafah in the Gaza Strip. “It is impossible to achieve the war goal of eliminating Hamas if four Hamas battalions remain in Rafah,” he said through his office on Friday. The plans that the military leadership should present to the government must also include the evacuation of civilians in Rafah, the statement said.
A military offensive in Rafah, which lies in the very south of the Gaza Strip and borders Egypt, is considered highly problematic. The town, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war, is now said to be home to 1.3 million people. Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, partly on orders from the Israeli military.
Criticism of Israeli warfare in the Gaza Strip
“It is clear that intense (military) activity in Rafah requires civilians to clear the combat zone,” Netanyahu said on Friday. He therefore instructed the military leadership to present the government with a “combined plan” for the evacuation of the population and the destruction of the Hamas battalions.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres had previously warned of a humanitarian catastrophe and consequences for the entire region. Half of the Gaza Strip’s population is crammed into Rafah and has nowhere else to go, he wrote on the news platform X, formerly Twitter. The US government and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have also spoken out clearly against military action in Rafah in recent days.
The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented massacre carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups in southern Israel on October 7th. On the Israeli side, more than 1,200 people were killed. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive.