War against Hamas
Israel wants tent cities for Rafah residents – Egypt should take care of them
Should move into tents: the residents of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip
© Yasser Qudih/XinHua/DPA
International criticism of the planned attack on the Palestinian town of Rafah is growing. But the government in Israel is not contesting this; it is already planning alternative quarters for the population.
Israel strikes ahead of planned military offensive Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip plans to set up extensive tent cities for the city’s population to be evacuated. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing Egyptian officialsIsrael’s evacuation proposal calls for the establishment of 15 camps, each with around 25,000 tents, in the southwestern part of the sealed-off coastal area.
Egypt should be responsible for camps
Egypt, which borders Rafah, would be responsible for setting up the camps and field hospitals, it said. The city is overcrowded with hundreds of thousands of Palestinian internally displaced people seeking protection in a very small space. In the war against the Islamist Hamas, Israel is currently preparing for a military offensive on the city, which it sees as Hamas’s last bastion in Gaza.
The proposal to evacuate the population was made to Egypt in recent days, the newspaper reported. It comes at a time when Israel’s planned military offensive on Rafah is met with strong international criticism.
UN: “We will not participate in the displacement of people”
Israel’s government has called on UN agencies working in the region to help evacuate civilians from Rafah. Everything that happens in the southern part of the region on the border with Egypt must take place with full respect for the protection of the civilian population, said UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric in New York. “We will not take part in the displacement of people.” He also questioned whether there were safe havens in other areas of Gaza, also in view of the many unexploded bombs.