UPDATE at 15.57: On Monday afternoon, the Israeli air force carried out strikes in the east of the city of Rafah, near the areas where Palestinian civilians were ordered to evacuate, Al-Aqsa, the official channel of Hamas, quoted by Reuters reports.
According to the quoted source, explosions were heard shortly after noon in the east of Rafah city.
During the morning, the Israeli army announced that it had begun to evacuate civilians from Rafah.
Residents were urged by text messages, phone calls and posters in Arabic to join an “extended humanitarian zone” 20 kilometers away.
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Original news: The evacuations are concentrated towards the outlying neighborhoods of Rafah, from where Palestinians are directed to the nearby tent cities of Khan Younis and Al Muwassi, according to a report on Israeli army radio.
An army statement said posters, text messages, phone calls and media announcements would be used to “encourage the gradual movement of civilians into specified areas”.
Earlier, Israel presented the United States with a plan to evacuate civilians from the city of Rafah, which did not convince Washington.
Israel has announced that there are thousands of Palestinian Islamist fighters in Rafah and that victory is impossible without capturing the city.
But with more than a million displaced Palestinians in Rafah, the prospect of a military operation with a large number of victims worries Western states and neighboring Egypt, notes Reuters.
PHOTO: Hepta
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Tags: Israeli Army Begins Bombardment East Rafah City Palestinian Civilians
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