Israel begins evacuation of civilians from Rafah. Hamas denounces ‘dangerous escalation’

Israel on Monday asked Palestinians to evacuate certain areas of Rafah, in what appears to be preparation for a long-announced assault on Hamas safe havens in the southern Gaza city, where more than a million people have taken shelter, Reuters reports .

Instructed by Arabic text messages, phone calls and leaflets to move to what the Israeli military called an “extended humanitarian zone” 20km away, some Palestinian families ventured out into a cold spring rain.

Shortly after noon in Gaza, several explosions were heard in the eastern city of Rafah, according to residents and Hamas media, and an airstrike hit some houses, sending plumes of smoke and dust.

A senior official of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza, said the evacuation order was a “dangerous escalation” that would have consequences.

“The American administration, along with the occupation, bears responsibility for this terrorism,” the official, Sami Abu Zuhri, told Reuters, referring to Israel’s alliance with Washington.

The Israeli military said it had begun encouraging Rafah residents to evacuate in a “limited scope” operation. He did not give specific reasons or say whether a ground operation might follow in the southern Gaza city.

“I was worried that this day might come”

Some Palestinians piled their children and belongings into donkey carts to begin resettlement, while others left in a pickup truck or on foot through streets turned into mud and puddles of rain.

“It rained a lot and we don’t know where to go. I was worried that this day might come, now I have to see where I can take my family,” one refugee, Abu Raed, told Reuters via a chat app.

Witnesses said the areas in and around Rafah, where Israel wants to move people, are already overcrowded and there is almost no room left to add more tents.

“The biggest genocide, the biggest catastrophe will take place in Rafah”

“The biggest genocide, the biggest catastrophe will take place in Rafah. I call on the entire Arab world to intervene for a ceasefire – to intervene and save us from the situation we are in,” said Aminah Adwan, a displaced Palestinian.

After seven months of war against Hamas, Israel has threatened to launch incursions into Rafah, which it says is harboring thousands of Hamas fighters and possibly dozens of hostages. Victory is impossible without taking Rafah, Israel says.

The prospect of a high-casualty operation worries Western powers and Egypt, which is trying to broker a new round of truce talks between Israel and Hamas, in which the Palestinian Islamist group could release some hostages.

Ceasefire talks have reached an impasse

Egyptian negotiators are stepping up talks to contain the current escalation between Israel and Hamas, an unnamed “high-level” source said Monday, quoted by Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera news channel.

The source said the ceasefire talks had stalled after Hamas attacked the Kerem Shalom crossing in Gaza on Sunday, killing four Israeli soldiers.

The Rafah plan opened an unusual rift between Israel and Washington. In front of his American counterpart, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant linked Monday’s operation to the impasse in indirect diplomacy, which he blamed on Hamas.

“During their discussion, Gallant discussed the efforts being made to secure the release of the hostages and indicated that at this stage Hamas is refusing the cadres at hand,” the Israeli Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

“Gallant stressed that military action, including in the Rafah area, is necessary in the absence of an alternative.”

An Israeli broadcaster, Army Radio, reported that the evacuations were concentrated in a few outlying neighborhoods in Rafah, from where people would be directed to the nearby tent cities of Khan Younis and Al Muwassi.

UNRWA: An Israeli offensive in Rafah would be devastating

The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said an Israeli offensive in Rafah would be devastating for the 1.4 million people sheltering there, adding that its staff would remain in the city as long as possible to provide aid.

In an overnight airstrike on Rafah, Israeli jets hit 10 houses, killing 20 people and injuring several, medical officials said.

“Our just war in Gaza continues with exactly the same goals: the release of all hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told X on Monday.

The war began after Hamas surprised Israel with a cross-border raid on October 7 that killed 1,200 people and took 252 hostages, according to Israeli accounts.

More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed, 29 of them in the past 24 hours, and more than 77,000 wounded in Israel’s assault, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

“Hungry all right”

On Sunday, a senior UN official accused Israel of continuing to deny the United Nations humanitarian access to Gaza, where the UN food chief warned that a “full-blown famine” had set in in the north of the enclave of 2.3 million people.

While it was not an official statement, World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said in an interview broadcast Sunday by NBC News that based on the “horror” on the ground, “There is starvation, full-blown starvation , in the north, and heading south”.