Israel has called on residents from more areas of Rafah in the Gaza Strip to evacuate and head to the “expanded humanitarian area” as it prepares to ramp up its military assault.
Despite heavy US pressure, Israel has said it will proceed with an assault on the southern city, where more than 1.4 million people have taken refuge from the fighting – around half of them children – and Israeli forces say Hamas militants are dug in.
Tensions over the gathering offensive have led President Joe Biden to warn the US would stop supplying Israel with some weapons if it presses ahead with an invasion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to proceed with the attack with or without US arms, saying “we will fight with our fingernails” if needed in a defiant statement.
The United Nations and other agencies have warned for weeks an Israeli assault on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple humanitarian operations and cause a disastrous surge in civilian casualties.
The UK government has said it had “not seen a credible plan to protect civilians”, while ministers have questioned the suitability of the current evacuation area of al Mawasi, describing it as “pretty barren land”.
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Israel says Rafah is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza and key to its goal of dismantling the group’s capabilities and returning scores of hostages captured in Hamas’s 7 October attack that triggered the war.
However, Hamas has repeatedly regrouped, even in the hardest-hit parts of Gaza.
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