This morning (May 6), the Israeli army began using leaflets, text messages, and phone calls to call on Palestinians to evacuate residential areas east of Rafah, near the border with Israel, ahead of the above attack. ministry of this country into the region.
People evacuated from Rafah. Photo: Sky News
According to the Times of Israel, civilians are urged to move to the expanded humanitarian zone in al-Mawasi and Khan Younis in southern Gaza. An Israeli military spokesman said about 100,000 people, out of 1 million Palestinians living in Rafah, were asked to relocate.
At 8:00 a.m., the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began spreading leaflets in eastern Rafah (located south of Gaza), sending text messages and calling Palestinians with instructions on areas that needed to be evacuated. and the routes to take to reach the designated humanitarian area.
Map of humanitarian areas. Photo: Times of Israel
The evacuation order currently only applies to some areas east of Rafah instead of the entire city in southern Gaza, although Israel has announced it will launch an operation throughout the area, which is considered the last major stronghold. of the Hamas group.
Israeli officials said the Hamas group has six remaining battalions in the Gaza Strip, four of which are in Rafah: Yabna (South), Shaboura (North), Tel Sultan (West) and East Rafah. Two more Hamas battalions remain in central Gaza, in the Nuseirat and Deir al-Balah camps.
Photo: Sky News
A map released by the IDF shows that evacuation areas include the Rafah regional border crossing on the border with Egypt. Three of Hamas’s battalions in Rafah, Yabna, Shaboura and East Rafah, are in the evacuation zone. The IDF said it would not give a timeframe for the evacuation of Rafah.
In a phone call last night, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his US counterpart Lloyd Austin that Israel had no choice but to launch an attack in Rafah, southern Gaza. Mr. Gallant updated Mr. Austin on the deadly rocket fire from Rafah on IDF positions on the border a day earlier.
