Images from eastern Rafah show people gathering their belongings and evacuating in cars, trucks, mule-drawn carts and on foot, after Israel’s military told civilians there to “evacuate immediately.”
The order comes a day after the country’s defense minister told troops in Gaza to expect “intense action” in the city “in the near future.” The current evacuation impacts about 100,000 people.Flyers were dropped from the air by the Israeli military warning residents and people in Rafah Camp, the Brazil Camp and the neighborhoods Al-Shabura and Al-Zohour that “remaining in these areas puts your lives in danger.”
It’s unclear whether the evacuation order signals a prelude to an assault but the city has become a central focus of the war.
During nearly seven months of war, more than 1 million Palestinians have fled to Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped after Israel’s destruction of much of the strip’s north.
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