Israel strikes Gaza after fresh Rafah evacuation order

Israel launched strikes on Gaza Sunday after it expanded an evacuation order for Rafah, with
the United Nations warning an outright invasion of the crowded southern city
risked an “epic” disaster.

Gaza’s civil defence agency said two doctors were killed Sunday in the
central town of Deir al-Balah, while AFP correspondents reported intense
clashes and heavy gunfire from Israeli helicopters near Gaza City.

Witnesses said Israel had carried out strikes in Rafah near the crossing with
Egypt on Saturday, and AFP images showed smoke rising over the city.

Israeli troops defied international opposition this week and entered eastern
areas of the city, effectively shutting a key aid crossing and suspending
traffic through another.

Israel expanded an evacuation order for eastern Rafah, after saying 300,000
people had fled the city since the army urged people to leave earlier in the
week.

Residents piled water tanks, mattresses and other belongings onto vehicles
and prepared to flee again.

“We don’t know where to go,” said Farid Abu Eida, who was preparing to leave
Rafah, having already been displaced there from Gaza City.

“There is no place left in Gaza that is safe or not overcrowded… There’s
nowhere we can go.”

Residents were told to go to the “humanitarian zone” of Al-Mawasi, on the
coast northwest of Rafah.

Hamas accused Israel of “expanding the incursion into Rafah to include new
areas in the centre and the west of the city”.

Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said “we have eliminated dozens of
terrorists in eastern Rafah” and the army said troops were fighting “armed
terrorists” at the crossing and had found “numerous underground tunnel
shafts”.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said on Friday that Gaza risked an “epic
humanitarian disaster” if Israel launched a full-scale ground operation in
Rafah.

Protests against Israel’s war in Gaza spread to the Eurovision Song Contest
in Sweden, where crowds gathered outside.

In Tel Aviv, fans watched the music show on big screens, but as it became
clear that Israel’s contestant Eden Golan would not win, spirits fell.

“Eden was amazing… But there are people who hate us,” said Guy, a 20-year-
old who declined to give his last name.

– ‘Unsafe zones’ –

International outrage mounted at Israel’s operations in Rafah.

EU chief Charles Michel said on social media that Rafah civilians were being
ordered to “unsafe zones”, denouncing it as “unacceptable”.

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said it had started transferring 22 patients
from a field hospital in Rafah, saying Israel’s operations in the city were
“making it impossible to provide lifesaving medical assistance”.

The war began with Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel, which
resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according
to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

During their attack, militants also seized hostages. Israel estimates 128 of
them remain in Gaza including 36 who the military says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,971 people in Gaza,
mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health
ministry.

– Truce hopes fade –

While mediation efforts towards a truce and hostage release appeared to
stall, Hamas’s armed wing said a hostage who appeared in a video it released
on Saturday had died from wounds suffered in an Israeli strike.

The Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades said Nadav Popplewell, a British-Israeli man,
had been wounded in a strike a month ago and died “because he did not receive
intensive medical care because the enemy has destroyed the Gaza Strip’s
hospitals”.

The Israeli military did not offer any comment on the video and AFP was
unable to independently verify its authenticity.

US President Joe Biden said on Saturday a ceasefire would be achieved
“tomorrow” if Hamas released the hostages.

A US State Department report on Friday said it was “reasonable to assess”
that Israel had violated norms on international law in its use of weapons
from the United States, but did not find enough evidence to block shipments.

The State Department submitted its report two days after Biden publicly
threatened to withhold certain bombs and artillery shells if Israel went
ahead with an all-out assault on Rafah, where the UN says 1.4 million have
been sheltering.

The Biden administration already paused delivery of 3,500 bombs as Israel
appeared ready to invade Rafah.

Hamas says Israel’s “continued control” and closure of the Rafah crossing
exacerbates the “humanitarian catastrophe” in the besieged territory.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to “eliminate” Hamas
battalions in Rafah after the army in January said it had dismantled the
militant group’s command structure in northern Gaza.

The Israeli army said it had reopened the Kerem Shalom crossing near Rafah on
Wednesday, but aid agencies cautioned that getting assistance through the
militarised area remained extremely difficult.

The army said Saturday that rockets had been fired at the crossing, but
reported no injuries.

Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News on Saturday cited a high-level source as
saying that Egypt had refused to coordinate with Israel on the entry of aid
into Gaza from the Rafah crossing.

According to the source, Egypt had “warned Israel of the repercussions of its
continued control over the Rafah crossing, and held it fully responsible for
the deterioration of the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip”. (BSS/AFP)