Israel\u2019s armed forces have begun evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah ahead of a threatened assault on the southern Gazan city, an Israeli broadcaster said on Monday.
\nThe military gave no immediate confirmation of the report on Army Radio, which said evacuations were focused on a few peripheral districts of Rafah, from which evacuees would be directed to tent cities in nearby Khan Younis and Al Muwassi.
\nIn what appeared to be the beginning of a civilian evacuation ahead of a ground assault, however, the Israeli military called on Palestinians in eastern parts of Rafah to move to a nearby \u201chumanitarian area\u201d.
\nIn a statement, the military said posters, text messages, phone calls and media announcements would be used to \u201cencourage \u2026 the gradual movement of civilians in the specified areas\u201d.
\nSeven months into its offensive against Hamas, Israel has said Rafah harbours thousands of the Palestinian Islamist group\u2019s fighters and that victory is impossible without taking the city.
\nBut with more than a million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, the prospect of a high-casualty operation worries Western powers and neighboring Egypt.
\n(Reuters)evacuation. evacuating Palestinian civilians, threatened assault, ground assault<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel’s armed forces are evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah in preparation for a potential assault on the southern Gazan city. Evacuations are focused on peripheral districts of Rafah, with evacuees being directed to tent cities in nearby Khan Younis and Al Muwassi. The Israeli military has called on Palestinians in eastern parts of Rafah to move to a nearby “humanitarian area” in what appears to be the beginning of a civilian evacuation before a ground assault. Israel claims that victory against Hamas is impossible without taking the city, which is said to harbor thousands of fighters. This operation has raised concerns among Western powers and neighboring Egypt due to the high number of displaced Palestinians in Rafah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":10809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6020,652,1943,5334,2577,8789,2259,9021,5192,5686,3526,298,1235,299,1350,896,2952,3504,4371,7751,4796,462,837,4620,1827,3825,9022,4560,18],"class_list":["post-10808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-armed-forces","tag-army","tag-assault","tag-civilians","tag-concerns","tag-displaced-palestinians","tag-egypt","tag-evacuating-palestinian-civilians","tag-evacuation","tag-evacuations","tag-ground-assault","tag-hamas","tag-humanitarian","tag-israel","tag-israeli-military","tag-khan-younis","tag-media","tag-military","tag-operation","tag-palestinian-civilians","tag-palestinian-islamist-group","tag-palestinians","tag-rafah","tag-report","tag-statement","tag-text-messages","tag-threatened-assault","tag-victory","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n