By WAFAA SHURAFA, SAM MEDNICK and SAMY MAGDY (Associated Press)
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel is telling more people to move in Gaza's southern city of Rafah on Saturday, making tens of thousands of them move as it gets ready to extend its military action closer to the heavily populated central area, despite growing pressure from the United States and others. the war from close ally the United States and others.
As pro-Palestinian protests continued, Israel's military also said it was moving into an area of devastated northern Gaza where it claimed that the Hamas militant group has regrouped.
Israel has now moved people from the eastern third of Rafah, which is seen as Gaza's last safe place. The United Nations has warned that the planned full-scale Rafah invasion would further hinder humanitarian operations and cause a rise in civilian casualties.
Rafah borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, which are already affected. Israeli troops have taken over the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, making it close.
Egypt has refused to work with Israel to deliver aid through the Rafah crossing because of “the unacceptable Israeli escalation,” the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel reported on Saturday, citing an unnamed official. The channel has close ties with Egyptian security agencies.
U.S. President Joe Biden has said he won't provide offensive weapons to Israel for Rafah. On Friday, the Biden administration said that there was “reasonable” evidence that Israel had broken international law protecting civilians — Washington's strongest statement yet on the matter.
In response, Ophir Falk, foreign policy adviser to Israel's prime minister, told The Associated Press that Israel acts following the laws of armed conflict and the army takes extensive measures to avoid civilian casualties, including alerting people to military operations via phone calls and text messages.
More than 1.4 million Palestinians — half of Gaza’s population — have been staying in Rafah, with most of them fleeing Israel's attacks in other areas. The evacuations are making some people return north to areas that have been destroyed from previous Israeli attacks. Aid agencies estimate that 110,000 had left before Saturday’s order, which adds a further 40,000.
“Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So we’ve decided to leave. It’s better,” said Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings onto vehicles.
“The Israeli army does not have a safe area in Gaza. They target everything,” said Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, earlier displaced from Gaza City.
Many people have been displaced multiple times and there are few places left to go. Some who fled fighting earlier in the week set up tent camps in the city of Khan Younis — half destroyed in an earlier Israeli offensive — and the central city of Deir al-Balah, putting strain on infrastructure.
Some Palestinians are being sent to what Israel has called humanitarian safe zones along the Muwasi coastal strip, which is already packed with about 450,000 people in poor conditions. The garbage-filled camp lacks basic facilities.
Georgios Petropoulos, a person working for the U.N. humanitarian agency in Rafah, said that aid workers did not have the necessary supplies to help people set up in new places. He mentioned that they lacked tents, blankets, bedding, and other essential items that a moving population would expect to receive from the humanitarian system.
The World Food Program has cautioned that it would run out of food for distribution in southern Gaza by Saturday, according to Petropoulos. This presents an additional challenge as parts of Gaza are dealing with what the WFP chief has described as a severe famine. Aid groups have stated that fuel supplies will soon be exhausted, leading to the closure of hospitals and halting the delivery of aid by trucks.
Intense fighting was also taking place in northern Gaza. Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee urged Palestinians in Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya, as well as surrounding areas, to leave their homes and relocate to shelters in the western part of Gaza City. He warned that these areas were in “a dangerous combat zone” and that Israel would respond with “strong force.”
The U.N. agency supporting people in Gaza, also known as UNRWA, stated that approximately 300,000 individuals have been impacted by evacuation orders in Rafah and Jabaliya, with the actual numbers likely being higher.
Israel’s ground offensive, initiated after Hamas and other militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, resulted in heavy casualties, including around 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians, and the taking of 250 hostages. Hamas still holds around 100 captives and the remains of more than 30 individuals. Hamas declared that hostage Nadav Popplewell had died from injuries sustained in an Israeli airstrike a month ago, without providing any evidence to support their claim.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives have resulted in the deaths of over 34,800 Palestinians, predominantly women and children. Israel, however, accuses Hamas of causing civilian casualties by operating within densely populated residential areas.
Gaza’s civil authorities provided further details on the mass graves announced by the Health Ministry earlier in the week at Shifa hospital, the largest hospital in northern Gaza and the target of a previous Israeli offensive. Authorities stated that most of the 80 bodies were of patients who died due to lack of medical care. The Israeli army refuted the claim that they were responsible for burying civilians in mass graves, labeling it as entirely false.
Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and an AP journalist reported that at least 19 individuals, including eight women and eight children, were killed overnight in central Gaza due to strikes in Zawaida, Maghazi, and Deir al-Balah.
One relative asked, “What is the fault of the children who died?” Another woman caressed the face of a child lying on the ground.
Another series of discussions for a cease-fire in Cairo concluded earlier this week without making any progress.
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Sam Mednick provided the report from Tel Aviv, Samy Magdy reported from Cairo, and Jack Jeffery from Jerusalem contributed to this story.
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Follow AP’s updates on the war at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
