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Israel to include Rafah in Gaza ‘security zones’
AFP– The UN says about 100,000 people fled Rafah after the Israeli military issued an evacuation order last month
Israel’s defence minister has said it will expand its so-called “security zones” in Gaza to include the southern city of Rafah.
Israel to include Rafah in Gaza ‘security zones’
During a visit to the area, Israel Katz said the military was leaving Gaza “smaller” and “more isolated” to pressure Hamas into releasing the hostages it is still holding.
The military has already seized land running along the entirety of the Palestinian territory’s borders, which it has characterised as a buffer zone to prevent attacks.
The expansion to cover Rafah and its surrounding areas – which make up almost one fifth of Gaza – comes after the military ordered civilians to evacuate and established a new corridor separating them from nearby Khan Younis.
Two-thirds of Gaza has been designated as “no-go” zones or placed under evacuation orders since Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas on 18 March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire, according to the UN.
It says 390,000 Palestinians – almost a fifth of the 2.1 million population – have been displaced once again, with no safe place to go.
The UN is also warning that supplies of food, medicine and fuel have run out because Israel blocked deliveries of humanitarian aid to Gaza since 2 March.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62ggy7vgq3o
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a ground offensive in Rafah – home to about 280,000 people before the war – last May, leaving large parts of the city in ruins.
It also seized a strategically important strip of land running along the nearby border with Egypt, known as the “Philadelphi Corridor”, which it said was necessary to prevent weapons being smuggled into Gaza and Hamas rearming.
During the ceasefire that began in January, about 100,000 residents returned to what was left of their homes in the city after troops pulled back to border areas.
On 31 March, almost two weeks after the resumption of the war, the IDF issued a new sweeping evacuation order that the UN said covered 97% of Rafah and its surrounding governorate, spanning 64 sq km (25 sq miles).
Displaced people were told to head to tent camps in the coastal al-Mawasi area, which the IDF previously designated as a “humanitarian zone”.
The Rafah area was reported to be almost completely empty when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced three days later that troops were “seizing the Morag Corridor” – a reference to a former Jewish settlement located between Rafah and Khan Younis.
He said it would be “the second Philadelphi” and would increase pressure on Hamas to hand over the remaining 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed to be alive.
On Wednesday, Defence Minister Israel Katz visited troops deployed in the new corridor with senior Israeli commanders and journalists.
“The IDF is eliminating terrorists, locating and thwarting terrorist infrastructure, and dismembering the Gaza Strip, even in places like the Morag corridor, where we have not operated to date,” he said in a video later released by his office.
“The population of Gaza is being evacuated from the fighting zones, and many areas are being seized and added to the security zones of the State of Israel, leaving Gaza smaller and isolated.”
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