Hamas: Rafah offensive will not be ‘picnic’ for Israeli forces
Hamas resistance group said on Monday that any ground operation in Rafah will not be a “picnic” for Israeli forces, as concerns mount over a possible offensive in the city.
“Our valiant resistance, led by Al-Qassam Brigades, is fully prepared to defend our people,” the group said, referring to its armed wing.
The movement also called on the international community to take urgent action to stop Israel’s planned incursion, saying it threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of defenseless civilians, including children, women and the elderly.
Israel’s military ordered some 100,000 Palestinians on Monday to begin evacuating from Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent and further complicating efforts to broker a cease-fire in Gaza.
The looming operation in the city – where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering and a high number of deaths is feared – has raised global alarm and Israeli’s closest allies have warned against it. On Monday, the United Nations agency serving Palestinian refugees said it would not comply with the evacuation order.
Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after some seven months of war, and has repeatedly said the invasion is necessary to defeat the resistance group
The evacuation call followed intensified disagreement between Israel and Hamas during the weekend cease-fire talks in Egypt to end the seven-month war.
Consultations between two other mediators, the United States and Qatar, were expected on Monday in Doha but state-linked media in Egypt said negotiations had stalled after the rocket strike killed four Israeli soldiers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to send ground troops in against Hamas fighters in Rafah regardless of any truce, and despite concerns from countries and aid groups.
‘Unacceptable’
evacuation
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on Monday called the evacuation orders “unacceptable”. They “portend the worst: more war and famine”, he said, urging Israel to “renounce” the ground offensive.
The French Foreign Ministry said it was “strongly opposed” to an offensive on Rafah.
Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East coordinator for the Action Against Hunger charity, told AFP that the areas now opened for evacuees had previously been “closed because they were considered dangerous”.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, “The occupation authorities have actually begun preparing to commit the greatest crime of genocide by invading Rafah.”
US backs Israel
“The American administration, which provides financial and military support to the occupation and stands against the international community to prevent the implementation of international legitimacy resolutions and the cessation of aggression, is the (one) that encourages Netanyahu and his leaders to continue their massacres against the Palestinian people.”
In a statement, the Israeli military ordered the residents in the city’s eastern zone to move to the “expanded humanitarian area” at Al-Mawasi on Gaza’s nearby coast.
The area “includes field hospitals, tents and increased amounts of food, water, medication and additional supplies,” it said.
Soon after the war started on October 7, Israel told Palestinians living in northern Gaza to move to “safe zones” in the south – including Rafah near the Egyptian border.
Rafah is home to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians, who have taken refuge from the war launched by Israel following a Hamas attack last Oct. 7 that killed nearly 1,200 people.
Since then, the Israeli onslaught has killed more than 34,600 Palestinians, mostly women and children, besides causing a humanitarian
catastrophe.