Israel orders mass evacuation from Rafah

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating last night, signalling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.

People were told to move to al-Mawasi, an Israeli-declared humanitarian area near the coast. The army said it had expanded assistance into the area, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.

The announcement complicates last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a ceasefire. Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail a deal that would involve the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said about 100,000 people were being ordered to move to al-Mawasi. He said Israel was preparing a “limited-scope operation” and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city. But in October, Israel did not formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.

On Sunday, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Hamas wasn’t serious about a deal and warned of “a powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah”.

His comments came after Hamas attacked Israel’s main crossing point for delivering assistance, killing three soldiers.

Israel last week briefed Biden administration officials on an evacuation plan for Rafah, according to US officials familiar with the talks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah, despite warnings from US President Joe Biden and other Western officials that doing so would result in more civilian deaths and worsen the dire humanitarian crisis.

Earlier yesterday, Israeli officials seized equipment from broadcaster Al Jazeera, hours after the nation’s cabinet approved a decision to shutter the Qatar-based TV news network’s operations in the Jewish state – an unprecedented step against an international media outlet.

Inspectors from the Communications Ministry, accompanied by police, arrived at the network’s offices in Jerusalem yesterday, confiscated equipment and cut off access. Al Jazeera’s broadcasts and access to its website had already been blocked throughout Israel.

Shlomo Karhi, the communications minister, posted video of the raid on X, formerly Twitter, where inspectors could be seen and heard naming the equipment they found.

Karhi has been a key advocate for stopping the network’s activity in Israel. He has also threatened Israeli newspaper Haaretz with closure and accused Kan, the country’s public broadcaster, of bias, and threatened to cut its budget.