Despite ongoing negotiations mediated by Egypt for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange agreement with Hamas, senior Israeli officials have repeatedly affirmed their intention to invade the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. The Israeli army is preparing to establish a safe zone in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israeli army plans to create a "new area" in central Gaza to accommodate Palestinians who are expected to be evacuated from Rafah. The report states that this new area will be located on the outskirts of Al-Nuseirat and Al-Bureij, near an Israeli army corridor.
Additionally, an existing shelter area near the Al-Mawasi region will be expanded eastward towards Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip.
This information emerged after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced yesterday that the evacuation of civilians from Rafah had begun in preparation for a ground assault on the city.
However, Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), stated that residents of Rafah have not yet been requested to evacuate the city. It is estimated that the evacuation process could extend over two to three weeks, according to prior Israeli assessments.
Numerous international organizations and Western countries, particularly the closely allied United States, have expressed concern for the safety of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians crowded into Rafah. The United Nations has repeatedly confirmed that there is no safe place in the entire Gaza Strip for sheltering the displaced.
It should be noted that over two million Palestinians have been displaced to Rafah due to the ongoing war for the past seven months, living in dire humanitarian conditions.
