Israel urges Palestinians to leave Rafah after Hamas attack on key aid crossing

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have called on Palestinians to evacuate the eastern neighborhoods of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that are close to the Israeli border, ahead of a planned ground offensive in the area.

The military said that it was not setting a timeframe for the Rafah evacuation, but it would make operational assessments. It estimated it would need to move 100,000 people from Rafah. Many have already been displaced several times.

At 8 a.m. the IDF started to drop flyers in eastern Rafah, send text messages, and make phone calls to Palestinians with instructions on the areas that need to be evacuated and which routes to take to what it describes as a designated humanitarian zone.

Sally Abi-Khalil, Oxfam's Middle East and North Africa regional director, condemned the planned expansion of the fighting.

It's unfathomable that one government is allowed to ignore all warnings of the catastrophic humanitarian cost with full impunity, and to callously press forward in chilling disregard for human life, international law, and the ICJ ruling to prevent genocide," Abi-Khalid said in a statement cited by Al Jazeera. "The fear in Rafah is palpable, as people who have already been forced to flee across Gaza multiple times, must now move again."

The civilians were being called to move to the zone in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas of southern Gaza. The IDF wrote on X that the expanded humanitarian area includes field hospitals, tents and increased amounts of food, water, medication and additional supplies. Such supplies have been in desperate short-supply in Gaza owing to restrictions imposed on operations of aid organisations and the destruction of infrastructure. 

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Monday that Israel's Rafah evacuation order ahead of an expected offensive is a "dangerous escalation that will have consequences", adding that any operation in Rafah will not be a "picnic" for Israeli forces.

The evacuation comes after Hamas claimed responsibility for a Sunday rocket attack on a key border crossing that killed four Israeli soldiers and left 10 more wounded. 

The IDF said it had shuttered the Kerem Shalom Crossing for humanitarian aid trucks following the attack. The Crossing remained closed on Monday, but military sources said it may open following a new assessment of the situation.

Already under pressure from the international community to increase access to aid, Israel said it would try to maintain the supply of humanitarian aid coming into Gaza by using other crossings.

Airstrike

Shortly after the Hamas attack, an Israeli airstrike hit a house in Rafah killing three people and wounding several others, Palestinian medics said.

The Israeli military confirmed the counter-strike, saying it struck the launcher from which the Hamas projectiles were fired, as well as a nearby "military structure".

"The launches carried out by Hamas adjacent to the Rafah Crossing ... are a clear example of the terrorist organization's systematic exploitation of humanitarian facilities and spaces, and their continued use of the Gazan civilian population as human shields," it said.

Hamas denies it uses civilians as human shields.

Another strike just before midnight reportedly killed nine Palestinians, including a baby, in another house in a different part of Rafah.

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UNRWA to remain

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), warned Monday of devastating consequences of a Rafah offensive, including more civilian suffering and deaths. The agency said it would not leave but stay in Rafah as long as possible to continue providing lifesaving assistance.

Egypt's Rafah crossing, a main transfer point for aid going into Gaza, lies in the evacuation zone. The crossing remained open in the hours after the Israeli order.

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