2024-04-26 07:57:31
The Israeli newspaper “Jerusalem Post”, citing the country’s armed forces, reported today that since April 7, between 150 and 200 thousand Palestinian civilians have left the city of Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip in anticipation of the currently prepared Israeli offensive. DPA reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declined to comment on the data.
Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, there have been cases where about two-thirds of the population of the Gaza Strip (out of about 2.2 million people) have sought refuge in Rafah from the ongoing Israeli strikes.
Humanitarian organizations claim that more than one million people took refuge there during the war, BTA reported.
On April 7, the IDF withdrew its forces from the town of Khan Younis, also in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. According to the Jerusalem Post, civilians have since left Rafah and headed for Khan Younis.
The IDF is reportedly hoping that additional civilians will follow them and go to the new tent camps set up in the southern and central parts of the Palestinian enclave.
Israel Radio reports that Israel’s planned military operation in Rafah will be preceded by an evacuation of civilians over a period of several weeks.