Israel military begins evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah, radio says

Jerusalem, May 6

Israel’s armed forces have begun evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah ahead of a threatened assault on the southern Gazan city, an Israeli broadcaster said on Monday.

The military gave no immediate confirmation of the report on Army Radio.

According to the report, the evacuations were now focused on a few peripheral districts of Rafah, from which, it said, evacuees would be directed to tent cities in nearby Khan Younis and Al Muwassi.

Seven months into its offensive against Hamas, Israel has said Rafah harbours thousands of the Palestinian Islamist group’s fighters and that victory is impossible without taking the city.

But with more than a million displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah, the prospect of a high-casualty operation worries Western powers and neighbouring Egypt.