On Monday, an Israeli Defense Force statement said that the Israeli army had told Palestinians to begin evacuating eastern Rafah, signaling a possible ground invasion.
The military did not immediately confirm the report on Army Radio, which said evacuations were concentrated on a few peripheral districts of Rafah. From there, evacuees would be directed to tent cities in nearby Khan Younis and Al Muwassi.
The Israeli military ordered Palestinians living in eastern Rafah to relocate to a neighboring "humanitarian area," seemingly signaling the start of a civilian evacuation preceding a ground assault.
In a statement, the military said that media announcements, text messages, phone calls, and posters will all be used to encourage the gradual movement of civilians in the specified areas.
People were told to relocate to Muwasi, an Israeli-declared humanitarian area near the coast. The army said that additional aid, including food, water, tents, field hospitals, and supplies, had been sent to the region.
The announcement comes amid the precarious ceasefire negotiation and ahead of a much-anticipated ground attack that Israel has been vowing to launch for months to drive out the remaining Hamas militants.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned on Sunday, claiming that Hamas was not serious about a deal and threatening a powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah.
His comments were made in response to Hamas's strike on Sunday, which killed three troops and targeted Israel's major crossing point for aid deliveries.
After seven months of attacks against Hamas, Israel claims that the city of Rafah is home to thousands of militants for the Palestinian Islamist group and that capturing the city is necessary for victory.
However, with over a million Palestinians seeking refuge in Rafah, Western nations and neighboring Egypt are concerned about the possibility of a high-casualty operation.
