2024-02-10 17:22:12
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the country’s army to prepare an offensive on the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
“It is impossible to achieve the war goal of eliminating Hamas if four Hamas battalions remain in Rafah.”, he announced on Friday via the Prime Minister’s Office. The plans that the military leadership should present to the government must also include the evacuation of civilians in Rafah, the statement said.
A military offensive in Rafah, which lies in the very south of the Gaza Strip and borders Egypt, is considered highly problematic. The town, which had around 300,000 inhabitants before the war, is now said to be home to 1.3 million people. Most of them fled there from other parts of the Gaza Strip before the war, partly on orders from the Israeli military.
“It is clear that intensive (military) activities in Rafah require that civilians clear the combat zone,” Netanyahu said on Friday. He therefore instructed the military leadership to present the government with a “combined plan” for the evacuation of the population and the destruction of the Hamas battalions. (sda/dpa)
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