Israel calls for Rafah evacuation ahead of planned assault on Hamas holdouts

NEW DELHI: Israel asked Rafah civilians on Monday to evacuate parts of the southern strip as it plans to excute a long-threatened assault on Hamas holdouts in the city.

Pealestinian famalies, who were instructed about evacuation in Arabic text meassages, telephone calls and flyers, huddled outside under chilly rain.

The Israeli forces have asked Palestinians to move to an “expanded humanitarian zone”, which is 20 km away.

Israel’s military said it had begun encouraging residents of Rafah to evacuate in a “limited scope” operation. However, it did not give any specific reasons, nor did it say if any offensive action might follow.

Israel’s evacuation call comes amid truce talk between Israel and Hamas, which is set to resume on Monday, even as disagreement grew deeper over demands pitched to end the seven-month deadly war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said “surrendering” to demands to end the war would be tantamount to defeat.

According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, he told his cabinet Israel would not let Hamas “take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure and return to threaten the citizens of Israel”.

“Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demands, which mean surrender, and will continue the fighting until all its goals are achieved,” he added.

Hamas says ‘Netanyahu sabotaging talks’

Reacting to Netanyahu’s statement, Qatar-based Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh accused the Israeli PM of sabotaging the talks.

A Hamas official said Sunday the group’s delegation for Gaza truce talks was headed to Doha for “consultations” after the last round of talks in Cairo failed to produce a breakthrough.

Hamas negotiators are then due back in Cairo on Tuesday, said Al-Qahera News, a site linked to Egyptian intelligence services.

Israeli air strikes rock Rafah

Israeli air strikes continued to pound Rafah in southern Gaza, where about 12 lakh Palestinians have sought shelter. Sunday bombings in the southern strip killed at least 16 people, hours after Hamas rockets eliminated three Israeli soldiers.

Gaza’s bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians.

‘Truce talks last hope’

Residents of the southern Gaza city said they feared an upsurge in violence if truce talks collapse.

Naja Shaat, 59, said she was “extremely joyful” when she thought a ceasefire was imminent, “but today… we are on pins and needles”.

The Palestinian civilian toll has strained ties between Israel and its main military supplier and ally the United States. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that “the only thing standing between the people of Gaza and a ceasefire is Hamas”.

Israel skips Cairo talks

Negotiators met in Egypt’s Cairo on Sunday in the absence of the Israeli delegation. In the meeting, Qatari, Egyptian and US mediators proposed a 40-day pause in the fighting and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to details released by Britain.

Any truce reached would be the first since a week-long November ceasefire saw a hostage-prisoner swap.

As millions of people have pinned hope on truce talk success, Netanyahu faces protests demanding a truce deal to bring Gaza hostages back home. Protestors, some carrying posters with images of the captives, gathered in Tel Aviv on Sunday, as Israel marked national Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Al Jazeera calls Israeli crackdown ‘criminal act’

Israel on Sunday announced its decision to close Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera’s operation in the country. The network went off-air a short time later.

Lashing out at the Netanyahu dispensation’s decision, Al Jazeera condemned Israel’s action as a “criminal act”, and said it would take legal action.

The extreme step came amid Al Jazeera’s round-the-clock coverage of the war, which Israel says is one-sided.

(With AFP inputs)

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