Thousands of residents of Gaza began fleeing the southern city of Rafah on Monday after the Israel Defense Forces told them to leave the area immediately.
“The IDF is returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organisations in these areas,” an IDF order stated. It told residents to evacuate to a displaced people’s compound in nearby al-Mawasi.
Rafah, on the Egyptian border, was the site of fierce fighting last May, after Israel delayed entering the city for weeks under international pressure led by the US Biden administration.
The evacuation order is the most significant since Israel renewed its onslaught on Gaza in mid-March, and the IDF hopes it will increase the pressure on the Palestinian militant group Hamas to agree a new ceasefire.
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Hamas has offered to free five living Israeli hostages in exchange for a 50-day ceasefire. Israel, however, insists on the deal proposed by US envoy Steve Witkoff: the release of half the 59 remaining hostages, living and dead, at the start of renewed talks, and the remaining half at the conclusion of the negotiations.
Amid worsening conditions in Gaza, bakeries are to stop working on Tuesday, saying that flour supplies have run out due to the blockade on humanitarian supplies declared by Israel four weeks ago, before its military operation resumed.
The blockade is the longest of the 17-month Gaza war and has left many residents unable to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the month-long Ramadan fast. Meat and fish is either unavailable or too expensive for the vast majority of Gaza residents, and aid workers have warned that food will run out completely within a couple of weeks if the flow of aid is not restored.
More than 920 people have been killed in Gaza since the collapse last month of the ceasefire agreed between Israel and Hamas in January.
The war began when Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7th, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 to Gaza as hostages, according to Israel. At least 50,270 people have been killed in Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) have expressed “outrage” over the deaths of eight Palestinian medics who were killed along with six Gaza civil defence first responders and a UN staff member by Israeli troops near Rafah a week ago.
The incident occurred on March 23rd when soldiers opened fire on five ambulances and a fire truck travelling in a convoy to help injured people, according to a UN official. Fifteen bodies were recovered on Sunday and a ninth medic was still missing on Monday.
The Israeli military said its troops opened fire on several vehicles that were “advancing suspiciously” without headlights. It said a Hamas operative and “eight other terrorists” were among those killed.
Fighting continues at various locations across Gaza and at least 60 people have been killed since Sunday.
A building in the Shujaiyeh neighbourhood of Gaza City was hit, as well as residential buildings west of Rafah, in air strikes early Monday. Al Jazeera reported that two people were killed and several sustained wounds from artillery fire in the Khan Younis area.
The IDF said in a statement that as part of its renewed Gaza offensive it had destroyed a kilometre-long Hamas tunnel. “In an additional activity, the troops located a workshop used for producing rockets and launchers. So far, the division’s troops have eliminated over 50 terrorists,” it added.
Police in Jerusalem on Monday arrested three protesters calling for the release of the hostages held in Gaza after they blocked traffic on the city’s main Begin highway.
