ISRAEL PLANS TO MOVE 1.4M PEOPLE FROM RAFAH TO ‘HUMANITARIAN ISLANDS’

Illustrative: Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip in an undated handout photo released by the military on January 2, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Thu 14 March 2024:

Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari says that there are plans to push a significant amount of the more than one million displaced Palestinians in Rafah toward “humanitarian islands” in the centre of the Gaza Strip in advance of its planned offensive on the city.

“We need to make sure that 1.4 million people or at least a significant amount of the 1.4 million will move. Where? To humanitarian islands that we will create with the international community,” Hagari told reporters at a briefing.

Hagari said those islands would provide temporary housing, food, water and other necessities to evacuated Palestinians. He did not say when Rafah’s evacuation would occur, nor when the Rafah offensive would begin, saying that Israel wanted the timing to be right operationally and to be coordinated with neighbouring Egypt, which has said it does not want an influx of displaced Palestinians crossing its border.

The US has frequently said that it will not support an Israeli invasion of Rafah without a clear plan to protect civilians there.

During its war on Gaza, Israel has frequently designated areas and corridors of movement for civilians as “safe zones” before bombing them, killing many.

Report: US privately tells Israel it will accept small-scale Rafah offensive

A report from US news site Politico says that senior US officials have told their Israeli counterparts that the administration of Presiden Biden will support the targeting of “high-value Hamas targets in and underneath Rafah”.

The report cites four unnamed US officials, who told Politico that the US wants Israel to avoid a large-scale invasion of the southern Gaza city, where some 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are sheltered after fleeing Israeli bombardment in other parts of the Strip.

“In private conversations, top administration officials have signaled to Israel that they could support a plan more akin to counterterrorism operations than all-out war, four U.S. officials said”, the report says.

“That, the administration officials argue, would minimize civilian casualties, decimate Hamas’ ranks and avoid scenes that have led to souring public opinion on Israel’s campaign and Biden’s handling of the war.”

The US has long said that it would require a plan to protect civilians in Rafah before it supported Israel’s promised Rafah invasion. Today, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reports that the US has yet to see such a plan.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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