The Israeli military instructed approximately 100,000 individuals to evacuate Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, which shelters over one million displaced civilians, and relocate to what it claims is an expanded humanitarian zone within the Palestinian enclave. Explosions were heard in the eastern part of Rafah after midday, according to Hamas media and some residents.
Israel asserts that securing victory in the war necessitates taking control of Rafah. A Hamas senior official explained that the order to evacuate was a dangerous escalation that would have repercussions. Witnesses have reported that the areas in and around Rafah, where Israel intended to relocate people, are already densely populated, with little space available to accommodate additional tents.
This is in retaliation to four Israeli soldiers being killed and 10 more wounded in a rocket attack by Hamas near the Gaza Strip on Sunday. The military was then prompted to close a key border crossing.
The Hamas group claimed to have launched a barrage of short-range rockets at a group of Israeli troops on the border. According to the IDF, almost a dozen rockets were fired from the Rafah area in southern Gaza.
The soldiers were stationed to protect military equipment that had been transported to the area for the IDF's planned offensive in Rafah.
