Israel launches huge airstrikes on Hamas targets in Rafah after 'rejecting' ceasefire deal
There are growing concerns that civilians in Rafah will not be evacuated in time. The strikes came after Hamas accepted a Qatari-Egyptian ceasefire proposal in Gaza.
Israel has launched an airstrike on Rafah the same day as Hamas accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.
Smoke was seen billowing into the sky from explosions today after the Israeli war cabinet unanimously approved a military operation into the Gaza Strip city.
The decision came immediately after Hamas announced it had accepted the ceasefire proposal.
Israel, however, has yet to accept the conditions, leaving uncertainty as to whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month war in Gaza.
READ MORE: Netanyahu warned of revolt across Israel as ceasefire ‘to be rejected’
Rafah is being decimated, there is nowhere else left to go. Israel is now bombing more than 1.7 million civilians trapped in Rafah, Gaza's last place of refuge. A massacre is happening in Rafah right now and the world is silent. pic.twitter.com/RHAEyNCvaC
— Mohamad Safa (@mhdksafa) May 6, 2024
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to start evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah earlier today, signaling its preparation for a looming ground invasion.
The military dropped leaflets telling people to leave the eastern neighbourhoods of Rafah and to move to Khan Younis or Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp and a humanitarian zone.
The leaflets warned the ground invasion in Rafah, where about 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, was imminent and anyone who stays "puts themselves and their family members in danger".
Israeli officials emphasized that Rafah is the last major stronghold for Hamas in Gaza, with Netanyahu saying that the aniticipated ground offensive against the town was vital to accomplishing its goal of eliminating the terror group.
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Benjamin Netanyahu's violent move on Rafah comes despite international condemnation, with the likes of the Biden administration and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urging them not to launch an offensive in Gaza's southernmost city.
After the Israeli evacuation order was issued, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US has not seen a credible and implementable plan to protect Palestinian civilians.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called Israel's evacuation order “inhumane," adding that "it contrary to the basic principles of international humanitarian and human rights laws."
The UN Relief and Works Agency, the largest humanitarian organisation for Palestinians in Gaza, said that it won't comply with the evacuation order and instead stay in Rafah as long as possible to provide humanitarian aid.
