Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Rafah – the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip – have arrived there after being repeatedly forced to flee, fleeing Israeli air strikes and ground attacks.
But the Israeli Prime Minister has now asked the forces to “prepare for action” in Rafah as well. He says that the “complete victory” that Israel will achieve over Hamas will only take a few months.
On Friday, Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered the army to prepare a dual plan to evacuate civilians from the city, to make way for an expanded operation there.
“We never want to leave Gaza,” says Umm Muhammad, a displaced woman. “We were born here, we live here, and we want to die here.”
The United States has warned that it will not support any unplanned Israeli attack in Rafah, which it says would be a “disaster.”
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