As the ongoing attempts to revive a ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas are showing minimal signs of success, Israel is moving forward with its plan for an operation in Rafah, the most southern city in Gaza that borders Egypt. On May 6, the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for more than 200,000 Gazans in the southern-west part of the Gaza Strip.
Most Gazans now fleeing Rafah are being displaced for the second or third time in the past seven months of the war, after more than a million Gazans fled there during the war. Soonafter, the Israeli army took hold of the Raffah crossing. The Israeli government has referred to an operation in Rafah as necessary to achieve its war objectives, which include eliminating Hamas’s governmental and military capabilities and releasing the hostages held by Hamas.
Photo by Jehad Alshrafi/Anadolu via Getty Images
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