Israel to begin ‘soon’ evacuating civilians in Rafah
Israel is expected to "soon" begin evacuating civilians from Rafah ahead of a planned ground attack on Gaza's southernmost city, a state-owned media outlet has reported.
The UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) said that since the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) created periodic evacuation “corridors” earlier this month, at least 40,000 people have walked from northern Gaza to the besieged enclave’s southern regions.
The IDF has repeatedly called on civilians to move south of Wadi Gaza — a waterway bisecting the center of the enclave — as it intensifies its assault on Hamas in Gaza City and northern Gaza.
The UNRWA said that UN monitors and NGOs are providing water and biscuits to evacuees just south of the Wadi Gaza.
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For a fifth consecutive day on Wednesday, the Israeli military opened the “corridor” along the main traffic artery, Salah Ad Deen Road, for residents to leave the north between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., which was then extended by an hour, as people were still moving southwards.
It is estimated that about 50,000 people evacuated during the day, the largest number since the corridor opened, bringing the estimated figure since November 5 to 72,000.
Most evacuees move on foot and those who use vehicles leave them at the southern edge of Gaza city at the Al Kuwaiti roundabout.
The evacuees then walk 4-5 km down the corridor, with an estimated distance of up to 20 km for those traveling farthest, according to the UNRWA.
Since the war broke out on October 7, about 1.5 million people in Gaza have been internally displaced, according to the UN agency.
Of them, nearly 725,000 are sheltering in 149 UNRWA facilities; 122,000 in hospitals, churches and public buildings; 131,134 in 94 non-UNRWA schools, and the remainder with host families.
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