What happened
The Israel Defense Forces on Monday ordered about 100,000 Gazans to immediately evacuate parts of Rafah that will be targeted with "extreme force" against Hamas. The Palestinian civilians were told to move to an Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. A Hamas delegation left cease-fire negotiations in Egypt on Sunday with no deal in place, raising the chances Israel will launch a full-scale invasion of Rafah, despite international warnings.
Who said what
Israel has begun a "limited scope operation to temporarily evacuate residents in the eastern part of Rafah," IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said Monday. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant warned Sunday of a "powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah" following a Hamas rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom border crossing that left three IDF soldiers dead and the crossing closed to humanitarian aid.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin "expressed his condolences for the IDF soldiers killed" at Kerem Shalom in a phone call with Gallant, the Pentagon said, but he also "stressed the need for any potential Israeli military operation in Rafah to include a credible plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians and maintain the flow of humanitarian aid."
What next?
"So many people here are displaced and now they have to move again," Nidal Alzaanin, one of the 1.4 million Gazans forced to seek refuge in Rafah, said to The Associated Press, "but no one will stay here. It's not safe."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
‘The Taliban delivers yet another brutal blow’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Renewables top coal as Trump seeks reversalSpeed Read For the first time, renewable energy sources generated more power than coal, said a new report
-
Prime minister shocks France with resignationSpeed Read French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu submitted his government’s resignation after less than a month in office
-
Five key questions about the Gaza peace dealThe Explainer Many ‘unresolved hurdles’ remain before Donald Trump’s 20-point plan can get the go-ahead
-
‘This isn’t just semantics’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Judge rules Trump illegally targeted Gaza protestersSpeed Read The Trump administration’s push to arrest and deport international students for supporting Palestine is deemed illegal
-
‘People may use the same tactics for very different reasons’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
The Liberal Democrats: on the march?Talking Point After winning their highest number of seats in 2024, can the Lib Dems marry ‘stunts’ with a ‘more focused electoral strategy’?
-
Should Tony Blair run Gaza?Today's Big Question Former PM is a key figure in plans for a post-war Palestine and could take up a formal leadership position
-
UN panel finds Israeli genocide in GazaSpeed Read The report found that Israeli leaders had committed ‘four of the five “genocidal acts”’ prohibited under the U.N. Genocide Convention
-
How Benjamin Netanyahu shaped Israel in his own imageThe Explainer He has seldom been personally popular, but ‘King Bibi’ is an exceptionally shrewd operator
