Israeli plan to evacuate Rafah civilians

Egyptian officials have shared details of Israel’s alleged plan to evacuate Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on February 13 that the plan calls for displaced Palestinians to be concentrated in the western area of the enclave, within the coastal strip, along the sea.

Israel says it will establish 15 camp villages along the coast between Rafah and Gaza City in central Gaza. The areas included are south of Al-Mawasi and Sharm Park. Each camp will be equipped with 25,000 tents.

Egyptian officials say that Israel expects the camps, which would include medical facilities, to be funded by the US and Arab states.

However, it is unlikely that over 1 million people could be safely evacuated. 

Nadia Hardman, a refugee and migrant rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, stated, “Forcing the over one million displaced Palestinians in Rafah to again evacuate without a safe place to go would be unlawful and would have catastrophic consequences. There is nowhere safe to go in Gaza.”

If Israel proceeds with the offensive, its army will disrupt the already minimal aid entering Gaza and cause extensive destruction in Rafah, as it previously did in Gaza City and Khan Yunis. These action would exacerbate the uninhabitable conditions in Gaza, both during and after the war.

If Palestinians in Gaza are increasingly concentrated in tent camps along a tiny strip on Gaza’s coast, with no homes to return to, no functioning hospitals, and little food and humanitarian aid, this will enable Israel’s efforts to force Gaza’s population to ‘voluntarily’ flee to Egypt by land or other third parties by sea.

Israeli leaders have stated they wish to make life so difficult and dangerous for Palestinians in Gaza that the most humanitarian solution for them will be to leave Gaza and allow Israel to take it over for Jewish settlement.

The situation would resemble 1948, when Zionist militias forced Palestinians from Haifa to flee north to Lebanon by land and by boat from the city’s port.

While Gaza is on the brink of famine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism from his far-right allies for allowing any aid at all, the WSJ reported further.

“The minimal aid we committed to is an important condition for the continuation of the war because if there is a large humanitarian collapse, we can’t continue the war,” he told reporters last week.

Israel in December reopened its Kerem Shalom crossing into Gaza to allow the UN and NGOs to increase aid. However, right-wing protesters have repeatedly blocked humanitarian convoys at the crossing, and the Israeli army has not taken any action to remove them.