Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the army to prepare a plan to evacuate the population from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip ahead of a planned IDF invasion of the city. Netanyahu did this despite numerous criticisms from the international public, and above all from the main ally of the United States of America.
Israeli authorities claim that Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas and that it must send the army to the area in order to carry out a war plan whose ultimate goal is the destruction of the Islamist group. But the small area is home to an estimated 1,5 million Palestinians who have fled fighting in other parts of the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu stated that a "major operation" is needed in Rafah. He asked security officials to present him with a "dual plan" that would include the evacuation of civilians and a military operation to "destroy" the remaining Hamas units.
Earlier on Friday, Israel launched new strikes in Rafah, and witnesses and hospital officials said at least eight people, including women and children, were killed in the strikes. The Associated Press reports that the strikes hit a residential building in Rafah and a school building in the central city of Zuwayda.
The strikes came hours after US President Joe Biden delivered his harshest criticism yet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military campaign, which has killed more than 27.000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-controlled local health ministry in Gaza.
"I think, as you know, that the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, was excessive," Biden said in response to a question from reporters at the White House.
Biden said he was "very strongly in favor" of a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas and the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas' proposal for a cease-fire, calling the terms proposed by the extremist organization "insane."
Earlier on Thursday, the White House issued a stern warning to Israel, warning the Netanyahu government against a military campaign into the Egyptian border town of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza's population of 2,2 million have taken refuge.
