Israel Reveals Plan to Evacuate Rafah
Civilians Before Final Battle Against Hamas
EXCERPT:
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Wednesday that it would evacuate Palestinian civilians near the Gaza town of Rafah to “humanitarian islands” before entering to fight and destroy the last four remaining Hamas terrorist battalions. U.S. President Joe Biden has warned Israel not to enter Rafah without a plan for evacuating the civilians who have fled there from the rest of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel must finish the job of defeating Hamas, lest it recover and return to rule Gaza and to launch terror attacks against Israeli communities again. Netanyahu directed the IDF to prepare an evacuation plan, as well as a battle plan.
The White House has said for weeks that it had not seen any of the plans, but Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant dropped hints earlier Wednesday that Israel had prepared its plans and would strike in the near future.