Gazans flee southern city of Rafah after Israel military orders evacuation

People fleeing Rafah arrive in Khan Yunis city following new Israeli evacuation orders, in the southern Gaza Strip, on March 31, 2025. [AFP] The Israeli military on Monday ordered residents in and around the southern Gaza city of Rafah to evacuate their homes, suggesting it could return to ground fighting in the area. In a post on X, the Israeli military's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee addressed residents in areas covering all of Rafah and parts of nearby Khan Yunis. "The IDF (military) is returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organisations in these areas. For your safety, you must move immediately to the shelters in Al Mawasi," northwest of Rafah, he said. AFPTV footage from the city showed long lines of people fleeing their homes on Monday. Some travelled by foot or by bike, while others pushed makeshift carts loaded with belongings. Donkey-pulled carts rolled down streets next to trucks piled high with blankets, mattresses and other household items. "A map was published today, entirely in red, indicating that all of Rafah must evacuate," Rafah resident Ali Mansour told AFP. "I am currently on foot, there is no transportation, and I do not have the fare for a car ride. As you can see, we have no luggage with us -- we left all our belongings behind." Najah Dhahir, also from Rafah, was fleeing on foot with her nine-month-old baby. "We took our children and only what was necessary, leaving behind all our belongings -- our mattresses, our food and our money. We left everything behind," she said. Israel's military on March 23 said it had encircled the Tal al-Sultan area in Rafah after warning civilians to leave. It said at the time that its objective was to "dismantle terrorist infrastructure and eliminate" militants there. Rafah, which sits along Gaza's southern border with Egypt, had already been the target of a major Israeli offensive about a year ago. Israel resumed intense bombing of Gaza on March 18 and then launched a new ground offensive, ending a nearly two-month ceasefire in the war with Hamas. Since the fighting restarted, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza says that at least 1,001 people have been killed. The war was sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Israel's retaliatory military campaign has killed at least 50,357 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory's health ministry.

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