The Israeli military has ordered Palestinians to begin evacuating eastern Rafah, according to an Israeli Defense Force statement Monday, signaling that a ground invasion is imminent.
People were told to move to Muwasi, an Israeli-declared "humanitarian area" near the coast. The army said it had expanded assistance into the area, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.
The announcement comes amid fragile cease-fire talks and ahead of a highly anticipated ground offensive that Israel has been vowing to undertake for months to weed out the remaining Hamas positions.
On Sunday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed Hamas wasn't serious about a deal and warned of "a powerful operation in the very near future in Rafah."
His comments came after a Hamas attack on Israel’s main crossing point Sunday killed three soldiers.
The announcement complicates last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire.
Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that invading Rafah – along the border with Egypt – could derail the talks, and the United States has repeatedly urged Israel against the invasion.
However, Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said the invasion is necessary to defeat the Palestinian resistance group.
Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to the nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone, Muwasi.
He said Israel was preparing a "limited scope operation" and would not say whether this was the beginning of a broader invasion of the city. But after the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion, Israel did not formally announce the launch of a ground invasion that continues to this day.
Shoshani said Israel published a map of the evacuation area, and that orders were being issued through air-dropped leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts. He said Israel has expanded humanitarian aid into Muwasi, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.
Israel's army said on the social platform X that it would act with "extreme force" against militants, and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.
Israel's plan to invade Rafah has raised global alarm because of the potential for harm to more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there.
About 1.4 million Palestinians – more than half of Gaza's population – are jammed into the city and its surroundings. Most of them fled their homes elsewhere in the territory to escape Israel's brutal onslaught and now face another wrenching move or the danger of staying under a new assault.
They live in densely packed tent camps, overflowing U.N. shelters or crowded apartments, and are dependent on international aid for food, with sanitation systems and medical facilities infrastructure crippled.
The U.N. agency that has helped millions of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank for decades, known as UNRWA, warned Monday of the devastating consequences of a Rafah offensive, including more civilian suffering and deaths.
The agency said it would not leave but stay in Rafah as long as possible to continue providing lifesaving assistance.
Egypt's Rafah crossing, a main transfer point for aid going into Gaza, lies in the evacuation zone. The crossing remained open on Monday after the Israeli order.
