6/5/2024–|Last updated: 5/6/202408:51 AM (Mecca time)
Israeli Radio announced on Monday morning that the army began evacuating the eastern outskirts of the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip in preparation for a military operation there, hours after three Israeli soldiers were killed and others wounded in an attack carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), on occupation military sites in The vicinity of the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The radio said that the Israeli army began evacuating residents from Rafah towards the displacement camps in Khan Yunis and Al-Mawasi ahead of the military operation.
The Israeli army asked the residents of the eastern region of Rafah to evacuate immediately to what it called the expanded humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi, an area on the coast extending between Rafah and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Satellite images revealed that the Israeli army deployed about 300 Israeli military vehicles near the Rafah border.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly announced his determination to invade Rafah under the pretext of eliminating Hamas brigades in the region, despite American and international warnings about the humanitarian consequences of any military operation in the city, which is home to about 1.5 million displaced people.
Netanyahu stated on several occasions that his forces would enter Rafah, whether or not a prisoner exchange deal was reached.
In exchange for the threats of Netanyahu and his ministers, Hamas and other resistance factions threatened the occupation that they would pay a heavy price if their forces penetrated Rafah.
Urgent | The Israeli army: We call residents #Rafah In the eastern region, they must evacuate immediately and head to the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi
Losses to the occupation
On the ground, the Israeli army announced yesterday evening that 3 of its soldiers from the Givati and Nahal brigades were killed and 12 others were wounded in a missile strike that targeted a military base in the vicinity of the Kerem Shalom crossing, east of the city of Rafah.
This brings the number of Israeli soldiers killed since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood and the war on Gaza on the 7th of last October to 611, including 274 officers and soldiers since the start of the ground operation on the 26th of the same month, and to 101 officers and soldiers since the beginning of this year.
Israeli Army Radio revealed that the missile attack that targeted an army position in the Kerem Shalom area included the firing of 14 missiles, and that two PGM guided missiles caused fatal wounds to the soldiers, noting that the injured soldiers were on a security mission to guard equipment and machinery. Prepared to enter the city of Rafah.
Israeli Army Radio also said that an investigation was opened to find out the reasons that prevented the launching of interceptor missiles and the presence of many casualties despite the reduction in the number of soldiers at the site, adding that other missiles fell on Camp Amitai and a house in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom and caused serious damage, but no casualties were reported.
Yesterday, the Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast pictures that they said were of targeting the Israeli army headquarters and its gatherings inside the Karam Shalom military site, east of the city of Rafah, with a “Rajum” missile barrage, leaving the occupation soldiers dead and wounded.
Shortly after the Qassam missile attack, Israeli aircraft launched raids targeting 11 homes in Rafah, killing 21 Palestinians, including children.
Soldier sniping
In other field developments, the Al-Qassam Brigades broadcast yesterday scenes showing the sniping of an Israeli soldier in the Netzarim axis, south of the Tel al-Hawa neighborhood in Gaza City. The recording also shows the dead soldier being later evacuated by a military ambulance.
At the same time, the resistance yesterday engaged in violent clashes with the Israeli occupation forces on the outskirts of the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza.
The Palestinian resistance has recently intensified its operations against the occupation forces in what is known as the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the northern Gaza Strip from its south.
