FLASH
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has ordered the army to prepare a plan to evacuate the population of Rafah, ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of the town in the southern Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu made the announcement on Friday, February 9, following international criticism of Israel's plan to occupy the crowded city on the Egyptian border.
Israel said Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas - the Palestinian group designated a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union - and it must send troops to complete its war plan against the radical Palestinian group.
An estimated 1.5 million Palestinians are in the town of Rafah, having fled fighting in other parts of Gaza.
Netanyahu said on Friday that "a massive operation" is needed in Rafah. The Israeli prime minister said he had asked security officials to present "a two-pronged plan" that would include the evacuation of civilians and a military operation to "collapse" the remaining Hamas units.
Earlier, Egypt, which shares a border with Rafah, has said any ground operation in the Rafah area, or any major displacement across the border, would undermine the 40-year-old peace treaty it has with Israel.
The war between Israel and Hamas was sparked after the radical Palestinian group attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing nearly 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapping nearly 250 others. In Gaza, as a result of the Israeli offensive, more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed, many others have been displaced and a quarter of the population is on the verge of starvation./ REL
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