AFP – An expected Israeli assault on Rafah has aid groups scrambling for ways to help the 1.5 million civilians sheltering in the south Gaza city but the uncertain timeline poses a logistical nightmare.
“We always are prepared with plans to upscale or downscale but, really, we don’t know what to expect,” said head of advocacy at Oxfam Bushra Khalidi.
Oxfam joined 12 other aid groups in a joint call for a ceasefire on April 3, stressing that more than a million civilians, including at least 610,000 children, were “in direct line of fire”
in Rafah.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly that Israel will press ahead with the threatened assault on Rafah, the last major population centre in Gaza that Israeli ground troops have yet to enter.
The hawkish premier has said that the destruction of the remaining Hamas battalions in Rafah is vital to his government’s war aim of destroying the group in Gaza. But Israel’s staunchest ally the United States (US) has said repeatedly that it opposes any operation in Rafah without credible measures to protect civilians. The Israeli government said it was planning different evacuation scenarios, including the creation of what military spokesman Daniel Hagari dubbed “humanitarian islands”.
He said these tent cities would be spared the fighting and would be set up with international support. Citing Egyptian officials briefed on the Israeli plan, the Wall Street Journal reported that the evacuation operation would last two to three weeks and be carried out in coordination with the US and Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates as well as Egypt.
The newspaper said Israel planned to send its troops into Rafah gradually, targeting areas where Israel believes Hamas leaders and fighters are hiding, and expected the fighting to last at least six weeks.
But the aid groups AFP spoke with said they had not been briefed on Israel’s plans, and the Israeli army was not able to answer AFP questions on its exchanges with humanitarian organisations.
Earlier this month Israeli media reported that the Defence Ministry had bought 10,000 tents to be set up outside Rafah over the next two weeks, and planned to acquire 30,000 more.
