March 31 (UPI) — Israel on Monday issued evacuation orders for the southern Palestinian city of Rafah, as its military continues to assault Gaza and prospects of resuming the short lived cease-fire remain uncertain.
Residents of Rafah, municipalities of Al-Nasr and Al-Shawka and Al-Salam, Al-Manara and Qizan Al-Najjar neighborhoods were ordered to evacuate, Israel Defense Forces Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X.
“The IDF is returning to fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organizations in these areas,” he said.
“For your safety, you must move immediately to the shelters in Al Mawasi.”
Israel has resumed fighting Hamas in Gaza since the 42-day cease-fire ended mid-January with the IDF launching strikes against the Palestinian militant group it accused of rejecting all hostage-release offers.
Rafah in southern Gaza had provided refuge for some 1.5 million of the 2.2 million Palestinians in the enclave as Israeli pounded the region’s north. They were then evacuated amid a controversial Israeli offensive of the city. Amid the cease-fire, residents returned to a city mostly leveled.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society on Sunday said that eight of its medics had been killed in Rafah and a ninth is missing after being “targeted” by Israeli forces on March 23.
The medics were heading to the Hashashin area of Rafah to provide first aid to residents injured by Israeli shelling when they came under attack, it said.
“The occupation’s targeting of Red Crescent medics despite the protected status of their mission and the Red CRescent emblem can only be considered a war crime punishable under international humanitarian law,” it said in a statement Sunday.
“The PRCS demands that the perpetrators of this war crime be held accountable, that an immediate and urgent investigation be conducted to ensure justice for the victims of this massacre and that the fate of missing medic Asaad Al-Nasasra, whose whereabouts remain unknown, be revealed.”
It said that along with the bodies of the eight medics, it has received the bodies of six civil defense members and one United Nations employee from the area.
A total of 27 Red Crescent medics have been killed in the war, which began Oct. 7, 2023.
On Saturday, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya said the group had agreed to release five hostages as part of a 50-day cease-fire proposal being brokered by Egypt and Qatar.
However, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday night that Israel’s mediators had “conveyed” a counter-proposal, the specifics of which were not revealed.
In a speech on Sunday he attempted to dispel allegations that Israel is not pursuing negotiations, but are doing so while applying military force.
“The military pressure is working,” he said. “It is working because it is simultaneous: On the one hand, it is pounding Hamas’ military and governing capabilities, and on the other it is creating the conditions for releasing our hostages. This is exactly what we are doing.”
