IDF orders 300,000 Palestinians to evacuate Rafah

tonight hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are being ordered to leave the city of Rafa in southern Gaza the Israeli Army preparing to expand its ground operations amid a widening Rift with the United States in Rafa families Gathering their belongings many of them displaced multiple times the city had been a refuge for more than a million people fleeing the fighting from other parts of Gaza President Biden standing by his warning that the US will not provide offensive weapons that could be used in Rafa today the death pole Rising with more Palestinians killed in IDF strikes we have Team coverage tonight and ABC's Marcus Moore leads us off from Israel Israeli forces tonight pushing deeper into the southern gazen city of Rafa 300,000 people now on the Move amid new evacuation orders by the IDF as they position for an expanded ground operation the IDF telling people currently in Rafa to evacuate to an expanded safe region roughly 4 miles away but Aid groups say that area too is already overpopulated Muhammad Abu alas is a pediatrician in the Gaza Strip and since the start of the war he says he's moved his family several times at the direction of the IDF and is now moving once again in the time of War there's no place that is safe he says we expect strikes everywhere at least 18 Palestinians were killed today in IDF air and artillery strikes on neighborhoods in east and west Rafa according to a local hospital the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry saying since October 7th the fighting has claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians all as the flow of supplies going into Gaza has slowed according to Aid groups it has stopped almost completely in the South and we were near the Kum Shalom border crossing as demonstrators tried to stop a trucks from passing through earlier this week this is where a trucks come through every single day with with crucial food and supplies for those starving in Gaza but these demonstrators are stopping them right here however Aid groups say the humanitarian situation there is only getting worse as the war in Gaza enters a new phase and there is no definitive date on any potential operation but the Israeli Prime Minister has said that they will expand their fight in Rafa and with as you know President Joe Biden has stopped some weapons deliveries saying the US would not provide weapons to Israel if they launch a full scale assault on Rafa Marcus Moore thank you and as you noted there the US has urged Israel repeatedly not to invade Rafa because of the risk to civilians let's bring in ABC's White House correspondent Mary Alis Parks Mary Alice what are you hearing from us officials now yeah with the White House is monitoring all of these developments extremely closely so far they say they've only seen a limited Military operation in teraa they're not commenting more at this time about Israel ordering civilians to evacuate but we know that President Biden himself has been pushing Israel to do anything but a full-scale invasion of Rafa I'm told the White House has been presenting the Israelis with several alternative options even offering to help set up safe spaces for civilians or give additional intelligence to help Target Hamas leaders or pinpoint their tunnel systems but as you saw there no indication that Israel is changing course wa Mary Alice thanks

Channel: ABC News

Views: 157,358

Keywords: Gaza, Hamas, IDF, Israel, Palestine, Rafah, abc, evacuation, ground, news, operations, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-110138479, war, wnt

Id: X_A4_-dj7vg

Length: 3min 21sec (201 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2024