Top international officials have criticized Israel’s military action in eastern Rafah, after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Monday ordered residents there to “evacuate immediately” as it conducts an operation in the city.
Roughly 50,000 people have left the southern Gazan city in the last 48 hours as a result of Israel’s evacuation order, a senior staffer at the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) told CNN on Wednesday.
Many of those leaving Rafah have been previously displaced multiple times as Israel’s focus has moved from city to city.
Hamas said the Israeli military’s move on Rafah constituted a “humanitarian catastrophe” that posed “a direct threat to more than 1.5 million displaced Palestinians.”
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said on Wednesday that “Australia has been clear about our objections to a major Israeli ground offensive into Rafah, and we have reiterated this to Israel again today.”