UK's Cameron: Israel Should Think Before Further Action in Rafah 

12 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect the ruins of Al-Huda Mosque, which was destroyed following an Israeli bombing on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (dpa)
12 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect the ruins of Al-Huda Mosque, which was destroyed following an Israeli bombing on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (dpa)
TT

UK's Cameron: Israel Should Think Before Further Action in Rafah 

12 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect the ruins of Al-Huda Mosque, which was destroyed following an Israeli bombing on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (dpa)
12 February 2024, Palestinian Territories, Rafah: Palestinians inspect the ruins of Al-Huda Mosque, which was destroyed following an Israeli bombing on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (dpa)

Israel should stop and think seriously before taking any further action in Rafah, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Monday, after airstrikes in the southern Gaza city that is the last refuge of about a million displaced civilians.

Local health officials said 67 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded in the airstrikes, under the cover of which Israel freed two hostages.

Asked about the situation in Rafah and whether Israel had gone beyond international law, Cameron told reporters: "We think it is impossible to see how you can fight a war amongst these people. There's nowhere for them to go."

"We are very concerned about the situation and we want Israel to stop and think very seriously before it takes any further action. But above all, what we want is an immediate pause in the fighting and we want that pause to lead to a ceasefire."



Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
TT

Israel Orders Evacuation of Area Designated as Humanitarian Zone in Gaza

 A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)
A picture taken in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip shows smoke billowing during Israeli army operations in areas east of Khan Younis city on July 26, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement. (AFP)

Israel’s military ordered the evacuation Saturday of a crowded part of Gaza designated as a humanitarian zone, saying it is planning an operation against Hamas militants in Khan Younis, including parts of Muwasi, a makeshift tent camp where thousands are seeking refuge.

The order comes in response to rocket fire that Israel says originates from the area. It's the second evacuation issued in a week in an area designated for Palestinians fleeing other parts of Gaza. Many Palestinians have been uprooted multiple times in search of safety during Israel's punishing air and ground campaign.

On Monday, after the evacuation order, multiple Israeli airstrikes hit around Khan Younis, killing at least 70 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, citing figures from Nasser Hospital.

The area is part of a 60-square-kilometer (roughly 20-square-mile) “humanitarian zone” to which Israel has been telling Palestinians to flee to throughout the war. Much of the area is blanketed with tent camps that lack sanitation and medical facilities and have limited access to aid, United Nations and humanitarian groups say. About 1.8 million Palestinians are sheltering there, according to Israel's estimates. That's more than half Gaza’s pre-war population of 2.3 million.

The war in Gaza has killed more than 39,100 Palestinians, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. The UN estimated in February that some 17,000 children in the territory are now unaccompanied, and the number is likely to have grown since.

The war began with an assault by Hamas fighters on southern Israel on Oct. 7 that killed 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and took about 250 hostages. About 115 are still in Gaza, about a third of them believed to be dead, according to Israeli authorities.