The prime minister of Israel announced on Wednesday that about half a million people had been removed from the far-southern Gaza city of Rafah, and he played down popular concerns about a potential “humanitarian catastrophe.”
“Our responsible efforts are bearing fruit,” Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “So far, in Rafah, close to half a million people have been evacuated from the combat zones.”
The world community has encouraged Israel to hold off on starting a ground offensive in Rafah, where 1.4 million Palestinians have taken refuge. This included Washington, Israel’s main backer.
Netanyahu, however, emphasized that “neither did nor will the humanitarian catastrophe that was spoken about materialize.”
Last week, Israel moved troops and tanks east of Rafah to chase militants, defying numerous warnings, including one from the US, which halted a bomb shipment.
Nearly 450,000 Palestinians have been forced to leave Rafah since Israel started issuing evacuation orders for the governorate’s eastern regions on May 6, according to information released by the UN on Tuesday.
According to the UN, another 100,000 Palestinians had left their homes due to recent fighting in northern Gaza, making up over 25% of the population once more in less than a week.
“Our forces are fighting throughout the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu said, adding that “we are doing this while evacuating the civilian population and fulfilling our commitment to its humanitarian needs”.
‘No substitute for victory’
The Israeli premier doubled down on his determination to completely destroy Hamas, whose unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel sparked the ongoing war.
“Eliminating Hamas is a necessary step to ensure that on the ‘day after,’ there will be no element in Gaza that threatens us,” he said.
Hamas’s October 7 attack killed more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The militants also seized around 250 hostages, 128 of whom Israel estimates remain in Gaza, including 36 it says are dead.
Israel’s relentless bombardment and ground offensive in Gaza have since killed at least 35,233 people, mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Netanyahu said that any discussion on preparations concerning who rules Gaza after the war was just “empty talk” as long as Hamas remains in the territory.
He said that his government had “for months” been striving “to find a solution to this complex problem”, something it was “determined to achieve”.
“Until it is clear that Hamas does not militarily control Gaza, no entity will be willing to take civilian management of Gaza for fear of its well-being,” he said.
“Therefore, discussions about the ‘day after,’ when Hamas remains in power, will remain just talk — empty talk.”
He stressed that “there is no substitute for military victory” and that any belief that Israel can move forward without winning is “simply disconnected from reality”.