New satellite images appear to show Israel building an enormous tent city as it prepares to evacuate the more than one million Palestinians who have sought refuge in Rafah, the last standing city in the Gaza Strip.
Photos from satellite imaging company Planet Labs show a marked build up of tents in a uniform pattern near Khan Younis, which has largely been levelled during the bloody invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israel’s military.
The photos, taken three days apart on April 18 and April 21 respectively, show white structures being built up significantly over a short period of time.
Israel has said several times that it plans to evacuate displaced civilians from Rafah ahead of a six-week military operation that will likely begin in May.
Egyptian officials told the Wall Street Journal that the first few weeks will be dedicated to evacuating refugees to Khan Younis and other areas equipped with shelters and medical facilities.
The preparations come as the US says that Hamas is gearing up for a ‘full-scale regional war.’
The photos, taken three days apart on April 18 and April 21 respectively, show white structures being built up significantly over a short period of time
Israel has said several times that it plans to evacuate displaced civilians from Rafah ahead of a six-week military operation that will likely begin in May
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas
The conflict has sparked regional unrest pitting Israel and the US against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East
State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said that Hamas was ‘moving the goalposts’ in hostage and ceasefire negotiations, adding that the terror group declined a ‘very significant proposal’, though did not specify what this was.
He said: ‘It certainly does seem like Hamas is more interested in a full-scale regional war.
‘It takes two to make an agreement, and right now Hamas has signalled that they don’t want an agreement.’
Miller urged Hamas to stay at the table, telling the group the ball was ‘in their court.’
The conflict has sparked regional unrest pitting Israel and the US against Iran and allied militant groups across the Middle East. Israel and Iran traded fire directly this month, raising fears of all-out war.
Other groups have been drawn into the wider conflict as well, with an elite Hezbollah commander being killed in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Monday.
Mohammad Khalil Atiyeh was a member of the terror group’s elite Radwan force.
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows tents and other makeshift housing built up around the area of the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp Saturday, April 20, 2024
Civil defense teams and locals carry out search and rescue efforts after an Israeli attack hits Abdulal family building in Rafah
Relatives of Palestinians who lost their lives as a result of an Israeli airstrike mourn
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and allied groups have been clashing with Israeli forces along the border for more than six months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The war was sparked by the unprecedented October 7 raid into southern Israel in which Hamas and other militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages.
Israel says militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.
The Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, around two-thirds of them children and women. It has devastated Gaza’s two largest cities and left a swath of destruction.
The Gaza Health Ministry said Tuesday the bodies of 32 people killed by Israeli strikes have been brought to local hospitals over the past 24 hours. Hospitals also received 59 wounded, it said in its daily report.
A Palestinian child checks the rubble of a house hit by overnight Israeli bombing in Rafah
A Palestinian woman checks the rubble of a home hit by overnight Israeli bombing in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 20
That brings the overall Palestinian death toll from the Israel-Hamas war to at least 34,183, the ministry said. Another 77,143 have been injured, it said.
The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians in its tallies, but has said that women and children make up around two thirds of those killed.
Around 80% of the territory’s population have fled to other parts of the besieged coastal enclave.
The US House of Representatives approved a $26 billion aid package on Saturday that includes around $9 billion in humanitarian assistance for Gaza, which experts say is on the brink of famine, as well as billions for Israel.
The US Senate could pass the package as soon as Tuesday, and President Joe Biden has promised to sign it immediately.
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