As Israel expands its military operation in Rafah, it said some 300,000 Palestinians have fled toward Mawasi, a stretch of land near the sea in southern part of the territory designated a humanitarian zone.
The evacuation orders in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought shelter from fighting elsewhere in Gaza, signaled an imminent escalation — a move that could prompt the White House to freeze offensive weapons shipments. Israel Defense Forces spokesman Daniel Hagari described the Rafah operation early Sunday as “precise” and “limited in scope,” saying that Israeli forces were avoiding the city’s “densely populated areas.”