Israel's military said on Monday that Palestinians should leave eastern Rafah before the city is invaded.
Gaza aid officials said Israeli jets bombed two areas after the warning was given.
Israel called for evacuation due to increased disagreement with Hamas over ending the seven-month war.
The United States and Qatar were set to have discussions in Doha, but negotiations reportedly stalled after a rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to send troops to fight Hamas in Rafah, despite objections from the United States, other countries, and aid groups.
The evacuation order was issued to protect people from harm following a deadly rocket attack that Israel's military said originated from an area near Rafah.
Gazan civil defense and aid officials reported that Israeli jets struck Al-Shuka and Al-Salam, among other areas, after they were instructed to evacuate the day before.
The primary aid organization in Gaza, UNRWA, stated that a military offensive in Rafah would lead to more civilian suffering and deaths.
UNRWA also mentioned that they are not participating in the evacuation.
A military spokesperson estimated that around 100,000 people should evacuate.
However, Ossama al-Kahlut, a representative of the Palestine Red Crescent in eastern Rafah, stated that around 250,000 people, many of whom have been displaced from other parts of Gaza, are located in the designated evacuation zone.
On January 1, Israel announced that the Gaza war would continue until 2024, with ongoing strikes causing numerous casualties in the Palestinian territory and reciprocal rocket attacks by Hamas. warned – 'Where can we go?' –
One resident, Abdul Rahman Abu Jazar, 36, expressed concerns about not having enough space to set up tents in the refuge they were instructed to go to, which is already crowded with displaced people.
He asked AFP, 'Where can we go?'
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated on Friday that Israel has not presented a credible plan to protect civilians during the threatened ground invasion.
Without such a plan, the US cannot support a major military operation in Rafah, Blinken added.
On Monday, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell condemned the evacuation orders as 'unacceptable,' warning that they indicate the likelihood of more war and famine, and urging Israel to abandon a ground offensive.
The French foreign ministry expressed strong opposition to an offensive in Rafah.
Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East coordinator for the Action Against Hunger charity, told AFP that the areas now open for evacuees were previously considered dangerous and closed.
Gaza's deadliest war began after Hamas made an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, resulting in over 1,170 deaths, mostly civilians, based on an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel believes that 128 of the hostages taken by militants on October 7 are still in Gaza, and 35 of them are confirmed dead according to the military.
Israel has promised to eliminate Hamas and has carried out a retaliatory attack that has resulted in the deaths of at least 34,735 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, as reported by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Approximately 1.2 million people are seeking shelter in Rafah, according to the World Health Organization.
The Israeli military has urged residents in the city’s eastern zone to relocate to the “expanded humanitarian area” at Al-Mawasi on Gaza’s nearby coast, as stated in a release.
The area “includes field hospitals, tents and increased quantities of food, water, medication and other supplies,” it mentioned.
– Repeatedly bombed –
Shortly after the war began, Israel instructed Palestinians residing in northern Gaza to move to “safe zones” in the south – specifically Rafah near the Egyptian border.
However, Rafah has been frequently bombed from the air – even on Monday after the evacuation order – and Palestinians often claim that nowhere in Gaza is secure.
In late March, Gaza’s health ministry disclosed that a minimum of 12 individuals were killed in an air strike that targeted a tent for displaced people in Al-Mawasi.
During that time, the Israeli military informed AFP that they were investigating the report.
Medical personnel and first responders reported that Israeli air strikes resulted in the deaths of 16 individuals in Rafah on Sunday. The strikes followed Hamas rocket fire that killed Israeli soldiers in the Kerem Shalom border crossing area between southern Israel and Gaza.
The strike prompted Israeli authorities to close the crossing, which is used to deliver aid into Gaza. In response, the military stated that its air force destroyed the launchers from which the projectiles were fired.
On Monday, Al-Qahera News, associated with Egyptian intelligence services, cited a high-ranking source who stated that the rocket strike “has caused truce negotiations to bog down”.
The deadliest Gaza war ever was initiated by Hamas’s attacks on Israel on October 7, resulting in the deaths of around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
– Holocaust Remembrance Day –
Despite the evacuation order, Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou told AFP that the movement “will continue the negotiations positively and with an open heart”.
CIA director Bill Burns, acting as a mediator in the talks, is anticipated to meet with Qatar’s prime minister in Doha for “emergency” discussions, according to a source familiar with the truce talks who informed AFP on Sunday.
The source, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, stated that the meeting would attempt “to see if the talks can be brought back on track”.
A Hamas official involved in the negotiations mentioned on Sunday that the group’s negotiators were traveling from Cairo to Doha for “consultations,” after the previous round of talks failed to yield results.
Hamas negotiators are expected to return to Cairo on Tuesday, as per Al-Qahera News.
Discussions took place on Sunday without the presence of an Israeli delegation.
However, Netanyahu expressed his thoughts.
At a Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Jerusalem, he denounced a “volcano of anti-Semitism” and international criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Netanyahu said if Israel has to stand alone, it will do so.
Hamas's Ismail Haniyeh, based in Qatar, accused Netanyahu of ruining the talks, which Netanyahu's office called 'a complete lie' on Monday.
Joost Hiltermann, who directs the Middle East and North Africa programme at the International Crisis Group think-tank, told AFP that the Hamas rocket fire on Sunday and Israel’s evacuation order can be understood in the context of the truce talks.
He said that when there's a breakdown, the violence increases.
Israel’s military on Monday called for the evacuation of Palestinians from eastern Rafah before a ground invasion. Gaza aid officials said Israeli jets hit two areas where the warning had been issued. The evacuation order followed increased disagreement between Israel and Hamas over the Islamist group’s demands.
AFP
