The Associated Press quoted the Israeli occupation army as saying on Wednesday that it plans to direct a large portion of the 1.4 million displaced Palestinians living in the city of Rafah in the far south of the Gaza Strip towards “humanitarian islands” in the center of the Strip before its planned attack in the region.

It is noteworthy that the fate of the people in besieged Rafah is a source of great concern to Israel’s allies, the United States, and humanitarian organizations, which are concerned that an attack on the area crowded with many displaced people may be disastrous. The Rafah crossing is also the main entry point into Gaza to obtain aid, which has reached critical levels.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated several times, "The attack on Rafah is necessary to achieve Israel's declared goal of destroying Hamas in the wake of the attack launched by the movement on October 7, in which about 1,200 civilians were killed and about 250 hostages were taken and transferred to Gaza."

The Israeli war on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 31,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, leaving much of the Strip in ruins and displacing about 80% of Gaza's population of 2.3 million.

The Associated Press attributed to Israel's chief military spokesman, Admiral Daniel Hagari, that the transfer of people in Rafah to the designated areas, which he said would be done in coordination with international actors, was a key part of the army's preparations for the expected invasion of Rafah, where Israel claims the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas It maintains four battalions that Israel wants to destroy.

The population of the city of Rafah has doubled in recent months as Palestinians in Gaza fled from one place to another in accordance with Israeli instructions.

The spokesman said, "We need to make sure that 1.4 million people, or at least a large number of the 1.4 million, will move. Where? To the humanitarian islands that we will create with the international community."

Hajari said that these islands will provide temporary housing, food, water and other necessities for the evacuated Palestinians. He did not mention when Rafah would be evacuated nor when the attack on Rafah would begin, saying that Israel wants the timing to be appropriate from an operational standpoint and for it to be coordinated with its neighbor Egypt, which said it does not want displaced Palestinians to flow across its borders.

The United States is speaking in a firm tone with Israel about its concerns about Rafah, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington has not yet received from Israel its plans regarding civilians there.

“We need to see a plan that will get civilians out of harm’s way if there is a military operation in Rafah,” he told reporters in Washington after holding a virtual ministerial meeting on Gaza aid with officials from the United Nations, the European Union and Britain.

It is noteworthy that relief groups said that there are no real plans to receive large numbers of displaced people there.

The Gaza Ministry of Health says more than 31,270 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and most of the Strip's 2.3 million residents have been forced to leave their homes.

On Wednesday, an Israeli raid hit a food distribution site in southern Gaza run by UNRWA, the UN agency that works with Palestinian refugees, killing one agency employee and wounding 22 others.

His death brings to 165 the number of agency workers killed during the past five months of fighting, according to UNRWA.

Health authorities in Gaza said that five people were killed in the raid on the yard of an UNRWA warehouse.

Hajjari said the army was studying the report.

The conflict has sparked a humanitarian catastrophe that has led to increased hunger. The aid delivery process has been hampered by Israeli restrictions, ongoing hostilities and the collapse of the regime inside Gaza, according to the United Nations. Israel denies imposing restrictions on the entry of aid.