Israeli Radio announced on Monday morning that the army began evacuating the eastern outskirts of the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip in preparation for a military operation there, hours after three Israeli soldiers were killed and others wounded in an attack carried out by the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), on occupation military sites in The vicinity of the Kerem Shalom crossing.

The radio said that the Israeli army began evacuating residents from Rafah towards the displacement camps in Khan Yunis and Al-Mawasi ahead of the military operation.

The Israeli army asked the residents of the eastern region of Rafah to evacuate immediately to what it called the expanded humanitarian zone in Al-Mawasi, an area on the coast extending between Rafah and Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Satellite images revealed that the Israeli army deployed about 300 Israeli military vehicles near the Rafah border.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly announced his determination to invade Rafah under the pretext of eliminating Hamas brigades in the region, despite American and international warnings about the humanitarian consequences of any military operation in the city, which is home to about 1.5 million displaced people.

Netanyahu stated on several occasions that his forces would enter Rafah, whether or not a prisoner exchange deal was reached.

In exchange for the threats of Netanyahu and his ministers, Hamas threatened the occupation that it would pay a heavy price if its forces penetrated Rafah.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies