First Thing: Hamas tells Gaza City residents to stay put after Israel orders evacuation
www.theguardian.com
UN says order affecting 1.1 million people will spark ‘devastating humanitarian consequences’ amid likely Israeli ground assault

Hamas has called on Palestinians to stay in their homes after Israel issued sweeping evacuation orders for almost half of Gaza’s more than 2.3 million people ahead of an expected ground offensive.

The Hamas authority for refugee affairs today told residents in the north of the territory to “remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation”.

  • SwampYankeeEnglish
    72·
    1 year ago

    It seems like the airstrikes damaging the crossing is a more recent development that I wasn’t aware of. Your CBC article and the CNN article posted above are only an hour old. Your Times of Israel article says this:

    The Rafah crossing was open for periods Tuesday morning, but Egypt only allowed through Palestinians who’d already gotten authorization to leave the Strip.

    On the Rafah crossing’s Facebook page, Gazans lamented the decision to not open the crossing for anyone wishing to leave, with one user writing: “Interior Ministry, this is not the time to put someone in danger who survived a bombing and miraculously reached the crossing. We cannot return to death.”