The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) yesterday ordered yet another mass evacuation of Palestinians in Gaza, possibly on the scale of the disastrous mass evacuation of Rafah two months ago. This time, many who had fled Rafah and ended up in the Khan Younis area, have been ordered to evacuate once again. Last night, according to AP, streams of civilians on foot trudged out of the area. No small number of these, probably moved for the fourth time in nine months; an early evacuation of northern Gaza had swarmed into Khan Younis, before they were forced out farther south into the Rafah area. So, back to Khan Younis and now to points unknown, makes a total of four such mass evacuations.
The IDF’s instructions are that they are to move to Muwasi, about eight square miles of mostly undeveloped land and dirt roads in the most southwestern corner of Gaza, already overcrowded and unsanitary. Furthermore, since a key water pipeline lies in the zone being evacuated, many are being forced away from their last source of unpolluted water.
The evacuation zone also includes a larger area of land stretching down to, and including, the Kerem Shalom crossing at the corner of Israel, Gaza and Egypt. Although more isolated than the Rafah crossing, it had become more vital in the last two months as aid trucks were being disrupted in passing through Rafah.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that this latest evacuation order “just shows yet again that no place is safe in Gaza” for Palestinian civilians. “It’s another stop in this deadly circular movement that the population in Gaza has to undergo on a regular basis.” The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) estimated that around a quarter of a million Palestinians are in the affected area to be evacuated.
The purported reason Israel give is that Hamas has reappeared in an area previously cleared; so, the IDF must re-clear it. The reality is that Hamas is primarily a hardline political entity with a military component attached. It has been the elected governing body in Gaza for almost two decades, the beneficiary of Israel’s undermining the Palestinian Authority and rewarding Hamas. Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians has done more to recruit and enlarge Hamas than anything else. Now, Israel can properly claim that they find Hamas operatives wherever there is a body of Palestinians. There is no “wiping out” of, or “total victory” over, Hamas. The situation has been compared to a sick game of whack-a-mole.
