Netanyahu Orders IDF to Plan Evacuation of Southern Gazan City of Rafah and Destruction of Hamas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that he has ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to develop a plan to evacuate the population of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah, to make way for a military assault targeting elements of the Hamas terrorist group there. “It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah. On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said in a post on the X social media platform on Friday afternoon. “Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions.”...