Israel Army to evacuate Gaza’s Rafah
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Israel Army to evacuate Gaza’s Rafah
Subject: IR
Section: Places in news
Context: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said he has ordered the military to prepare a plan to evacuate civilians from Rafah ahead of an expected Israeli invasion of the densely populated southern Gaza city.
Rafah
- Rafah is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip.
- Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and the State of Palestine. The crossing is controlled by Egypt.
- Gaza’s only airport, Yasser Arafat International Airport, was located just south of the city.
- Rafah had a pre-war population of roughly 2,80,000, and as per the UN is now home to 1.4 million additional people.
- It is the only exit that does not lead to Israeli territory.
- There are only two other border crossings in and out of Gaza:
- Erezis located in the north and is used by people in Israel.
- Kerem Shalom, in the south, which is exclusively for commercial goods.
- Both Erez and Kerem Shalom controlled by Israel are currently closed.
