STORY: Israel's military carried out airstrikes in Rafah on Monday (May 6), residents said, hours after Israel told Palestinians to evacuate parts of the southern Gaza city where more than a million people have been sheltering.
Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV said Israel had targeted areas in eastern Rafah near neighborhoods given evacuation orders.
This follows an overnight aerial attack on Rafah, where Israeli planes hit 10 houses, killing at least 20 people and wounding several, medical officials said.
The Israeli military said it had attacked the site of Sunday's (May 5) mortar launch that killed four Israeli soldiers...
and that it was conducting limited operations on the eastern part of Rafah in response to that mortar strike.
Palestinian families began fleeing to what the Israeli military called an 'expanded humanitarian zone' 12 miles away, instructed by Arabic text messages, phone calls, and flyers.
Abu Ahmed is a displaced Palestinian:
"The Israeli occupation told people to go to Rafah and that it is a safe area. Today, they're telling us to get out of Rafah. Where will the people go? Where will all these crowds go? 1.5 million, or 2 million civilians, where will they go?"
Israel's military said it had urged residents of Rafah to evacuate in a "limited scope" operation.
It gave no specific reasons nor did it say if offensive action might follow.
A senior Hamas official said the evacuation order was a "dangerous escalation" that would have consequences.
Fears grow of a full-blown assault in Rafah, that has been long threatened by Israel against holdouts it says harbor thousands of Hamas fighters and potentially dozens of hostages.
The war began after Hamas' cross-border raid on Oct. 7 in which 1,200 people were killed and 252 hostages taken, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel's assault has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and wounded 78,000, according to Gaza's health ministry.
