‘ESCALATION’

Hamas Threatens Consequences as Israel Orders Rafah Evacuation

An official with the group said the U.S. government also “bears responsibility” for the situation.

Hamas condemned Israel’s order Monday for Palestinians to evacuate certain areas of Rafah, the southern Gaza city sheltering over a million people displaced by the war. A senior official with Hamas described the order to Reuters as a “dangerous escalation” that would have consequences. “The U.S. administration, alongside the occupation, bears responsibility for this terrorism,” Sami Abu Zuhri, the official, told Reuters. The order appears to come ahead of an assault on the city that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to carry out in an effort to target remaining Hamas holdouts. President Joe Biden has warned against any such operation over fears that it could worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza. An IDF spokesperson claimed the evacuation affecting eastern Rafah is “limited” in scope, with about 100,000 people being told to move to what the Israeli military has called a “humanitarian area” to the north.