<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Humanitarian workers have no knowledge of plans to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza’s southernmost city ahead of an expected Israeli assault, but such a transfer would not be “possible” under current conditions, a Red Cross official told AFP .</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The rumor is that the probability of a major operation in Rafah is increasing,” Fabrizio Carboni, Middle East regional director for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on the sidelines of an aid conference in the United Arab Emirates.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">“When we see the level of destruction in the middle area (of Gaza) and in the north, it’s not clear to us where people will be moved to, where they can have decent shelter and essential services,” he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“So today, with the information we have and from where we stand, we don’t see this (massive evacuation) as possible.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel is poised to send troops into Rafah, the Gazan city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas, Israeli media reported on Wednesday, saying preparations were under way to evacuate war-displaced Palestinian civilians who have been sheltering there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Rafah sweep, postponed for several weeks amid disputes with Washington, will happen “very soon,” the mass-circulation Israel Hayom newspaper said, citing a decision by the Israeli government after ceasefire talks with Hamas stalled.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Several other Israeli media outlets carried similar reports. Some noted footage on social media that appeared to show the erection of a tent city for Rafah evacuees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and the Israeli military spokesperson’s office had no immediate comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">More than 1.5 million of Gaza’s population of 2.4 million had sheltered in Rafah, the last major population center in Gaza that Israeli ground troops have yet to enter, though thousands have been seen heading back north.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has for two months talked of sending troops into Rafah to go after Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that runs Gaza.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Sunday, he said the Israeli military would increase pressure to “deliver additional and painful blows” to the group behind the October 7 attack on Israel which triggered the ongoing war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Israel’s allies including Washington have warned against a Rafah operation, fearing a worsening of Gaza’s already catastrophic humanitarian conditions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We don’t see for the time being any plans for civilian evacuations,” Carboni said during the interview on Tuesday at the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference (DIHAD).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But “there is no condition for a military operation without devastating humanitarian consequences,” he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Considering the level of destruction, considering that people are tired, some of them wounded and sick, and the limited access to food and essential services, I see (evacuations) as extremely challenging.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Israeli government said it was planning different evacuation scenarios, including the creation of tent cities that would be spared the fighting and would be set up with international support.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Citing Egyptian officials briefed on the Israeli plan, the Wall Street Journal reported that the evacuation operation would last two to three weeks and be carried out in coordination with the United States and Arab countries, including the UAE as well as Egypt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But Carboni said an evacuation would be “difficult” to complete in that time frame.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also speaking to AFP at DIHAD on Tuesday, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said that “everybody seems to be on a countdown to war across the largest displacement camp on earth, which is Rafah.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Describing a Rafah onslaught as an “apocalyptic situation,” Jan Egeland said aid workers operating inside Gaza have not been briefed on plans to mitigate civilian suffering during a Rafah offensive.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There is no information, no consultation with the humanitarians, no advice, no hope,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Humanitarians in Gaza are “not hearing from the donors. They’re not hearing from the Western sponsors of Israel, and nothing from Israel itself,” Egeland said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“What they hear is that Netanyahu says that he will attack but not plans for where should the civilians go, how can aid be provided or how can access be secured.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We are completely in the dark on how to mitigate this countdown to a catastrophe.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The little aid that is entering Gaza is being distributed in real time leaving no buffer stock that could be used in the event of a massive population movement, Egeland said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“There is no stocks, there is no fuel and more importantly, there is no liquidity. There is no money, we cannot pay our staff salaries. We cannot pay those who deliver the services,” the NRC chief added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,183 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. - AFP/Reuters</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/fas</div>