The Israeli occupation forces are calling on Palestinians in additional neighborhoods of Rafah to evacuate the area in the city in the southern Gaza Strip residents of Jabaliya and Beit Lahiya and two neighborhoods in northern Gaza, to evacuate to western Gaza City

Palestinians inspect the damage caused to their homes as a result of the Israeli bombing of several neighborhoods in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, May 10, 2024 (Photo: WAFA)

Last week, the occupation army issued an evacuation warning for the eastern outskirts of Rafah, before it pushed into the area. The latest warning covers the Rafah and Shaboura camps and the neighborhoods of Geneina and Khirbat al-Adas. The civilians are being called to move to an expanded designated “humanitarian zone” in the al-Mawasi and Khan Younis areas. According to UN estimates, over 110,000 people have fled Rafah since Monday due to the entry of Israeli military forces into the eastern outskirts of the city. Around a million Palestinians, who fled other parts of the enclave during the deadly war, are sheltering in Rafah. The move comes after the Israeli security cabinet voted on Thursday night to approve an expansion of the army’s operation in Rafah.

Rescue services in Gaza City reported at least ten deaths, and 21 deaths were reported in attacks in the Deir al-Balah area. Four Israeli soldiers were killed and several wounded as fierce battles raged across the Gaza Strip on Friday, while Hamas fired rockets at the southern city of Beersheba for the first time since December, lightly injuring a woman. The four soldiers were killed in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood.

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly backed a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognizing it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably.” The vote by the 193-member General Assembly was a global survey of support for the Palestinian bid to become a full UN member — a move that would effectively recognize a Palestinian state — after the United States vetoed it in the UN Security Council last month. The assembly adopted a resolution with 143 votes in favor and nine against — including the US and Israel — while 25 countries abstained. The General Assembly resolution “determines that the State of Palestine … should therefore be admitted to membership” and it “recommends that the Security Council reconsider the matter favorably.”

In occupied East Jerusalem, UNWRA, the main United Nations aid agency for Palestinians temporarily closed its headquarters after Israeli racist set fire to the compound, the agency said Thursday. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNWRA, said in a post on the social media platform X that he had decided to close the compound until “proper security” was restored.

Lazzarini said Thursday’s attack came after two months of “Israeli extremists staging protests outside the UNRWA compound,” adding that one protest earlier this week “became violent when demonstrators threw stones at UN staff and at the buildings of the compound.” He said Thursday’s incident was the second in less than a week. Also on Friday, South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures over the war in Gaza, the UN’s top court said.

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=31815