The IDF ramped up their preparation for a large-scale ground assault in the city, including instructions and drills among the commanders that will lead the activity, the source said. Also, in the last 12 hours, the army raised the level of readiness for an eventual raid into the city and the refugee camps at the center of the Strip, Walla reported.

UN agencies, NGOs, and numerous countries, even Israel’s allies, have criticized multiple times an eventual offensive against the city for the painful humanitarian consequences it would have on the Palestine population at the enclave, which has been under fire for 194 days.

The government of Egypt, which borders Rafah, rejected any attacks and alerted it might be a fatal blow to relations between both nations.

The Egyptian authorities fear an avalanche of Palestinian refugees and accused Israel on multiple occasions of planning a forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of the Strip.

According to the UN, the situation in Rafah is catastrophic due to the lack of food, water, medicine, and other vital products, which joins the overcrowding, the lack of hygienic conditions, and Israel’s systematic air strikes.

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