Israel seeks 40,000 tents to evacuate Rafah civilians

Israel is purchasing 40,000 tents to prepare for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Rafah, before it starts its offensive on the southernmost city in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official confirmed Tuesday. Four Hamas battalions are believed to be stationed in Rafah. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that without launching an offensive in the city, Israel won’t be able to achieve the goals laid out at the start of the war of defeating the terror group. Rafah is also thought to be where many Hamas leaders are hiding, possibly along with hostages. The population of Rafah has swelled to more than one million people — or half of Gaza’s total population — since the start of the war as civilians evacuated southward to flee the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Israel has said it has a plan to evacuate civilians ahead of its offensive, and the Defense Ministry on Monday published a tender seeking a supplier of 40,000 tents. The Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the tents were part of the Rafah preparations and would be enough to shelter nearly 500,000 people. Netanyahu said Monday that a date had been set for the offensive, though he has announced his authorization of IDF operational plans for Rafah at least four times over the past two months.