Jerusalem: Israel has procured tens of thousands of tents for Palestinian civilians it intends to evacuate from Rafah in the coming weeks ahead of a promised assault on the city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli sources said on Wednesday.
Their fate worries Western powers as well as Cairo, which has ruled out any influx of refugees into the Egyptian Sinai.
After weeks of talks with the United States about civilian safeguards, Israel's Defence Ministry has bought 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, for Palestinians relocated from Rafah, Israeli government sources said.
Video circulated online appeared to show rows of square white tents going up in Khan Younis, a city some 5 km (3 miles) from Rafah.
Reuters could not verify this but received images from satellite company Maxar showing multiple tent camps on Khan Younis land that had been vacant on April 7.
Jerusalem: Israel has procured tens of thousands of tents for Palestinian civilians it intends to evacuate from Rafah in the coming weeks ahead of a promised assault on the city it sees as the last bastion of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israeli sources said on Wednesday.
Abutting the Egyptian border, Rafah's population has been swollen by more than a million Palestinians who fled the half-year-old Israeli offensive through the rest of Gaza.
Their fate worries Western powers as well as Cairo, which has ruled out any influx of refugees into the Egyptian Sinai.
After weeks of talks with the United States about civilian safeguards, Israel's Defence Ministry has bought 40,000 tents, each with the capacity for 10 to 12 people, for Palestinians relocated from Rafah, Israeli government sources said.
Video circulated online appeared to show rows of square white tents going up in Khan Younis, a city some 5 km (3 miles) from Rafah.
Reuters could not verify this but received images from satellite company Maxar showing multiple tent camps on Khan Younis land that had been vacant on April 7.
Israel's Defence Ministry declined all comments.
