JERUSALEM 

The Israeli army is preparing a ground military operation in heavily-populated Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, amid plans to evacuate residents before the launch, media reports said Friday. 

Apon requests form Egypt and the US, the military operation in Rafah will begin after a "large-scale evacuation" of residents from the city is completed, and after an agreement between Tel Aviv and Cairo about the Israeli military activity in border areas between Gaza and Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Axis, according to Israeli public broadcaster KAN,

KAN claimed that Israel informed several countries in the region and the US about its preparedness for the operation in Rafah.

According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, the Israeli army has approved ground operation in Rafah in southern Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Israeli Channel 12 reported that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed US Secretary of State Blinken that ground operations in Rafah may begin within two weeks.

Earlier Friday, Netanyahu ordered the Israeli military to set a dual plan to evacuate Palestinian residents from Rafah, home to more than 1 million residents seeking refuge from war, and to defeat the last Hamas battalions.

Since the start of the Israeli onslaught against Gaza on Oct. 7, Israel ordered residents in northern and central Gaza to evacuate toward the southern part of the enclave, leading to the current overcrowded conditions in the south, especially in Rafah.

Israel continues its onslaught on Gaza where at least 27,947 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 67,459 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli offensive has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar