The Defense Ministry has purchased 40,000 tents to better enable evacuation and operation in Rafah in the near future.
Although the ministry acknowledged to the Jerusalem Post that 40,000 tents would not be enough for the full 1.4 million Palestinian civilians currently in Rafah, it is still considered a significant step forward.
Leaking, though there was no formal announcement, the purchase of the tents could also be a nod to the US by being transparent about the process to prepare for the evacuation in advance after months in which Washington complained that Israel’s preparations for evacuating civilians were both too secretive and insufficient.
In addition, leaking the purchase of the tents could be a serious attempt to signal to Hamas that Israel means business about invading Rafah if there is no hostage deal in the near future.
Israel and the US have been debating whether the evacuation of the Palestinian civilians from Rafah would take one or four months.
The IDF is hoping that significant numbers of civilians self-evacuate and return to Khan Yunis following its withdrawal from that area on Sunday, which might also decrease the number of tents needed.
Evacuating them up to Khan Yunis
To date, the IDF’s plan for evacuating civilians from Rafah included moving them back to Khan Yunis, to Muwasi on the coast near Rafah, and to central Gaza.
But an additional twist has been that Israel’s plans were focused on moving the civilians out of Rafah, whereas Washington wanted Israel to also ensure there would be tents, food, and medical field centers ready to absorb them in the areas they were being moved to.