Israel prepares assault on Rafah as it seeks to allay fears of ‘bloodbath’

Israeli forces geared up on Friday for a ground assault on Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people displaced by violence further north are trapped in desperate conditions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the military had been told to come up with a plan to evacuate civilians, but aid agencies warned that a military offensive in such a densely populated area could end up killing large numbers of innocent people.

“There is a sense of growing anxiety, growing panic in Rafah because basically people have no idea where to go,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.