As the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) prepare to carry out a land invasion in order to root out Hamas from Gaza, the Israeli government put out a call for the one million civilians, about half the population, in northern Gaza to evacuate the area. 

“The Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies,” an Israeli military spokesman, John Conricus, said. “We don’t assess them as such, and we don’t target them as such. We are trying to do the right thing.”

While this was motivated by Israel’s desire to minimize civilian suffering in its war on the terrorist organization that uses its civilians as human shields, it was hampered on several fronts. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres wrote an editorial in the New York Times on Friday calling on Israel to “reconsider” its war on Hamas.In his opinion piece, Guterres writes that the warnings are “dangerous and deeply troubling,” and says that “any demand for a mass evacuation on extremely short notice could have devastating humanitarian consequences.”

While members of the UN Security council have condemned the Hamas attack on Israel in which 1,300 civilians were brutally murdered, the UN has refused to condemn Hamas. A condemnation issued by Guterres on the day of the attack was predicated on a call for restraint in Israel’s response and a renewed call for a “two-state solution”.

Indeed the Hamas terrorist organization which controls Gaza ordered its civilians to remain in place.

“Hamas has always said that there is no surrender, there is only freedom and justice,” the terrorist group said in a statement on Sunday.

Gazans could evacuate entirely via the Rafah Crossing with Egypt but the Egyptian government closed the crossing on Tuesday, preventing the exit of refugees as well as the influx of humanitarian aid. Foreign nationals are also being prevented from exiting Gaza via Rafah.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday, after which it was agreed to open the crossing on Monday on a limited basis and for only a few hours.

“Rafah will be reopened. We’re putting in place with the United Nations, with Egypt, with Israel, with others, a mechanism by which to get the assistance in and to get it to people who need it,” Blinken said.

Movement through the Rafah crossing is normally extremely limited, as Gaza has been under a joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade ever since Hamas seized control in 2007.

Egypt has been reluctant to accept refugees from the outset of the war. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi addressed the issue at a military college graduation ceremony in Cairo. 

“The threat there is significant because it means the liquidation of this (Palestinian) cause,” el-Sissi said at a military college graduation ceremony in Cairo. “It’s important for its people to stay steadfast and exist on its land.”

He also pointed out that Egypt already hosts some nine million refugees including 300,000 from Sudan. Other Egyptian sources have expressed concern that there are no guarantees that the refugees from Gaza will return to their homes after Israel’s war against Hamas is complete. 

Israel’s ambassador in Egypt, Amira Oron, said in a post on social media that Israel had “no intentions in relation to Sinai, and has not asked Palestinians to move there … Sinai is Egyptian territory.”

Gaza was, in fact, a part of Egypt from 1948 until Israel conquered the Sinai Peninsula in the 1967 Six-Day War. When Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David Accords normalizing relations in 1979, Egypt conditioned the agreement on Gaza remaining under Israel’s authority. Egypt was already struggling with radical Islam within its borders and was aware of the growing elements inside Gaza.

Antony Blinken also met with Jordan’s King Abdullah last week who refused to open his borders to refugees, concerned that the refugees would remain in Jordan.

“His Majesty King Abdullah II warns against any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians from all Palestinian Territories or cause their internal displacement, calling for preventing a spillover of the crisis into neighbouring countries and the exacerbation of the refugee issue,” the Jordanian government tweeted.

The Jordanian military on Friday placed roadblocks on the main roads leading to Israel and dispersed several hundred Jordanians who tried to reach the border.

The Palestinian Authority is in a difficult position. Following the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif in 2005, an election was held in Gaza after which Hamas violently ousted the Authority from the strip. The two factions have been engaged in an ongoing political and strategic conflict ever since. While Blinken also met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, it is unlikely that the PA will aid its rival. 

Abbas opposed allowing the Gaza residents to flee, saying that it would  constitute a “second Nakba”/ Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic) refers to the Israeli victory in 1948 that prevented its annihilation by the Arab armies.

The PA released a statement on Sunday in WAFA News criticizing Hamas, saying. “that Hamas’ policies and actions do not represent the Palestinian people, and the policies, programs and decisions of the (Palestine Liberation Organization) represent the Palestinian people as their sole legitimate representative.”

Several hours later, the phrase was adjusted to read: “The president also stressed that the policies, programs, and decisions of the PLO represent the Palestinian people as their sole legitimate representative, and not the policies of any other organization.”

There are approximately three million Palestinians in Jordan, representing approximately 60 percent of the country’s total population and 40% of the total registered Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.  Today, most Palestinians and their descendants in Jordan are fully naturalized, making Jordan the only Arab country to fully integrate the Palestinian refugees of 1948.

It should be noted that the region was not historically Arab. For several centuries during the Ottoman period,  the population in the region declined and fluctuated between 150,000 and 250,000 inhabitants, and it was only in the 19th century that a rapid population growth began to occur. This growth was aided by the immigration of Egyptians and Algerians in the first half of the 19th century.

On October 7, thousands of Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel’s southern border, murdering over 1,300 civilians. Over 5,000 rockets have been fired at Israeli cities since the attack.