Evacuation out of Rafah would take 'weeks': CENTCOM chief

WASHINGTON

The head of US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Thursday that an evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza's southern city of Rafah would take "weeks."

That was Michael "Erik" Kurilla’s response to being asked by a lawmaker on the Senate House Armed Services Committee if 1.3 million residents could be moved from Rafah for a possible Israel invasion "in two weeks."

He said he could not give a timeframe “without seeing their (Israel's) definitive plan.”

Kurilla was asked if there is a place in Gaza that is set up to receive 1.3 million people if they are moved from Rafah, to which he responded: "I don't know of a place right now.”

Israel announced plans to conduct a "major activity" in Rafah following the evacuation of Palestinians to the west of the city.

Kurilla said he talks to the Israeli defense chief "on a routine basis," adding: "I do not advise them on the actual day-to-day operations."

He said Israeli military officials told him that "they are not going to take action until they have the ability to protect the civilians and move them out of the area."

"I don't think they have finalized the plan for that,” he said. “I am not aware of their current plans to be able to do the civilian harm mitigation for Rafah.”

Asked about Israel's "military endgame for Gaza,” Kurilla said: "I think they're still working on that."

He reiterated that there is "no plan" to put US "boots" on the ground.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack led by Hamas in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed.

Nearly 32,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have since been killed in Gaza, and nearly 74,200 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war, now in its 167th day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of most food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in January issued an interim ruling ordering Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.