CAIRO, February 9. /TASS/. Israel’s plans to continue its military operation in the Gaza Strip, especially in the south of the enclave, are running the risk of becoming the beginning of the expulsion of Palestinians from their soil, the Palestinian leadership warned.

"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements about plans to continue the aggression in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and evacuate civilians from this area are a real threat and a prelude to the implementation of [Israel’s] policy geared to oust Palestinians from their lands," according to a statement cited by the WAFA agency.

The statement points to the danger of this "Israel’s destructive policy" and places the responsibility for its consequences on the "current Israeli government and the US administration, which supports it."

The Palestinian leadership called on the entire world to "prevent the beginning of another catastrophe, which will push the region toward endless wars."

Earlier in the day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed the country’s military to work out a plan to evacuate civilians from the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and exterminate Hamas battalions still entrenched in the city.

On February 7, Netanyahu said that the Israeli military was ordered to prepare for an operation in the city of Rafah located near the border with Egypt.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres earlier warned against Israel’s plans to expand its military operation in Gaza to Rafah, which gives shelter to thousands of Palestinians as this will only worsen the humanitarian situation in the enclave.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.