What appears to be the beginnings of a tent city has been spotted in southern Gaza near Khan Younis.
Satellite images of the area as recent as Saturday, obtained by the Associated Press show a number of white structures popping up near the site.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, the Israeli military confirmed Wednesday that it had purchased 40,000 tents which will be set up by Israel and Egypt to house displaced Palestinians, and moved to deploy two reserve brigades to Gaza.
The aforementioned tent city appears to have been erected by the Egyptian Red Crescent, per officials from the country, though the Israeli government declined to say whether it was military-related.
"We have not greenlighted a military operation," United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf said on Wednesday when asked about a potential Rafah offensive. "I want to be very clear on that point. In fact we've been quite clear publicly and privately that there’s no question of a military operation—major or slightly less than major—being undertaken in circumstances in which you have over a million people crowded into a very small space in the vicinity of Rafah."
Meanwhile, US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller suggested Hamas was "more interested in a full-scale regional war," adding that the terrorists had declined a "significant proposal" offered to them by the Americans hoping to free the hostages.
