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The Israeli regime is forcibly evacuating Palestinians from the eastern part of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip amid the prospect of its widely-discouraged ground invasion.

“The estimate is around 100,000 people,” an Israeli military spokesman told journalists on Monday when asked how many people were being evacuated.

International organizations, including the United Nations, have repeatedly warned the regime against invading the city, citing its hosting around 1.5 million Palestinian refugees.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a ground assault on Rafah would “put the final nail in the coffin” for humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also said, “Any ground operation would mean more suffering and death,” with an official saying “It could be a slaughter of civilians.”

Multiple aid agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council, have likewise warned against a Rafah offensive.

The NRC said such an invasion “would profoundly exacerbate the already catastrophic levels of need and the humanitarian emergency for millions of civilians with nowhere left to go.”

The official alleged Hamas had killed three Israeli forces on Sunday, attacking them from Rafah.

The evacuation order came a sat least 22 people lost their lives in the regime’s airstrikes killed in Rafah earlier on Monday.

Rafah’s evacuation “is part of our plans to dismantle Hamas,” the Israeli spokesman added, referring to the Palestinian resistance movement that has been defending Gaza in the face of the war.

The Palestinians have fled there from the ravages of a war that the regime began waging against Gaza on October 7, following a retaliatory operation by the coastal sliver’s resistance groups.

At least 34,683 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed and 78,018 others injured so far during the brutal military onslaught.

On Friday, Hossam Badran, a member of Hamas’ Political Bureau, said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah was a key stumbling block in negotiations aimed at a truce agreement.

The Israeli premier has said the regime would go ahead with invading the city “with or without” a truce.

Hamas has, however, asserted that the regime has failed to defeat the resistance during the war.

Udupi: Udupi became the second city on the Karnataka coast after Mangaluru to launch water rationing, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Commissioner of the Udupi City Municipal Corporation Rayappa said that the rationing system will come into force from Wednesday and will continue till the water in the reservoir reaches comfortable levels.

The dam built across the Swarna river at a place called Baje, which is the only source of water for Udupi city, recorded 3.25 meters of water as against the top level of 6.30 meters.

The decision of water rationing will be reviewed periodically until the reservoir regains its fullest levels, the official said.

The Mangaluru City Corporation resorted to water rationing on Saturday following declining water levels in the reservoir built across the Nethravati river at Thumbe. 

The stage is all set for the third phase of voting for the Lok Sabha election, which will take place on Tuesday, May 7. The polling will take place across 94 Lok Sabha constituencies covering ten states and two union territories.

Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seats were also to vote in the third phase of polling. However, due to several connectivity issues, the Election Commission of India rescheduled it to May 25.

The voting in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election will begin at 7 am on Tuesday and conclude at 5 pm. The results will be declared on June 4.

Lok Sabha election Phase 3: List of states and constituencies:

Over 1,300 candidates, including 120 women, are in the fray in the third phase of the Lok Sabha election. Some of the key candidates include bigwigs such as union ministers Amit Shah, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Mansukh Mandaviya, Parshottam Rupala, Pralhad Joshi, and SP Singh Baghel. Former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh are also contesting the election in Madhya Pradesh. At the same time, the fate of former Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai will also be decided in the third phase. Meanwhile, several members of Mulayam Singh Yadav's family are also contesting in this phase in Uttar Pradesh.

List of key candidates and their constituencies

Amit Shah (BJP) - Gandhi Nagar, Gujarat

Digvijaya Singh (Congress) - Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh

Shivraj Singh Chouhan (BJP) - Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh

Dimple Yadav (SP) - Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh

Supriya Sule (NCP) - Baramati, Maharashtra

Purshottam Rupala (BJP) - Rajkot, Gujarat

Jyotiraditya Scindia (BJP) - Guna, Madhya Pradesh

Pralhad Joshi (BJP) - Dharwad, Karnataka

KS Eshwarappa (BJP) - Shimoga, Karnataka

Praniti Shinde (Congress) - Solapur, Maharashtra

Hasmukbhai Patel (BJP) - Ahmedabad East, Gujarat

Pallavi Dempo (BJP) - South Goa, Goa

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Congress) - Berhampore, West Bengal

The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases - with the first phases concluded on April 19 and April 26. The third phase will be held on May 7; the fourth phase will be held on May 13; the fifth phase will be on May 20; the sixth phase will be on May 25; and the seventh phase on June 1.