Israel and the US have been debating whether the evacuation of the Palestinian civilians from Rafah would take one or four months.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-796139
The Defense Ministry has purchased 40,000 tents to better enable the evacuation and prepare for an invitation of Rafah in the relatively near future.
Although the ministry acknowledged to the Jerusalem Post that 40,000 tents would not be enough for all 1.4 million Palestinian civilians currently in Rafah, it is still considered a significant step forward.
There was no official announcement. The leak of the purchase could also be a nod to the US, being transparent about the process to prepare for the evacuation in advance after months in which Washington complained that Israel’s preparations for evacuating civilians were both too secretive, and insufficient.
