The United Nations (UN) has announced that 800,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee Rafah amid an Israeli military offensive in the southern Gaza Strip city, reports Al Jazeera Balkans.
“Approximately 800,000 people are on the road as they have been forced to flee since Israeli forces began a military operation in the area on May 6,” UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) chief Philippe Lazzarini announced on Platform X.
“Each time they are forced to leave behind some of the things they have, mattresses, tents, cooking utensils and basic supplies they cannot carry and pay for transport. Each time they have to start over,” Lazzarini wrote.
He added that people are fleeing to areas where there is no water supply.
On Saturday, intense fighting took place throughout Gaza, not only in Rafah, and dozens of Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks.
The Gaza Ministry of Health announced that 83 Palestinians were killed in the last 24 hours.
Attacks across the besieged enclave are an indication that there is no safe place in Gaza for people who have taken refuge in Rafah to flee.
Israel is facing numerous international warnings, including from the United States, not to launch an invasion of Rafah. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government appears to be ignoring the warnings and continuing to attack.
Last week, Israeli forces captured the Rafah crossing that connects Gaza with Egypt. Thus, the crossing, which was the lifeblood for the entry of humanitarian aid, as well as the entry and exit point for humanitarian workers, has been closed since May 7.
With the closure of the Rafah crossing, thousands of sick and wounded Palestinians who may have had the opportunity to leave Gaza for medical treatment abroad have also been trapped.
Before the attack began, Rafah was home to 1.5 million people, most of them displaced from other parts of Gaza.
During the war, Israel ordered Palestinian civilians in Gaza to move south as it attacked the territory from the north.
Many residents were first displaced to the central part of the enclave, and then to the southern city of Khan Younis. In the end, they were forced to flee again to Rafah. Now they are fleeing north from Rafah.
Netanyahu claims that Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas in the territory. As the Israeli army attacks the city, fighting rages in Jabalia and the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City in the north of the enclave.
