International concern is growing ahead of an expected Israeli ground attack on Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, near the border with Egypt where many Palestinians have taken refuge from the conflict in the small Palestinian enclave.
Rafah was once home to 280,000 people, now half of Gaza’s total population of 2.3 million, faced with the terrifying choice of staying and waiting for an attack or risking a return north through an area where fighting has not stopped. A million people are in tents and makeshift shelters, and satellite images show that such settlements are expanding more and more.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the focus of Israel’s ground offensive would soon shift to Rafah.
“Our soldiers are now in Khan Younis, the main stronghold of Hamas. They will soon go to Rafah, the last bastion of Hamas,” Netanyahu said on Wednesday. Israeli planes bombed Rafah this morning, killing at least 11 people in strikes on two houses, eyewitnesses told Reuters.
Tanks targeted some areas east of Rafah, raising fears among residents that a ground attack was imminent.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that entering Rafah would “exacerbate what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences”.
Aid agencies have also warned of a humanitarian disaster if Israel follows through on its threat to enter one of the last areas in the Gaza Strip that has not been entered by ground forces. The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has warned Israel against expanding military operations in Rafah, saying it would be “fatal for displaced civilians and humanitarian aid,” CNN reported.
“The spread of hostilities could turn Rafah into a zone of bloodshed and destruction from which people will not be able to escape. There is nowhere for people to run,” said NRV director for the Middle East and North Africa Angelita Kereda.
Egyptian officials have also warned of the dangers of the operation in Rafah, and are particularly concerned that a large number of Gazans could be displaced on their land. “There is no doubt that targeting this area of the Strip, which is full of civilians, is dangerous,” Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in an interview with Al Ghad TV, Beta news agency reports.
