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full screen Palestinians fleeing the war arrive in central Gaza after fleeing the border town of Rafah in the south where Israel is now conducting military operations. Photo: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP/TT
According to the UN, around 80,000 people have fled densely populated Rafah since Israel stepped up its military operations in and around the border town three days ago.
The information comes from UNRWA, the UN aid organization for Palestinian refugees, which announces that there is no safe place for Gazans to go.
It was on Monday that Israel first called on people in mainly eastern Rafah to go to a “safe area”. In flyers and via text messages, they were directed to, among other things, an overpopulated and barren coastal strip, al-Mawasi, which Israel designates as a safe zone.
Clear US warning
Shortly thereafter, Rafah began to shake with bombs and shell fire, as Israel carried out what it calls “targeted operations”. Israeli tanks also rolled up to the border crossing with Egypt, thereby stopping aid shipments to Gaza’s desperate civilian population.
During Thursday, the bombardment continued, despite the fact that US President Joe Biden said in a sharp interview that he will stop certain arms shipments to Israel if the country carries out its dreaded major ground operation in Rafah.
Witnesses tell of attacks from planes and tanks, as well as explosions that never seem to subside. The Israeli military suspects that leaders of the terror-labeled Hamas are hiding in the city. The Palestinian Authority reported on Thursday morning that at least 60 people had been killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours.
Has moved south
There are currently over 1.2 million Palestinians in Rafah. Many of them have, at Israel’s urging, fled there from other parts of Gaza, but civilians have been continuously killed in Israeli attacks even in areas
Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas began after the Islamist extremist group’s terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. About 1,200 people are estimated to have fallen victim to the terrorist attack, most of them civilians, and more than 200 people were taken hostage.
During the war, more than 35,000 people have died in Hamas-controlled Gaza, according to local health authorities.