According to breaking news, it was announced that the Israeli army started to evacuate some neighborhoods in the city of Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians took shelter in the south of the Gaza Strip.
In the news of Israeli State Television KAN, it was stated that the Israeli army started to evacuate many neighborhoods near the Israeli border in the east of Rafah.
The Times of Israel reported that the Israeli army called on Palestinians living in the neighborhoods east of the Rafah border to “go to the humanitarian areas” in al-Mawasi and Khan Younis.
RAFAH, THE LAST SHELTER OF THE DISPLACED IN GAZA
Due to Israel’s ongoing attacks since October 7, 2023, 1.9 million people in the Gaza Strip, with a population of approximately 2.3 million, have been displaced. Most of these Palestinians took refuge in the city of Rafah, which Israel had previously claimed as a “safe zone”.
The population of Rafah, located in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, on the Egyptian border, was 280 thousand before the Israeli attacks, and has now increased more than 5 times, reaching almost 1.5 million.
Most of the Palestinians who escaped from Israeli attacks and took shelter in Rafah, where there is not enough accommodation and inadequate infrastructure, are struggling to survive in camps consisting of makeshift tents.
While there were concerns that civilians would have no shelter in the Gaza Strip if the Israeli army launched a land attack on Rafah, where it frequently conducts air strikes, the Israeli authorities continued to threaten to invade Rafah, despite warnings from the international community.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant claimed yesterday that there are indications that the Hamas movement does not want to reach a prisoner exchange agreement with the Tel Aviv government, and stated that they will “occupy the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip very soon”.
In Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip since October 7, 34 thousand 683 Palestinians, including at least 14 thousand 944 children and 9 thousand 849 women, were killed and 78 thousand 18 people were injured.
While it is reported that there are still thousands of dead under the rubble, civilian infrastructure is also being destroyed by targeting hospitals and educational institutions where people took shelter.
AA