Gaza War: Palestinians flee as Israeli forces return to Jabalia

There have been desperate scenes in Rafah since the IDF said last Monday that it was starting a “precision operation against Hamas” in eastern Rafah.

On Saturday, leaflets were dropped asking people to evacuate in many eastern areas, including those near the city centre.

Unrwa’s deputy Gaza director Scott Anderson, who is based in western Rafah, told the BBC on Monday that the Israeli operation had now extended “about a third of the way across Rafah” and covered the old town.

He said he could hear explosions and airstrikes, and that the fighting had affected the operations of hospitals as well as many Unrwa facilities in the Rafah refugee camp, including the care facility. primary health care.

Palestinian media reported that four people, including a child, were killed Monday in an Israeli air strike on a house in the Brazilian area, just southeast of the camp.

Hamas’s military wing also said it had targeted Israeli forces east of Rafah.

Many people sheltering in the Central and Western regions that are not subject to evacuation have also left because of concerns that Israel’s activities will soon expand into a large-scale attack.

Ghada el-Kurd, a mother of two, told the BBC on Monday that she had recently fled to Deir al-Balah in Gaza’s Central Region – the seventh time she had been displaced during the war.

She said the streets of Deir al-Balah were “full of sewage” and the destruction of homes and infrastructure was “huge, unlike Rafah”.

She added: “I’m lucky to have a house, but most other people live in tents and tents [suffering from] heat, lack of water and lack of food.”

Deir al-Balah is part of the IDF-designated “extended humanitarian zone,” which stretches north from the al-Mawasi coastal strip to the city of Khan Younis and the Central Region of Gaza.

The IDF has told evacuees they will find field hospitals, tents and aid supplies there, but Unrwa’s Mr. Anderson said they lack the necessary infrastructure.

In al-Mawasi, he explains, “everything that people have access to has to be transported by truck… including food, water, moving solid waste.”

“For the people who are displacing Khan Younis, it’s the same… That’s still recovering from the Israeli operation that took place a few months ago.”

Mr. Anderson also called on Israel and Hamas to agree to create a “fixed corridor” that would allow UN trucks to move safely in and out of the nearby Kerem Shalom border area with Israel – a key entry point for the institute. support.

Israel said it reopened the border crossing last Wednesday after being closed for four days due to rocket fire by Hamas. However, the United Nations said gathering aid was too dangerous because of hostilities in eastern Rafah.

The Rafah border crossing with Egypt has also been closed since the Israeli army took full control of the Palestinian side last Tuesday.

In a statement released on Sunday, Hamas accused Israel of “escalating brutal massacres in various areas of the Gaza Strip”.

Israel launched a military operation in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s cross-border attack on southern Israel on October 7, which left about 1,200 people dead and 252 others captured. hostage.

According to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, more than 35,090 people have been killed in Gaza since then.