At least 630,000 Palestinians have fled the city of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, in the last 12 days following the Israeli military offensive, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said today.
“The people of Gaza continue to be forcibly displaced. Since the beginning of the military offensive against Rafah on May 6, a city located on the border of the Gaza Strip and Egypt, more than 630,000 people have been forced to leave the area,” he said. UNRWA on social media X, adding that “many sought refuge in Deir al-Balah, now unbearably crowded with people in poor conditions.”
Israel has intensified its attacks against Rafah over the past few days, in an action described by Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant as a “precise operation” against “battalions” of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
There were 1.4 million people in the city before the resurgence of the offensive, most of them displaced from other areas of the Palestinian enclave.
The offensive against Rafah also resulted in control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt, resulting in the interruption of aid operations, which intensified the already serious humanitarian crisis in the enclave due to the almost total absence of supplies after several months of war.
The Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip caused more than 35,000 deaths and nearly 80,000 injuries in seven months, according to data from the enclave’s Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas since 2007.
The current conflict was triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas in southern Israel, on October 7, 2023, which caused around 1,200 deaths and two hundred hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
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