UNRWA: 450,000 Palestinians forcibly displaced from Rafah

Palestinians, including women and children, living in makeshift tents at the foot of the wall separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt pack up their tents and flee to safe areas with whatever belongings they can take with them after the Israeli army took control of the Rafah border crossing on the Gazan side as Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip continue on May 09, 2024 in Rafah, Gaza [Hani Alshaer/Anadolu Agency]

Some 450,000 Palestinian civilians have been forcibly displaced from the city of Rafah since 6 May, due to the ongoing Israeli military operation in the area, UNRWA warned yesterday.

“Empty streets in #Rafah as families continue to flee in search of safety,” the agency said in a post on X.

“UNRWA estimates that nearly 450,000 people have been forcibly displaced from Rafah since 6 May,” it added. “People face constant exhaustion, hunger and fear. Nowhere is safe. An immediate ceasefire is the only hope.”

Many have already been displaced several times since Israel launched its bombing campaign on the Strip in October 2023.

Israel has now killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 78,200. Most of the casualties are children and women. Millions more are displaced in Gaza, and face famine and acute shortages of medical aid and other essentials.

Israel is facing charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and has also laid waste to large swathes of the besieged enclave, devastating everything from housing to medical facilities, educational institutes and civilian infrastructure.

READ: Israel and Egypt trade blame over Rafah Crossing closure

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.