clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

UNRWA: 600,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Rafah in 10 days

May 16, 2024 at 9:23 am

Palestinians carry their belonging as they leave their homes due to Israel’s attacks in Rafah, Gaza on May 12, 2024. [Hani Alshaer – Anadolu Agency]

About 600,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, since the intensification of Israeli military operations in the city ten days ago, UNRWA warned yesterday.

In a post of X, the agency said: “76 years after #Nakba, Palestinians continue to be forcibly displaced.”

“In #GazaStrip, 600k people have fled Rafah since military operations intensified.”

“Around 1.7 million people had to flee their homes & shelters due to war in #Gaza, many of them multiple times,” it added.

On 6 May, the Israeli army began a military operation in Rafah, seizing control of the Palestinian side of Gaza’s main border crossing, and closing it, completely besieging Palestinians and allowing no aid into the Strip since. As a result, Palestinians have once again been displaced and been forced to move to coastal areas of the enclave which have no medical facilities or drinking water and where they have insufficient shelter to protect them from the sea winds.

The ongoing Israeli war on Gaza since 7 October 2023 has left more than 114,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women. A further 10,000 are missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.

US senator: Israel needs more 2,000lb bombs to strike Gaza