Middle East: Almost 450,000 people fled Rafah within a week

According to UN estimates, almost 450,000 people have left the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, which is overcrowded with internally displaced people, within a week. “Empty streets in Rafah as families continue to flee in search of safety,” wrote the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA on Platform X.

The Israeli army advanced on the city from the east a week ago and has since then also controlled the Palestinian part of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. Israel is putting military pressure on Hamas in Rafah to secure the release of the hostages. Israel also wants to destroy the remaining battalions of the Islamist organization.

“People face constant exhaustion, hunger and fear,” UNRWA’s X-post said. “Nowhere is safe. An immediate ceasefire is the only hope.”

Tens of thousands dead

Israeli attacks and fighting in the Gaza Strip continue. Palestinian eyewitnesses reported continued Israeli shelling in the north, south and central parts of the coastal strip. The military wing of the terrorist organization Hamas said its fighters had repeatedly attacked Israeli troops at the border crossing into Egypt in Rafah. They hit an Israeli troop transport in the Rafah area.

The Hamas-controlled health authority said 35,173 Palestinians had been killed and more than 79,000 others injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began more than seven months ago. The number, which is difficult to verify independently, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated on Sunday the US’s rejection of a major ground offensive in Rafah. By last week, more than a million people had sought protection there from the fighting in the rest of the Gaza Strip.