GazaGuideless and amidst an atmosphere of fear, the Abd Rabbo family gathered what few of their necessary belongings they had, and evacuated a house east of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, which had been sheltering them since they were displaced for the first time, months ago, from their home in the town of Jabalia, north of the Gaza Strip.
This family and other residents and displaced people in the areas of the Al-Shouka municipality and the neighborhoods of Al-Salam, Al-Jeneina, Tabba Zare’ and Al-Byouk received phone calls, and paper leaflets were thrown at them, in which the occupation army ordered them to immediately leave towards what it called the “expanded humanitarian zone” in Al-Mawasi adjacent to the seashore.
Omar Abd Rabbo and his family did not hesitate to evacuate their relatives’ house, to which he was displaced a few months ago. He told Tel Aviv Tribune Net, “We packed our bags and were displaced immediately and temporarily to my aunt’s house in the Saudi neighborhood area, west of the city of Rafah.”
An atmosphere of anxiety and confusion prevailed over the city of Rafah, the smallest city in the Gaza Strip and adjacent to the border with Egypt, and its residents and displaced persons rushed to the markets to supply basic needs, in preparation for an Israeli ground military operation that may extend and expand.
Evacuation of eastern Rafah
Early on Monday, the occupation army announced that it had ordered residents to “evacuate” the eastern outskirts of the city of Rafah in preparation for a military operation there, and published on its social media accounts maps showing new displacement routes for Palestinians, most of whom were originally displaced from the northern and central regions towards Rafah in search of refuge. Safe in the midst of an unprecedented war.
The occupation army did not set a specific time limit for their expulsion, while it warned of the consequences of the displaced persons’ attempt to return to Gaza City and the areas north of the Gaza Valley, saying that it “remains a dangerous combat zone.”
However, the Al-Mawasi area referred to in the occupation army’s statement is crowded to the brim with tents of the displaced, who have taken refuge there at intervals since the outbreak of the Israeli war about 7 months ago, from Gaza City, the northern Gaza Strip, and the city of Khan Yunis, in similar circumstances when their cities and residential areas were exposed to Israeli military operations. wilderness.
Omar realizes the difficulty of searching for a house or apartment in the areas west of the city of Rafah, which is home to more than a million displaced people, most of them in the western areas of this small city. He says, “Even getting a tent is not easy.”
Omar and his family took temporary refuge in a warehouse under a house popularly called in Gaza a “commercial facility,” where his displaced aunt lived with her family, and it was barely large enough for them. He went out with his father in search of “any place” suitable for this family of 7 members.
Omar says that they quickly left the area east of Rafah, fearing that the occupation army would repeat what it did in other cities, in which it launched a ground military operation and completely invaded them, and committed horrific crimes of murder and destruction.
As for Abu Hudhayfah, whose house is located on the outskirts of the El-Geneina neighborhood, which is threatened with eviction, he preferred to delay leaving his house until the last moment. He told Al-Jazeera Net, “My children brought one of the occupation’s leaflets and terror fills their hearts, and I tried to reassure them that our house is not included in the evacuation zones.”
The occupation army divides the areas and neighborhoods threatened with eviction into small residential squares and gives them numbers, and Abu Hudhayfah made sure that his house was outside the scope of these squares.
In fact, this forty-year-old man feels very concerned about the expansion of the circle of areas and neighborhoods whose residents the occupation army is planning to expel, as happened in the neighboring city of Khan Yunis, where the military operation began in a similar way in specific residential squares before the occupation invaded and completely destroyed it.
Vital facilities
According to Israeli Army Radio, the decision to begin displacing the residents of eastern Rafah was taken last night in the cabinet session, and the process includes about 100,000 Palestinians living in the city’s eastern neighborhoods, but official Palestinian sources indicate larger numbers of residents and displaced people in those neighborhoods.
This decision came after the occupation army announced the killing of 3 of its soldiers from the “Givati” and “Nahal” brigades, and the wounding of 12 others in a missile attack claimed by the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Hamas movement, and targeting a military base in the vicinity of the Kerem Shalom crossing, east of the city of Rafah.
Following this operation, the city of Rafah witnessed violent Israeli air strikes that targeted 10 homes, resulting in the death of 26 Palestinian civilians, including 11 children and 8 women.
The areas that the occupation army plans to target in eastern Rafah include vital facilities, most notably the Rafah crossing for the movement of people and goods with Egypt, the commercial “Kerem Shalom” under Israeli control, and the city’s only government hospital, Abu Youssef al-Najjar, in addition to agricultural lands and water wells.
The occupation has closed the Kerem Shalom crossing since yesterday, Sunday, following the missile attack, and prevents the passage of goods trucks and humanitarian aid, while the Rafah land crossing with Egypt remains open.
Famine and humanitarian disasters
In his interview with Tel Aviv Tribune Net, the mayor of Rafah, Ahmed Al-Sufi, estimates the number of residents and displaced people in those areas at approximately 150,000 people, and confirms that “there are no areas ready to accommodate them, and no tents available to be set up for them.”
He said that the Al-Mawasi area referred to in the occupation army’s statements “has a small area, cannot accommodate such a number, and does not have the necessities for life.”
Tent camps are spread in the Al-Mawasi area, whose area represents 3% of the total area of the Strip (365 square kilometers), and extends 12 kilometers in length and about one kilometer in width, along the seashore from the city of Deir Al-Balah in the center of the Strip to the city of Rafah in the south, passing through Al-Mawasi. Khan Younes.
According to Al-Sufi, the “evacuation” of Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital will lead to “the cessation of medical services for all citizens in Rafah, which will lead to an increase in the number of deaths and the occurrence of a health and humanitarian catastrophe,” in addition to the fact that “evacuating the Kerem Shalom crossing means cutting off the lifeline to the Gaza Strip.” “There will be a major famine against two million Palestinian residents and displaced people.”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in its account on the “WhatsApp” platform, “The Israeli attack on Rafah will mean an increase in suffering and deaths among civilians, and the consequences will be devastating for 1.4 million people.”
The UN organization confirmed that it “did not decide to evacuate,” and said that it would continue to remain in Rafah for as long as possible, and would continue to provide life-saving aid to people.