Rafah, Gaza Strip – Around 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them displaced, are crowded into the small town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip.
They were expelled from their homes in other parts of Gaza during the Israeli assault on the besieged enclave, which killed more than 28,000 people.
Israel had designated Rafah as a “safe zone” but is now threatening a ground invasion, leaving more than a million people trapped there, terrified, with nowhere to go.
Rafah is the latest in a series of areas that Israel has declared to be “safe zones” in which civilians could shelter from what has now amounted to four months of attacks, but Israel has attacked one after another , forcing people to go out again and again.
There has been international condemnation of Israel’s plan to invade Rafah, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he is determined to continue, saying it would “finish off Hamas”, which is the stated intention behind the assault on Gaza.
Senior Hamas leaders have said such a move by Israel would end any possibility of negotiations between the two sides.
In this context, the fear and panic gripping the population of Rafah continue to grow. Tel Aviv Tribune spoke to several Palestinians who ended up in Rafah because of the war, some of whom have been displaced several times.
“Nowhere else to go”
Umm al-Abed Fayyad said she and her family have been displaced four times so far.
“We are in a different zone every month. The last place we were was Khan Younis, and now we are in Rafah,” she explained.
When asked what she thought about the possibility of an Israeli invasion, Umm al-Abed Fayyad replied that she had “nowhere to go.”
“Israelis are everywhere. Where are we going to go? she asked, noting that the people around them are “hungry and homeless.”
Like others in the region, she says: “No matter how much they threaten, we will not move, and God willing, we will be victorious.” We will persevere and remain patient.
Asaad Hassan, another Palestinian displaced from Gaza City to Rafah, is not feeling well. His only wish, he says, is “to return home and for the aggression to stop”.
“We have nowhere to go but to the grave if they follow through on their threats to invade Rafah,” Hassan told Tel Aviv Tribune.
Israel’s war against the besieged Gaza Strip began on October 7. That day, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, which governs Gaza, launched attacks on southern Israel, killing 1,139 people and returning about 240 to Gaza.
Israel immediately responded with a bombing campaign followed by a ground invasion of northern Gaza.
At least 28,340 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, mostly women and children, while 67,984 have been injured over the past four months.
The majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been forced from their homes and more than 60 percent of all infrastructure in the Strip has been demolished.
“There will be massacres”
Umm Badr Abu Salme said she moved with her family to Rafah on orders from the Israeli military, saying it would be safer.
“We came to Rafah, and now they are telling us to leave,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune. “There will be massacres. There is no other place to go. Rafah is our last refuge. This war must end.
“Anyone who moves is killed,” Abu Salme said. “We have no safe place to go. »
Mohammed Madi, who is a doctor, has been displaced several times since he was forced to leave his home in Gaza City.
“If the occupation carries out its threats to invade Rafah, it will be a disaster,” Madi told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“However, I will not leave Rafah because where will we go? The rest of Gaza is destroyed. I will die here before I leave,” he said.
“We call on Arab countries… to make a decision and end this genocidal war against Gaza,” Madi said.
On December 29, South Africa filed a complaint against Israel at the International Court of Justice, arguing that it was committing genocide against the Palestinian people, a term many have used to describe Israel’s war against Gaza.
Journalist Alaa Salameh, a Rafah resident who has covered the war throughout the Gaza Strip, said he would stay to report from the town despite Israeli threats.
“The Israeli army has committed countless massacres in the Gaza Strip. If he invades Rafah, he will do the same,” Salameh told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“The occupation does not respect international law. If they invade Rafah, there will be no safe place left,” he continued. “There needs to be global pressure to prevent this potential crime from happening. »
He noted that Israel has already killed thousands of Palestinians in airstrikes on Rafah in recent months.
Haifaa Mohammad Abdelhamid Saleh was forced to leave her home in Gaza City and came to Rafah. “We left on October 14. We did not want to leave Gaza City or our homes, but the Israeli occupation told us we would be safe if we did. »
“We hope they will not invade Rafah. If they do, there will be a humanitarian disaster – not only among the refugees but also for the city’s residents,” Saleh said.
“They burned everything in Gaza. They want revenge on the resistance in Gaza.”