Rafa | “Fear and panic have turned to terror”: Israel attacks drive more than 80,000 Palestinians to flee their homes, as tensions rise between Biden and Netanyahu over military campaign

The important thing is to let go. Their own lives and the lives of their families may depend on it.

They leave in trucks, cars, donkey carts or bicycles, on which they carry what is probably their only and, therefore, probably their most valuable belongings.

Thousands of Palestinians are fleeing the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the Israeli military dropped leaflets on Monday instructing them to evacuate an area east of the city and move to an “expanded humanitarian assistance zone” nearby. Extends from Al. Mawasi to Khan Yunis city and the central city of Deir al-Balah.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimated that it was necessary to evacuate approximately 100,000 people to conduct a “limited operation” against Hamas positions in Rafah.

That Monday, The IDF began bombing neighborhoods east of Rafah and soon after took control of the crossing between that city and Egypt, the only access point to the Strip that was not in Israeli hands. And since the beginning of the war it had become an entry point for humanitarian aid, as well as an entry point for the evacuation of the wounded.

While Israel continued to build up troops, including large numbers of tanks, around the city, More than 80,000 Palestinians have fled there, according to the united nations

Many of them are likely to be displaced for the second time by the conflict, as more than one million of the 1.4 million people in Rafah as of last week are Gazans who left their homes elsewhere in the region.

Louise Waterridge, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), told the BBC on Thursday afternoon that she was at a health center in the west of the city and “could hear and feel the sound of the bombing.”

“The building keeps shaking again and again. There are drones flying there constantly,” he said. “The fear and anxiety that people had (in Rafah) have now turned into terror.”

Those who have had to flee Rafah include Abdullah Yad al Arsha, who told the BBC how people were offering transport to safer areas in exchange for exorbitant payments.

“We did not find any means of transport and the road was full of people. I took my luggage and walked 6 kilometers without money, “Vendors demanded between 80 shekels (US$21) and 1,000 shekels (US$268) to take us from east of Rafah to Al Mawasi or Khan Yunis.”

The BBC’s Gaza Today program spoke to a woman who described how people from Rafah found themselves surrounded by “rings of fire” as they fled.

“Before our movement from Rafah, they fired missiles at us before launching leaflets. “After dropping the flyers, we found ourselves surrounded by continuous rings of fire.”

,We ran out of our homes and couldn’t even take our clothes with us. Shrapnel and fragments were scattered throughout the house, so we could not take anything with us. “We had to leave in a very sad and difficult way, and my children were shaking with fear.”

Jamal al-Hams, director of the Kuwaiti Specialty Hospital, located in the center of Rafah and one of only two hospitals still partially functioning in the city, told the BBC they were facing a surge in casualties. , including several “unusual injuries”. Caused by unusual weapons.”

“I have lived through all the previous wars (in Gaza)… where injuries were always in a certain area and treated by one specialist. But now each case requires several specialists.”

It is also not clear how much better the situation will be in the places where they will have to go.

,Where should they go? Tents and other equipment were to be provided in other safe areas. it has not been done” said the Gazan doctor.

The IDF has told displaced people that they will receive field hospitals, tents and additional relief supplies in an “expanded humanitarian zone”.

However, Palestinians and UN officials said These were places where there was already overcrowding and lack of essential servicesThose that were still being bombed or were left in ruins after recent fighting.

Palestinian media said two people were killed in an Israeli airstrike Thursday afternoon in the al-Jeneih neighborhood, one of the areas of eastern Rafah that was ordered evacuated by the IDF.

Three other people were reportedly killed in the airstrike in a nearby Brazilian neighborhood, which is not in the evacuation zone but is next to the Egyptian border and about 2.5 kilometers north of the Rafah crossing.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad – which Israel, the United States and other countries consider terrorist organizations – said so They were attacking Israeli forces with mortars and anti-tank missiles,

Hamas also said it had blown up a mine buried under three Israeli military vehicles east of Rafah. The IDF said that three of its soldiers were slightly injured as a result of the explosion.

at least overnight Five people have reportedly died after an Israeli strike hit a family home in the western neighborhood of Tal al-Sultan., Doctors said they had three children, one of whom was a one-year-old.

The IDF claimed on Wednesday afternoon that troops were “conducting targeted operations against terrorist infrastructure around the Gaza area of ​​the Rafah Crossing and conducted operational raids against suspicious buildings in the area” and that about 30 “terrorists” had been killed. .

He also said that Israeli aircraft had attacked targets in support of his troops.

Israel’s attack on Rafah is being carefully monitored by the United States.

Since February, the government of President Joe Bien has warned his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu A large-scale operation on Rafah should not be launched without preparing a plan for the protection of civilians. Which is found there.

Although Washington has said it does not consider it the type of aggression it was referring to in its warning, it was revealed that the Biden administration last week stopped sending some bombs to Israel out of fear that it would lead to a major Will carry out the attack. Operation in Rafah, southern Gaza.

A US official told CBS News, the BBC’s partner in the US, that the shipment included 1,800 900 kg bombs and another 1,700 230 kg bombs.

The most radical ministers of Netanyahu’s government strongly criticized the US decision.

“Hamas ♥ Biden,” said a message published by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security.On his

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, Biden reiterated that he will continue to ensure Israel’s security. If Israel launches a major ground operation on Rafah, it will block some arms shipments.

“I have made it clear to (Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu) and the war cabinet that they will not have our support if they actually enter these population centers,” he said.

Rafah, considered the last bastion of Hamas, is seen by Netanyahu’s government as an essential target To be able to destroy that Palestinian armed group.

Gilad Erdan, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, asked, “If Israel is restricted from accessing a vital and central area like Rafah, where thousands of terrorists, hostages and Hamas leaders are held, how can we truly achieve our objectives?” Are?” A radio interview.

For his part, Netanyahu issued a message this Thursday in which he seemed to respond to the United States: “If we need to be alone, we will be alone. I said we’ll fight with our nails if need be, But we have much more than nails and with the same strength of spirit, with God’s help, together we will overcome,” he said.

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