Hundreds of thousands of leakage gasans looked for a shelter Thursday in one of the greatest mass trips of the war, while Israeli forces have advanced in the ruins of the city of Rafah, which is part of a newly announced “security zone” that they intend to seize.
One day after declaring their intention to capture large expanses of the crowded enclave, Israeli forces pushed into the city at the southern edge of Gaza, which had served as a last refuge for people fleeing from other regions for a large part of the war.
The Gaza Ministry of Health has reported at least 97 people killed in Israeli strikes in the last 24 hours, including at least 20 in an air strike around dawn in the suburbs of Shuja’iyya de Gaza City.
Later Thursday, an Israeli air strike killed at least 27 Palestinians, including women and children, inside a school building which served as a refuge for displaced families in Gaza City, local health authorities announced.
The doctors said three missiles struck the Dar al-Arqam school building in the Tuffah district of Gaza City, and the Israeli army said it had struck a command center that had been used by activists to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and army troops. He did not provide proof.
Rafah “left, he is erased,” a father of seven children told Reuters who had fled Rafah to Khan Younis Voisin.
“They overthrow what remains of houses and goods,” said the man, who refused to be identified for fear of the repercussions.
After a strike killed several people in Khan Younis, Adel Abu Fakher checked the damage to his tent.
“There is something left for us? We have nothing left. We are killed while we are asleep,” he said.
The assault to capture Rafah is a major escalation in the war, which Israel restarted last month after having actually abandoned a cease-fire since January.
Gazans fear permanent displacement
Israel has not explained its long -term objectives for the security zone that its troops now grasp. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the troops took an area he called “Morag’s axis”, a reference to a former Israeli colony abandoned once located between Rafah and Khan Younis.
The Gazans who had returned to the houses in the ruins during the ceasefire have now received the order to flee communities on the north and southern banks of the band.
They fear that Israel’s intention will be to depopulate these areas indefinitely, leaving several hundred thousands of people who are permanently homeless in one of the poorest and most crowded territories in the world. The safety area includes some of the latest agricultural land in Gaza and critical water infrastructure.
Since the first phase of the ceasefire expired in early March without agreement to extend it, Israel has imposed a total blockage on all goods reaching 2.3 million residents of Gaza, recreating what international organizations describe as a humanitarian disaster after weeks of relative calm.
The declared objective of Israel since the start of the war is the destruction of the militant group of Hamas, which led Gaza for almost two decades.
But without any effort to establish an administrative alternative, the police led by Hamas returned to the street during the ceasefire. The fighters still have 59 dead and living hostages which, according to Israel, must be given to prolong the truce. Hamas says it will only release them under an agreement that ends the war.
The war began with an attack led by Hamas against Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, with armed men killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli counts. Israel’s reprisal campaign has so far killed more than 50,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza health authorities.
Israeli leaders say they were encouraged by signs of protest in Gaza against Hamas, hundreds of people demonstrating in the north of Beit Lahiya de Gaza opposed war on Wednesday and demanding that Hamas left power. Hamas calls the employees of the demonstrators and says that Israel is behind them.
Most Rafah residents have ordered to evacuate
Rafah residents said most of the local population had followed the order of Israel to leave, while Israeli strikes overthrew the buildings. But a strike on the main road between Khan Younis and Rafah stopped most of the movements between the two cities.
The movement of people and traffic along the western coastal road near Morag was also limited by bombing, residents said.
“Others have stayed because they do not know where to go, or are tired of being moved several times. We are afraid that they are killed or at best detained,” said Basem, a Rafah resident who refused to give a second name.
Israeli air strikes in Gaza damaged the Nasser hospital and killed at least 65 people in a period of 24 hours, Palestinian health authorities said. Continuous attacks have led certain assistance agencies to reduce their footprint in the region.
The markets have emptied and the prices of the basic necessities have skyrocketed under the total blocking of food, drugs and fuel from Israel.
The Palestinian Ministry of Health, based in the West Bank occupied by Israeli, but has nominal authority over hospitals in Gaza, said the entire Gaza health system was at risk of collapsing.
