No fewer than 110,000 people have left Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip since the Israeli army started advancing on the city.
This is according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The body stated this on Friday, May 10.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said in a post on the X platform, “@UNRWA estimated around 110,000 people have now fled Rafah looking for safety.”
UNRWA stated, “But nowhere is safe in the #GazaStrip & living conditions are atrocious.” It added that “The only hope is an immediate #Ceasefire.”
The UN body maintained that the Rafah border crossing to Egypt remains closed to humanitarian aid deliveries.
But the Israeli army said that troops were still deployed in the east of the city of Rafah and in Al-Saitun in the centre of the Gaza Strip.
“In Rafah, the army had located several tunnel entrances. During battles on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing to Egypt, “several terrorist cells were eliminated.”
“The Israeli Air Force also attacked several areas in the Rafah area. These are areas from which rockets and mortar shells had been fired at Israel in recent days.
“The Kerem Shalom border crossing, which serves as an important crossing point for humanitarian aid into the blockaded coastal strip, was also targeted.
The report stated that in al-Saitun, the army “eliminated several terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure. “The Air Force had attacked around 40 targets in the Gaza Strip within 24 hours.
Recall that earlier, on Monday, the Israeli military had called on residents of the eastern part of Rafah to leave the area.
According to report, more than one million internally displaced persons are said to be living in Rafah.
Recall also that Israel’s key Western partners, the United States, have urgently warned the Israeli Government against a large-scale military operation in Rafah. This, the US maintained is due to the expected dramatic humanitarian consequences.
The Israeli and Palestinian militant group, Hamas have been at war, following the massacres in Israel on October 7.
In a spontaneous response, Israel has continually bombarded the Hamas controlled territories in the Gaza.
Netanyahu has vowed to completely destroy the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement.
Israel that the leaders of Hamas are hiding in tunnels under Rafah, where Israeli hostages are presumably also being held.
source: NAN