Rafah Gaza Strip – Israel ordered more evacuations Saturday from Gazas southern city of Rafah and its surrounding areas and has told the civilians
Rafah, Gaza Strip – Israel ordered more evacuations Saturday from Gaza’s southern city of Rafah and its surrounding areas and has told the civilians there to seek refuge in a humanitarian zone northwest of Rafah.
About 300,000 civilians so far have moved toward al-Mawasi, according to Israeli military estimates released Saturday. An official with the United Nations humanitarian agency said it had no aid to give the new arrivals.
‘We simply have no tents, we have no blankets, no bedding,’ said Georgios Petropoulos, according to The Associated Press.
About 110,000 people had fled the southern Gaza city of Rafah as of Friday, amid fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants. Israeli bombardments have increased in and around the city, the U.N. said.
Many of the displaced people are among the 1 million refugees who had found shelter in the border city from other war-torn parts of Gaza.
‘Do we wait until we all die on top of each other? So, we’ve decided to leave,’ Rafah resident Hanan al-Satari told the AP as people rushed to load mattresses, water tanks and other belongings onto vehicles.
‘The Israeli army does not have a safe area in Gaza. They target everything,’ Abu Yusuf al-Deiri, displaced earlier from Gaza City, also told the AP.
Cease-fire talks brokered by Qatar and Egypt are back to square one, Hamas said Friday, accusing Israel of rejecting a truce proposal written by the mediators. Negotiators for Israel and Hamas left Cairo late Thursday, ending the latest round of indirect negotiations.
‘There would be a be a cease-fire tomorrow if Hamas would release the hostages,’ U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday at a fundraiser in Washington state, according to Agence France-Presse.
