Hundreds of thousands of fleeing Gazans sought shelter yesterday in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war, as Israeli forces advanced into the ruins of the city of Rafah, part of a newly announced ‘security zone’ they intend to seize.
A day after declaring their intention to capture large swathes of the crowded enclave, Israeli forces pushed into the city on Gaza’s southern edge which had served as a last refuge for people fleeing other areas for much of the war.
Gaza’s health ministry reported at least 97 people killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, including at least 20 killed in an air strike around dawn in Shejaia, a suburb of Gaza City in the north.
Later, an Israeli air strike killed at least 27 Palestinians, including women and children, inside a school building that served as a shelter for displaced families in Gaza City, local health authorities said. The Israeli military said the attack hit key Palestinians.
Medics said three missiles slammed into the Dar Al Arqam school building in Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, and the Israeli military said it struck a command centre that had been used to plan and execute attacks against Israeli civilians and army troops.
Rafah “is gone, it is being wiped out,” a father of seven told Reuters via a chat app.
“They are knocking down what is left standing of houses and property,” said the man who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions.
“I want to die. Let them kill us and free us from this life. We’re not living, we’re dead,” said Umm Aaed Bardaa.
In Khan Younis, where several people were killed by a strike, Adel Abu Fakher was checking the damage to his tent: “There’s nothing left for us. We’re being killed while asleep,” he said.
The assault to capture Rafah is a major escalation in the war, which Israel restarted last month after effectively abandoning a ceasefire in place since January.
Israel has not spelled out its long-term aims for the security zone its troops are now seizing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said troops were taking an area he called the ‘Morag Axis’, a reference to an abandoned former Israeli settlement between Rafah and Khan Younis.
Gazans fear Israel’s intention is to depopulate those areas indefinitely, leaving many hundreds of thousands of people permanently homeless while Israel seizes some of Gaza’s last agricultural land and critical water infrastructure.
Alongside, Israel’s military said yesterday it was conducting an investigation into the deaths of 15 Palestinian aid workers found buried in a shallow grave in March near Red Crescent vehicles, an incident that caused global alarm. The military said troops fired on the cars believing they carried fighters.
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