All hospitals in Rafah at full capacity: Kuwaiti Hospital doctor
Jamal al-Hams, a doctor at the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah, has told Al Jazeera that an Israeli attack on the southern city would cause endless suffering for Palestinians. “We are suffering a lot during these days because of the huge number of people who have been displaced from the northern and middle areas of the Gaza Strip towards Rafah,” he said.
“Secondly, we [already] have a huge number of injured people and patients with chronic diseases and acute illnesses who have been collected from all over the Gaza Strip [to Rafah]. We are suffering from the shortage of medical disposables and drugs – most of the antibiotics and analgesics are not available.”
“We have changed the admission beds to emergency beds. The Najjar hospital has a bed capacity of 70, and they changed it to 200 but that is still not enough,” al-Hams added. “There would be no place for more injured people. There will be no bed capacity not even for one because all hospitals [in the south] – the European, Najjar and Kuwaiti – are all at full capacity.”
“We are asking to stop war because it has continued for so long,” he added. “I don’t know what is coming but I am sure that we will suffer very much.”
Israeli forces snipe young woman and her little cousin in Gaza City
Al Jazeera has obtained video footage showing a young Palestinian woman and her little cousin lying on a street in the Sheikh Radwan area in Gaza City, after an Israeli sniper shot them both. According to Al Jazeera’s Ismail al-Ghoul, the child survived while the woman was killed. “These are difficult scenes to witness, but they have occurred over and over again,” al-Ghoul said.
Palestinian on hospital grounds killed by Israeli sniper
At least 395 displaced people killed in UNRWA shelters since October 7
There have been 298 incidents that have impacted UNRWA premises, according to the UN agency for Palestine refugees, which includes at least 31 incidents of military use and interference at UNRWA premises. The agency SAID that 150 different UNRWA installations have been impacted.
“UNRWA estimates that in total at least 395 IDPs [displaced] sheltering in UNRWA shelters have been killed and at least a further 1,379 injured since the start of the war,” it said.
More than 700 million litres of wastewater leaked into Gaza City streets: Municipality
More than 700 million litres of wastewater had leaked into the streets of Gaza City and the seaside since the Israeli offensive was launched on October 7, according to the municipality of Gaza. “This is considered a health and environmental catastrophe and threatens the city’s underground reserves,” it said in a post on X.
Israeli army chief approved Rafah ground operation on three occasions: Report
Herzi Halevi, the Israeli army’s chief of general staff, has told ministers during a cabinet meeting that he had approved a ground operation in Rafah on three previous occasions, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. According to the report, Halevi said he would present the details of the plan when it was required, adding that talking about it to the media would only “make it easier” for Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza.
People in Rafah ‘tired, drained and frustrated’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the Israeli army to get ready for a possible ground incursion in Rafah. That’s what Palestinians did not expect to happen. Israel started its attacks in the north, ordering people to flee to the south, which is now the theatre for the Israeli military operations.
Palestinians do not want to be displaced again. They are completely tired, drained, frustrated, injured and have lost thousands of their community members. More than 85 percent of Gaza’s population are sheltering in Rafah without having any other place to go.
Palestinians, taking shelter in Rafah shop in an overcrowded market to meet some of their needs
PA is not relevant, and Israeli attack on Rafah is imminent: Israeli historian Ilan Pappe
It would be very difficult for [PA President Mahmoud] Abbas to remain relevant because in the eyes of the Israeli government he has not been relevant for quite a while. The only function he seems to serve as far as the Israeli government is concerned is some sort of security coordination to keep the lid on any potential uprising in the West Bank. I don’t think the Israelis are at all interested in consulting him about the day after in Gaza.
I think Washington is more keen to have the PA as part of the post-war arrangement, but I think it would be a terrible mistake for the PA to be part of it. This is going to be seen by so many Palestinians as collaborating with the destruction of Gaza and the Israeli visions of post-war Gaza, which is definitely very opposite from what most Palestinians would have liked to happen. We really don’t see any role for the PA in the next 15 months – because this is more or less the period in which the fighting will continue – and I don’t think there will be any substantial negotiations anyway for the day after.
History teaches us that strong American language of condemnation very rarely is supported by actions. Israelis have a way of allegedly taming their actions, creating the impression that this is not really a military operation but a limited operation.
I do think Israel will attack Rafah; I don’t think that the Israeli plans for how to deal with the refugees are going to easily materialise. We hope and we need a strong international reaction now because once the Israeli operation begins, it would be more difficult to stop them.
Israel seeks to cause ‘civil disorder’ in Rafah city
In addition to attacks on residential homes, Israeli forces are now also targeting the civil order in Rafah city. There has been recent systematic and intentional targeting of police departments and personnel. So far, we are looking at three separate attacks that killed police personnel, including the director of the investigative department and the director of the police department.
People here think that this is the beginning of such attacks as Israel seeks to cause civil disorder in Rafah city. The police department here has been working very hard to secure the delivery of humanitarian trucks, and to establish some sort of stability in healthcare facilities and food distribution. Rafah city will be heading for a civil collapse if such attacks continue.
Gaza’s children will be impacted by ‘severe war trauma for the rest of their lives’
Israel’s war has scarred children for life and “deeply affected” their care, according to Dr Alice Rothchild, a physician and filmmaker who focuses on Israel and Palestine. In an interview with Al Jazeera from Seattle, Rothchild pointed out that the occupation of Gaza has had an impact on children’s health services even before the war.
“There has been a huge number of injuries of children and young people … there is a number of orthopaedic trauma, particularly in teenage boys,” she said. “What we see is the children who have had an experience of severe war trauma as well as starvation, lack of medicines, are going to be impacted for the rest of their lives. “They have huge mental health issues to deal with. There are now reports of rising levels of anxiety, nervousness, bedwetting, inability to leave one’s parents.”
A child looks at the damage caused by Israeli bombardment in Rafah, February 9
Gaza Strip death toll rises to 28,176
At least 112 people have been killed and 173 others injured in the past 24 hours, raising the death toll to 28,176, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
