People flee Rafah in search of a ‘tiny bit of safety’
The Israeli military has taken over the eastern part of Rafah city under intense bombing, fire and artillery shelling.
The Gaza Strip right now is sealed off, cut off completely from the rest of the region. Not only will taking over the Rafah crossing prevent people from leaving or coming into Gaza, but it is going to stop the flow of humanitarian aid.
This, all together, is causing a great deal of trauma for the 1.5 million people in Rafah who have already been displaced and traumatised. They are evacuating for the third, the fourth and the fifth time.
I’ve seen hundreds of cars taking people to other parts of Gaza as people take the matter into their own hands, trying to find just a tiny bit of safety, but knowing there’s no safe place at all in Gaza.
‘Chaos’ in central Gaza as Palestinians fleeing Rafah seek shelter
It is not only people on the eastern side of Rafah that are evacuating … a lot of people from different areas [of Rafah] that were not designated as red are also evacuating to the middle area and Khan Younis.
It’s packed. People are not even finding a place to set up a tent. They are setting up their tents near the beach, very close to the coastline, on agricultural land.
Two hospitals are also evacuating their patients to the central area. The situation is chaos. All the streets are filled with cars and people putting all their stuff on their cars. You can see mats and pillows on every car that is coming from the south. Palestinians do not know what they’re going to do, where they’re going to settle, and they’re 100 percent sure that Deir el-Balah is also not safe.
There’s no guarantee that evacuating from Rafah will keep them safe from the Israeli air strikes and shelling and artillery.
People in Rafah know there ‘is no safe place in the entire Gaza Strip’
The situation is getting more difficult by the hour with the presence of the Israeli military. Its tanks and armoured vehicles in the area are causing more waves of panic for an already traumatised, displaced 1.5 million Palestinians in overcrowded Rafah.
Within the past hour or so, many injured people have arrived at Kuwaiti Hospital. They are from the vicinity of the Rafah crossing, as well as from areas that were heavily bombed in overnight attacks on the eastern part of the city.
More leaflets have been dropped within the past 45 minutes in the eastern area of Rafah city and the western part of Salah al-Din Street, ordering people to leave the area. There’s a sense of chaos as people don’t have much trust in the Israeli narrative.
They’re taking matters into their own hands. They’re going to areas that they think may provide some safety for them and their family members, but they realise there is no safe place in the entire Gaza Strip.
People are moving to areas hoping and praying that it’s going to be safe.
Rafah: NRC staff witness families fleeing the possible Israeli assault. Many are deeply distressed, fearing immense suffering in coming days & weeks.
People have already fled multiple times and most have no safe shelter to go to. pic.twitter.com/MVw7Fwjqkz
— Jan Egeland (@NRC_Egeland) May 7, 2024
