As the Israeli aggression continues, Rafah turns into a center for one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world
While Israeli military operations in Gaza persist, the city of Rafah, near the Egyptian border, has become the epicenter of one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, according to a report published by The Wall Street Journal.
The mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Israeli airstrikes to Rafah has tripled the city’s population, turning the small city into a hotspot. Hundreds of displaced families from the north are crowded into schools and shelters.
The United Nations warns that Rafah could soon host half of the Gaza Strip‘s population, which is approximately 2.3 million people. The city currently accommodates around half a million displaced individuals (470,000), in addition to the population of approximately 300,000 people.
Thomas White, director of the Gaza department at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), warned through X that recent evacuation orders could add an additional half a million displaced individuals to the city.
The newspaper pointed out that hundreds of families fled the ongoing Israeli bombardment, causing schools and shelters in southern Gaza to fill up. The prices of small apartments have skyrocketed from $100 before the war to around $5,000, leaving displaced individuals with few options, such as camping in parks, vacant lands, and searching for shelter from the cold weather.
Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip, is an ancient city dating back to the Bronze Age. It extends along the Egyptian border and houses the only border crossing in the Gaza Strip that does not lead to Israel.
Adding to the crisis is the issue of food scarcity, worsened since the collapse of the one-week ceasefire on December 1. The number of aid trucks entering from Egypt has declined, and the intense fighting hinders their distribution even in southern Gaza.
The situation is likely to explode if Israeli forces heavily bombard the city, which has been subjected to airstrikes and strikes in recent months, or if they penetrate it on the ground. Especially since the Israeli army expects the battle in the southern sector to be more complex and challenging than in the north.
-
‘Reporters Without Borders’ accuses Israel of turning Gaza into a graveyard for journalists… Details
The World Food Programme has confirmed that delivering aid to the hungry in the Gaza Strip has become impossible with Israel escalating its attacks on targets there in its war with Hamas.
Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, stated in a statement after a visit to the Gaza Strip on Friday: “With the collapse of law and order, any viable humanitarian operation has become impossible.”
He added, “With a tiny fraction of the necessary food supplies arriving, the glaring absence of fuel, the breakdown of communication systems, and the lack of security for our staff or the people we serve in food distribution centers, we cannot carry out our work.”
