Concern is growing as an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip is imminent, with the situation in the small city near the Egyptian border getting more intense by the hour, as the occupying regime continues its genocidal war on the besieged territory.
There were sounds of explosions in Rafah as Israeli gunboats opened fire at the main coastal road to the west of Rafah on Wednesday, while massive airstrikes were reported in the city, which had been called the safe zone in the strip.
Israeli strikes overnight have left eleven people dead, including a journalist and his mother and sister.
Israel says its tanks and troops would imminently press into Rafah, and continue until the military has “full reign” over the entire 42-km-long territory.
Gazan families and medics in Rafah – the last refuge for Palestinians within Gaza – have warned of humanitarian catastrophe if Israeli troops push into the border town.
Displaced Palestinians crowded into tents in Rafah are fearfully waiting for an anticipated Israeli ground invasion with nowhere left to flee once the regime’s troops move in.
Kareem Dahman, a displaced Palestinian in the city described the conditions in Rafah as “very difficult,” saying “They hear (drones) very, very loud, and we hear the sounds of bombing at night.”
Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that any move by Israel to extend its full-scale invasion of Gaza into the massively overcrowded city of Rafah could lead to war crimes which must be prevented at all costs.
The Israeli regime has pressed on with its genocidal campaign and threatened a new ground assault on Rafah where over half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are now living, mostly in makeshift tents.
About 1.4 million people are sheltering in Rafah after being ordered there by Israeli forces, which previously described the area as a “safe zone”.
OCHA recently reported that intense Israeli bombardment from air, land, and sea continues across much of the Gaza Strip, resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
The UN humanitarian office said that the influx of thousands of internally displaced persons into Rafah was due to intense fighting in Khan Younis, combined with reports of an increase in strikes in Rafah on Monday and Sunday.
Israel waged its brutal war on besieged Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out an unprecedented operation against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 27,585 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 67,000 others.
Israel has imposed a “complete siege” on the densely-populated territory, cutting off fuel, electricity, food, and water to the more than two million Palestinians living there.
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