© Reuters. A displaced Palestinian girl holds her son as she waits to get him examined by a physician, outdoors a medical tent, amid the continuing battle between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah within the southern Gaza Strip February 11, 2024. REUTERS/Saleh Salem
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By Mohammad Salem and Nidal al-Mughrabi
RAFAH, Gaza Strip/DOHA (Reuters) -The Abu Mustafa household’s tent is tough in opposition to the excessive concrete and steel fence separating Gaza from Egypt in Rafah, the final comparatively secure place in an enclave devastated by Israel’s navy offensive, however one which will now additionally come below assault.
The household is amongst greater than 1,000,000 Palestinians now crammed into the world round Rafah and fearing they’ve nowhere left to flee inside a tiny strip largely decreased to rubble and the place preventing nonetheless rages.
“Every day, we’re on the run. Being displaced is tough because I have two daughters with disabilities. I can’t carry them around. I don’t have a car or a cart,” stated Laila Abu Mustafa.
“If there will be more displacement, I’m not moving,” she stated.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered an evacuation plan for the civilians who crowd Rafah, tenting in streets and empty heaps, on the seashore and just like the Abu Mustafa household on the sandy strip alongside the Egyptian border.
Earlier than earlier assaults on Gaza cities, Israel’s navy has ordered civilians to depart with out making ready any particular evacuation plan. Support companies say an assault on Rafah could be catastrophic in a warfare that has already triggered untold distress.
U.S. President Joe Biden was as a result of communicate with Netanyahu on Sunday, White Home officers stated, the primary dialog between them since Biden final week described Israel’s navy response in Gaza as “over the top”.
The warfare started on Oct. 7 when the militant group Hamas that controls Gaza stormed the border fence with Israel, sending in fighters who killed 1,200 individuals, principally civilians, and seized about 250 hostages, in response to Israeli tallies.
4 months later, Gaza is in ruins. Beneath a large day by day bombardment, Israeli floor forces have overrun a lot of the enclave, smashing homes, public buildings and infrastructure with air raids, artillery fireplace and managed detonations.
Palestinian well being authorities say greater than 28,000 individuals have been killed within the warfare. Greater than 85% of Gazans are homeless. A U.N. survey discovered that just about one in 10 kids below 5 are acutely malnourished.
Talks for a deal on a ceasefire and the discharge of hostages have thus far did not convey an settlement. Final week Israel rejected a Hamas proposal, saying it could not cease preventing whereas the group retained brigades that Israel says are hiding in Rafah.
Egyptian safety sources stated extra high-level talks have been deliberate for Tuesday with senior officers from Qatar and the US to attend, in addition to Israeli and Palestinian delegations.
Israeli air raids have began focusing on Rafah over current days.
On Sunday, Hamas stated Israeli air raids within the Gaza Strip over the earlier 4 days had killed two hostages and injured eight others.
The group stated any Israeli assault on Rafah would “blow up” the discussions for a deal to free the remaining hostages.
EVACUATION PLAN FOR CIVILIANS
Talking in an interview that aired on U.S. community ABC on Sunday, Netanyahu reiterated that Israeli forces would assault Rafah, however stated they have been making ready “a detailed plan” for the place civilians there might go.
“We’re going to do it. We’re going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah,” he stated, including “we’re going to do it while providing safe passage for the civilian population”.
A spokesperson for France’s Overseas Ministry stated “a large-scale Israeli offensive at Rafah would create a catastrophic humanitarian situation of a new and unjustifiable dimension”.
Netanyahu solid doubt on the accuracy of the Palestinian loss of life toll, describing the figures produced by well being authorities in Hamas-run Gaza as “Hamas statistics”.
“It’s only been one civilian that’s been killed for one Hamas terrorist in Gaza,” he stated.
He stated “we’ve killed or wounded around 20,000 Hamas terrorists, out of that 12,000 fighters” with out explaining additional.
Palestinian well being authorities say round 70% of individuals killed in Gaza are ladies or kids below 18. The Israeli navy stated in a briefing in December that they thought roughly two civilians had been killed in Gaza for every lifeless Hamas combatant.
The World Well being Group has described the Palestinian Well being Ministry system for reporting casualties as “very good” and U.N. companies usually cite its loss of life toll figures.
Towards the border fence, topped with barbed wire, the Abu Mustafa household hangs laundry between tents. They prepare dinner what little meals they’ll collect in empty tin cans over a fireplace within the sand.
Concern of an assault on Rafah is the fixed topic of each dialog within the crammed metropolis, stated Mariam, a girl who fled her house in Gaza Metropolis early within the warfare together with her three kids aged 5, 7 and 9.
“I can’t describe how we feel. There is turmoil in my head. My children keep asking me when Israel will invade Rafah and where we will go and if we will die. And I don’t have the answers,” she stated.