Israeli troops in the city
UN: Tens of thousands of people fled Rafah
May 10, 2024, 11:02 a.m
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Israel continues to attack the border town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip with ground troops and from the air. The army says it can locate several tunnel entrances. Meanwhile, the UN Palestinian Relief Agency complains about cruel conditions for the civilian population.
According to the UN, around 110,000 people have fled the coastal town overcrowded with refugees since the Israeli army advanced on Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. They are looking for security, wrote the UN relief organization for Palestinians UNRWA on X. The living conditions are cruel. The only hope was an immediate ceasefire, they said.
The Rafah border crossing into Egypt remained closed to humanitarian aid deliveries, the Palestinian border authority announced. The Israeli army said troops continued to operate in the east of the city of Rafah and in Al-Saitun in the central Gaza Strip. In Rafah, the army discovered several tunnel entrances. “Several terrorist cells were eliminated” in fighting on the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing into Egypt.
The Israeli Air Force also attacked several areas in the Rafah area from which rockets and mortar shells had been fired at Israel in recent days. The target was also the Kerem Shalom border crossing, which serves as an important crossing point for humanitarian aid supplies to the blocked coastal strip. In Al-Saitun, the army had “taken out several terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure,” it said. The air force attacked around 40 targets in the Gaza Strip within 24 hours. Eyewitnesses also reported airstrikes and fighting in the city of Gaza further north.
The Israeli military called on residents of the eastern part of Rafah to leave the area on Monday. There are said to be more than a million internally displaced people in Rafah. Israel’s Western partners, especially the USA, have urgently warned the Israeli government against a large-scale military operation in Rafah because of the expected dramatic humanitarian consequences.
Israel wants to completely destroy the Islamist Hamas after the massacres in Israel on October 7th, whose leaders it suspects are in tunnels under Rafah. Israeli hostages are probably also being held there for their protection.