Around 800,000 Palestinians have been displaced from Rafah since Israel launched an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah last week, said Philippe Lazzarini, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Al Jazeera news.
Lazzarini also condemned the repeated displacement of Palestinians in a statement on Saturday.
“Palestinians have been forced to flee many times in search of safety since the war in Gaza began,” Lazzarini said. But they never found safety. Even the UNRWA shelter did not match it.'
He said, 'When people are forced to move from one place to another, they become vulnerable without safe passage or protection. Every time they are forced to leave some of their basic belongings. Like mats, tents, cooking utensils. They cannot take these with them or bear the cost of carrying them. So each time, they have to start from scratch.'
Rafah is the southernmost city in Gaza. More than 1.5 million Palestinians sought refuge in the city to escape Israeli attacks after the Gaza war broke out on October 7 last year. However, when the Israeli army started attacking Rafah last week, these people are now moving elsewhere to save their lives. However, there is no safe place in Gaza.
Wafa news agency reported that Israel is carrying out intense aggression throughout Gaza. At least 40 Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike on the Jabalia refugee camp on Saturday. In addition, four Palestinians were killed in an Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis, north of Rafah city, and three others were killed in the Nusirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
The United States has warned Israel against a major military operation without ensuring the safety of civilians in the town of Rafah. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government continues to attack despite international calls. Israel has gathered a large number of troops and tanks in Rafah. Israeli forces have also captured Gaza's main border crossing with Egypt. Until now, life-saving relief aid for Gazans had flown through this border crossing. But it is closed now.
Hamas, the ruling group of Palestine in Gaza, launched an unprecedented military operation in Israel on October 7 last year to protest the long occupation and the eviction of innocent Palestinians in the West Bank. 1 thousand 200 Israelis were killed in that attack. In response to this incident, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) started indiscriminate airstrikes and subsequent ground attacks on Gaza from that day.
More than 35,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in the more than eight-month-long offensive. Injured exceeded 79 thousand. Various countries and organizations, including the United Nations, have called for an end to this genocide.