Many of those fleeing Rafah are being told to move to areas already teeming with displaced people and facing a worsening humanitarian crisis. A large number of people are trapped in areas that cannot be evacuated due to the intensity of the bombing and the extreme force of the Israeli army, Al-Jazeera reports. Israeli air and artillery strikes reached the area near a Kuwaiti hospital and where thousands of displaced families have set up their makeshift tents on the streets or inside evacuation zones.
On Saturday, the Israeli military issued an evacuation order for the central area of the city, ordering residents to head to the “expanded humanitarian zone” in al-Mawasi. On Friday night, Israel’s War Cabinet approved a “gradual expansion” of the operation in Rafah while ordering its negotiators to continue efforts to reach a hostage deal.
At least 15 people were killed in the Israeli attack on Rafah, according to officials at the Kuwait hospital where the bodies were taken on Saturday. The Al-Salam area in the east of the city came under artillery fire and an airstrike hit a building in the Al-Hashasheen area in the west. At the same time, the Israeli army is attacking Hamas in Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari said. Israeli forces dropped leaflets yesterday morning ordering residents in several areas in the north of the enclave to evacuate immediately, residents said. Hagari said the military was attacking the group’s infrastructure in the Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia areas. At least 143 journalists have been killed since October 7, the government media office in the Gaza Strip said. Many journalists have moved to Rafah as the conflict has devastated the enclave. Now, like the displaced population, they say they have nowhere to go and are not sure they can continue their work.
Gaza’s Civil Defense said it estimated there were about 10,000 bodies buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings. The group called for more teams to be allowed into Gaza to recover the remains. On Saturday, the Gaza Health Ministry said 28 people had died in the enclave in the past 24 hours and that at least 34,971 people had died in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
US President Joe Biden stated on Saturday that “the fire will stop tomorrow” if Hamas releases the hostages held in the Gaza Strip. It comes after Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams left Cairo without a deal earlier this week. Meanwhile, Egypt is refusing to coordinate with Israel regarding the Rafah crossing due to security concerns, Egyptian state media Al-Qahera News reported on Saturday, citing a senior official. Egypt warned Israel that it could stop the flow of aid trucks into Gaza until Israel withdraws its tanks and troops from Rafah, an Egyptian official told CNN on Saturday.
