Deserted streets and "fear" in Rafah since the Israeli incursion

 

Displaced Gazan Marwan Al-Masry, who has taken refuge in Rafah, confirms that "life has completely disappeared" since Israeli tanks entered the east of the city, prompting Palestinians to flee to the besieged northern Gaza Strip.

More than 1.4 million people gathered in the city of Rafah, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt, as Israeli forces moved south from the northern coastal strip, which has been locked in a months-long war with Hamas.

Many people in Rafah have been displaced several times during the seven-month war and are currently returning north after Israeli forces called for the evacuation of the eastern part of the town, where tens of thousands of people live.

Al-Masri, 35, who was displaced from northern Gaza, said, "Life has completely stopped in Rafah, in the center of the city. The streets are empty of people and the markets are paralyzed."

He added, "We are afraid of any progress in the invasion, as happened in the eastern regions, which are now completely deserted."

Al-Masry points out that he and his relatives feel "tension and fear" as a result of the continuous bombing that he says is getting closer to them.

As for Ibtihal Al-Arouqi (39 years old), who was displaced from Al-Bureij camp in central Gaza to Rafah and underwent a C-section just two weeks ago, she found herself homeless again.

She said, "We came out from under the rubble of our house in Bureij, and now we are on the street because of the intensity of the bombing in Rafah. My children and I do not know where to go. There is no safe place.

While the west of Rafah has remained relatively calm compared to the east of the city, which has seen intense bombing, it has also been bombed, according to an Agence France-Presse correspondent.

Both Al-Masry and Al-Arouqi confirmed that the constant bombing has filled the air with dust and smoke, causing breathing difficulties.

"The situation in Rafah is chaotic," said Muhammad Abu Mughaysib, a medical coordinator for MSF in Rafah.

Abu Mughaysib, who was also displaced from Gaza City, spoke of "people carrying their luggage, mattresses, blankets and kitchen utensils on trucks" to flee east of Rafah.

"There is no place left in western Rafah," he told AFP.

He added that Al-Najjar hospital "was closed and the medical team evacuated to avoid what happened in Al-Shifa or Al-Nasser," referring to two medical complexes in Gaza that Israeli forces stormed during the war.

Between the Israeli bombardment from the east, the Egyptian border to the south, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, many of those fleeing Rafah headed north.

They headed to the nearby city of Khan Yunis and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where thousands of tents filled the coastal strip.

Ahmed Fadel, 22, was among the many who returned to northern Gaza, where he had fled earlier during the war.

Fadel, who is from Gaza City, was first displaced from the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza before being asked to leave when Israeli forces entered the nearby Bureij camp.

"We left and moved to Rafah, but they bombed and threatened the town, so we came to Deir al-Balah, which was already overcrowded," he told AFP.

AFP reporters saw long lines of displaced Palestinians fleeing Rafah in cars, trucks, donkey carts, tuk-tuks or on foot, carrying whatever luggage they could carry.

An Agence France-Presse video clip on Wednesday showed thousands of tents and shelters set up along the coast in Deir al-Balah.

Meanwhile, the streets were filled with people working to load their belongings or selling equipment.

Trader Abdul Majeed Al-Kurd told AFP: "Deir al-Balah is a small city. It is a very small city that is now very crowded."

He added: "There is no place or facilities to accommodate these people.