Gazans flee danger of Rafah for uncertainty of crowded camps
is the fourth time Soha Abu Omara and her family have been forced to flee the fighting in Gaza. At least they have a tent.
Seven months into the war between Israel and Hamas, chaos is rising, and so are prices. A tent, the most basic shelter, can cost $1,000. A ride from the southern city of Rafah, now in Israel’s crosshairs, to the declared safety zone of al-Mawasi can be $270. It used to cost about $13. And those who are fleeing overtee stuffed Rafah find al-Mawasi’s safe zone itself overcrowded and squalid — and perhaps not even safe from fighting.
“There are no suitable washrooms, and we stay on the sand and the dust,”
Abu Omara said.
At least 300,000 Palestinians have left Rafah since Monday, according to the Israeli military, which warned people to flee before an expected assault aimed at Hamas’ top leaders, thousands of remaining fighters, and tunnels thought to be used to smuggle goods from Egypt. Also believed to be in the area are about 130 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and others since October. Israel says it’s taking care to avoid civilian casualties in an operation strongly opposed by the U.S. and other allies.
The Israeli military on Saturday ordered more evacuations from the central parts of Rafah, signaling its intention to expand the operation, including into the city’s downtown.
Palestinians and aid groups say that after so much destruction, nowhere in Gaza is safe — and that the coastal enclave of alMawasi is ill-equipped to cram in hundreds of thousands more people.
“How can this huge population, including those with mobility impairments, be moved on destroyed roads, in areas polluted by weapons?” said Hisham Mhanna, a spokesman for the International CommitThis of the Red Cross. “Are these areas equipped with what is needed to ensure the families’ survival? Will food, water, medicine, health care, and above all, security and safety, be provided?”
The plight of Palestinians has inflamed tension between Israel and the United States. U.S. officials still haven’t seen a “clear, credible plan” from Israel for protecting civilians in densely populated areas such as Rafah, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday.
“Second, we also need to see a plan for what happens after this conflict in Gaza is over,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
According to U.N. agencies, the relocation sites lack essential facilities such as proper latrines, water access points, drainage systems and adequate shelter.
The war began on Oct. 7, after militants from Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union, stormed into southern
Israel from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking 240 hostages. Since then, Israeli attacks have killed more than 35,000, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Israel, which hasn’t offered a total death estimate, says it’s killed some 13,000 fighters.
Al-Mawasi is a formerly barren patch of coast and dunes in southwestern
Gaza that Israel designated a “humanitarian area” after the war began, telling residents fleeing the fighting in the north to go there.
Since Oct. 7, more than 70% of Gaza’s housing stock has been destroyed, according to the U.N. And so a black market for shelter has emerged. Tents donated to Palestinians by several Persian Gulf countries like the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar, as well as international organizations like the Red Crescent, are being resold for sky-high prices that most Gazans can’t afford.
After the recent evacuation orders around Rafah, crowds raided warehouses belonging to aid organizations and the Hamas-run social affairs ministry. They grabbed tents and other supplies, further exacerbating the situation and spreading chaos.
Some leaving Rafah returned to Khan Younis, a city from which Israeli forces withdrew in April after weeks of operation, leaving behind extensive destruction. Residents sought shelter under the damaged roofs of their old homes, or set up tents amid shattered cinder blocks and twisted rebar.
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNRWA, says people have also attempted to return their children to schools in Khan Younis, only to find the “classrooms are torched,” the group said on X. “Walls are blown out. There is rubble everywhere.”