RAFAH: Israel has ordered new evacuations in Gaza’s city of Rafah today as it prepared to expand its offensive, adding it was also moving into an area in northern Gaza.
AP reported that fighting is escalating across the Gaza Strip with heavy clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian groups on the outskirts of Rafah, leaving the crucial adjacent aid crossings inaccessible and forcing over 110,000 people to flee north of the city.
The UN and other agencies have also warned for weeks that an Israeli offensive on Rafah, which borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, would cripple aid operations and cause a disastrous increase in civilian casualties. Over 1.4 million Palestinian people — half of Gaza’s population— have also been sheltering in Rafah city, most following fleeing Israel’s operation elsewhere.
Israel’s brutal bombardment and ground operation the in Gaza Strip have killed over 34,800 Palestinian people, mostly children and women, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Much of the Gaza Strip has been destroyed and over 80 percent of Gaza’s population has been driven from their houses.
On the other hand, Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler said in a statement that two Israeli arson assaults and increasing protests forced the UN Palestine refugee agency, UNRWA, to temporarily close its office in occupied East Jerusalem this week, but its vital work will continue as war rages in the Gaza Strip and settlers’ violence increases in the Occupied West Bank.
