Displaced residents of Gaza are wondering where to go as Israel promises to move further south
Over the past day, Israeli forces have hit buildings in Gaza, including near the Nasser Medical Complex in the southern city of Khan Younis, the second-largest hospital in the area. The Israeli army said its forces continued to fight militants in western Khan Younis. It also said it carried out an airstrike that killed an Islamic Jihad fighter in the central Gaza town of Deir al Balah who it said had taken part in the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7.
More than 100 people have been killed in the past 24 hours, Gaza's health ministry said Tuesday morning.
At a press conference on Monday, Mr. Gallant said Israeli ground forces would raid places they had still not reached in central and southern Gaza, including Rafah, which he called “the last stronghold left in Hamas's hands.”
“Any terrorist hiding in Rafah must know that their end will be like that in Khan Younis, Gaza City and every other place in the Gaza Strip: surrender or death,” Mr Gallant said.
The comments, which came as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was in the region to push for a ceasefire, were in line with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's position that Israel would continue the fight against Hamas in Gaza to a “complete victory”. Israel is still waiting for the armed group's response to a proposed initial framework for a ceasefire and the release of more Israeli hostages from Gaza.
As the ground invasion has steadily pushed Gazans further and further south, Rafah's population is believed to have increased roughly fivefold since the war began, according to the United Nations. Egypt has rejected the idea of opening its border to allow large numbers of displaced people to seek temporary refuge on its territory.
Sana al-Karabiti, 34, originally from Gaza City, said the possibility of ground forces entering Rafah brought back poignant memories of when Israeli tanks entered her neighborhood early in the war.
“I feel my hair turning gray,” said Ms. al-Karabiti, a pharmacist who has been sitting in a tent in the al-Salam neighborhood of Rafah. “I keep asking myself what I will do when they get to where I am.”
A small number of people in Rafah were already tearing down their tents, packing their bags and fleeing to central Gaza, but Mr al-Sindawi was unsure whether it would be safer there.
“We are thinking about going to Nuseirat, but we also hear in the news about bombings in Nuseirat,” he said, referring to an area in central Gaza where his relatives live. “We have no idea what to do.”
Other displaced Palestinians were frustrated that Israeli officials had told them Rafah would be safe – but are now talking about entering the city.
“Why did they tell us to come here?” said Mukhlis al-Masri, 32, who was staying at a United Nations school in Rafah. “This is so unfair.”
Abu Bakr Bashir contributed reporting from London.