Egypt Daily News – Hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents fled on Thursday in one of the largest waves of mass displacement since the outbreak of the war, as the Israeli army advanced through the rubble of Rafah, which they declared part of a “security zone” they intend to control.
One day after announcing its intention to take control of vast areas of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army infiltrated the city on the southern edge, which had served as a last refuge for those displaced from other areas during the conflict.
The Gaza Ministry of Health reported that at least 97 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in the past 24 hours, including at least 20 people who died in an airstrike on the Shuja’iyya neighborhood of Gaza City early Thursday morning.
A father of seven, who was among the hundreds of thousands fleeing Rafah to the neighboring town of Khan Younis, told Reuters via a messaging app, “Rafah is gone, they are wiping it out.”
The man, who asked not to be named for his safety, added, “They are destroying every building or house that is still standing.”
After an airstrike killed several people in Khan Younis, Adel Abu Fakher, who was inspecting the damage to his tent, said, “What do we have left? Is there anything left? There’s nothing left. We are dying while we are sleeping.”
The attack to take control of Rafah marks a significant escalation in the war that Israel resumed last month, effectively abandoning the ceasefire that had been in place since January.
