A video clip from a house in Rafah showed the body of a Palestinian girl, her legs torn into slices of meat. Other footage from the city showed a bleeding boy being carried away and four other children dying on hospital stretchers.
One hundred and sixty-four One person was killed and 200 others were injured across the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health. The night operation in Rafah, a place that has been largely spared from widespread air attacks in other parts of the Strip, shocked bone-weary residents who had spent months moving around trying to avoid bombs.
Palestinian families crowded into homes and tents in Rafah; Some of the new arrivals sleep on the streets. They rely almost entirely on humanitarian relief, with aid groups warning of a looming famine, and are cut off from loved ones in other parts of the Strip because cellular communications are patchy and there is no electricity to charge most phones.
Mervat, 51 years old, who lives in a tent with her sister’s family in Rafah after her displacement from Gaza City, said: “We are tired and cannot bear any more of this torture.” “All I hope now is for the war to end.”
“I don’t know where to go,” she added, echoing sentiments being expressed across Gaza. “No place is safe.” She spoke on the condition that she be identified by her first name for security reasons.
Noting that half of Gaza's population is already crammed into the Rafah crossing, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on social media that the looming Israeli campaign “would significantly increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare.”
The conflict began on October 7, when Hamas-led militants ambushed Israeli border communities from Gaza, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostage. More than 28,000 Palestinians were killed in Israel's retaliatory military campaign, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, and much of the Strip was leveled by air strikes. Israeli authorities say Hamas is holding the bodies of about 30 people who died in captivity or were killed on October 7.
The Israeli military said at least 9,000 militants have been killed so far, although senior Hamas leaders remain at large. Israeli authorities believe they are taking shelter in Rafah, along with more than 100 remaining hostages.
Israeli officials claim they cannot complete their fight against Hamas without going after the group in Rafah, a prospect that has alarmed the United States, Israel's closest ally, which continues to supply the country with weapons and diplomatic support.
After Biden and Netanyahu spoke on Sunday for the first time in more than three weeks, a US administration official said that the US position on Rafah had become “very clear.” They added that the United States would not support such an operation unless Israel had a plan to protect and sustain civilians that was “already planned, prepared, and implementable.”
It was not clear whether the US President was aware that a major operation to rescue the two hostages would take place hours later. At a press conference, IDF spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said the mission had been planned “for some time.”
The bombing lasted only a few hours, but its impact continued Monday in homes and tents, where civilians contacted by phone said they could barely sleep. Once again, they faced impossible decisions about where to go.
In late October, Israel asked one million Palestinians in the north to move south for their safety, although intense bombardment continued across the Strip. In January, Israeli forces advanced into Khan Yunis, the southern area from which they had initially asked Gazans to flee.
The Israeli authorities designated an area on the seashore called Al-Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, as a “safer area.” But strikes have struck there too, and there is little aid available there.
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said he was “deeply concerned” by the reports from Rafah. He said in a statement: “All wars have rules, and the laws applied to armed conflicts cannot be interpreted in a way that makes them hollow or devoid of meaning.” Statement sent to X.
Aheda Abu Ataya (40 years old), who fled to Rafah with her children, said that the house next to her tent was bombed in the night raids, which led to her being trapped under the rubble. Her neighbors took her out alive.
“We survived by a divine miracle,” she said. “What happened yesterday is indescribable. This is the second time I almost lost my life.”
Palestinian families who have been displaced repeatedly say that each displacement is more difficult than the one before. It is difficult to carry food and water. Children who brought their favorite toys with them become inconsolable when they are left in the chaos. Communications challenges make it almost impossible to know what lies ahead in other parts of the sector.
Above all, there is the question of where to go. One humanitarian worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, said his family of five were running out of options. They had fled their home in Khan Yunis in early December; Now they are preparing to return despite the repeated attacks on the city.
He said they would join two dozen other relatives in his family's one-bedroom house overlooking the sea. He said the last remaining road linking southern, central and northern Gaza – known as Al-Rashid Road or Beach Road – remains open, but he does not know for how long. During previous forced evictions, some routes identified by the IDF resulted in civilians being caught in the line of fire. Israeli forces also arrested an unknown number of people at checkpoints along evacuation routes.
“A lot of people are moving now,” he said. “We have no choice. This is what we do to survive.”
For most people, there is no way to leave Gaza.
Before the war, Gazans who met certain criteria could pay several hundred dollars to an Egyptian company to coordinate their exit through the Rafah crossing with Egypt. The price has now risen to $5,000 per adult or more, a price beyond the reach of most families in the poor enclave.
Even for the few who can afford it, the process remains mysterious and uncertain. On Monday, Egyptian company Hala posted a notice on its website saying it would temporarily not accept new applicants because its waiting list is too long.
On a public channel on the Telegram application around the Rafah crossing, Gazans on Monday tried to gather their options, asking for help in obtaining the departure list and paying the amount. One person wrote: “Which is better, for the person to remain in Rafah or to return to the center?”
Harb and Lovelock reported from London. Karen De Jong in Washington, Heba Farouk Mahfouz in Cairo, and Hazem Baalousha in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
