Middle East

Gaza: Tens of thousands flee Rafah towards ‘safe zones’ that lack water, food and medical care

WHO head says UN has been prevented from providing Gaza with fuel, without which ‘all humanitarian operations will stop’

Displaced Palestinians set up tents after returning to Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images

Michael Jansen
Thu May 9 2024 - 15:43

Palestinian refugee agency Unrwa on Thursday reported that 80,000 people have fled eastern Rafah to escape Israel’s military offensive. “People are facing yet another forced displacement in the Gaza Strip,” Unrwa said in a statement. “The toll on these families is unbearable. Nowhere is safe. We need a ceasefire now.”

Families have been moved from place to place during the war that began after Hamas attacked southern Israel on October 7th, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, according to Israeli figures. Israel’s offensive has killed 34,844 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.

Israel called on Monday for the evacuation of 100,000 of the 1.4 million Palestinians gathered in Rafah. It is seeking to kill or capture Hamas fighters said to be based there.

Families who left Rafah face overcrowded locations deemed “safe zones” by Israel at al-Mawasi on the coast and the city of Khan Younis, where there is a lack of water, food and medical care.

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Israeli troops have seized and closed the Rafah crossing with Egypt through which most aid reaches Gaza. The Kerem Shalom goods channel, which processes the second-highest number of aid deliveries, was closed for three days after Israel said four soldiers close to the terminal were killed by Hamas mortar fire. When Israel announced Kerem Shalom had reopened on Wednesday, aid lorries lined up for Israeli inspection and permission to enter Gaza, but none gained admission.

Unrwa spokeswoman Juliette Touma told The Irish Times on Thursday: “We understand some aid has come through Erez in the north [although it is] very limited. Via Kerem Shalom no aid has reached Gaza.”

The Israeli agency monitoring deliveries said 60 trucks had entered Gaza through the Erez crossing on Tuesday. The pre-war total was 500 lorry-loads.

World Health Organisation director Tedros Adhanoun Ghebreyesus posted on X that the UN has been prevented from delivering fuel. He said: “Without fuel all humanitarian operations will stop.” Hospitals, water and sewage pumps, and vehicles for aid deliveries cannot function without fuel.

The main maternity hospital, which had handled 95 per cent of Gaza’s 180 daily births, has ceased admitting patients.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said: “Medical staff and patients had to be evacuated from Al-Najjar Hospital [Rafah’s largest], while the European Gaza Hospital [in Khan Younis] is no longer accessible.”

It added: “Since the beginning of this war, MSF has seen a pattern of systematic attacks against medical facilities and civilian infrastructure. The health system in Gaza is being dismantled just as the needs are exploding, with devastating consequences for Palestinian people.”

A third mass grave, containing 49 bodies, has been found at Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza city, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office. The latest discovery means a total of seven mass graves containing 520 bodies of men, women and children at three hospitals – Al-Shifa, Nasser hospital in Khan Younis and Kamal Adwan hospital in the north, the Gaza media office said.

UN human rights experts have said they were “horrified” that many of the bodies in the first mass graves were “reportedly showing signs of torture and summary executions, and potential instances of people buried alive”.

Michael Jansen

Michael Jansen

Michael Jansen contributes news from and analysis of the Middle East to The Irish Times

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