On Tuesday, Israeli tanks advanced deeper into eastern Rafah, reaching some residential districts of the southern border city where over a million people had been sheltering. Witnesses reported seeing tanks crossing the strategically important Salah al-Din road into the Brazil and Jneina neighborhoods. Between 360,000 and 500,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in the past week following Israeli warnings to evacuate eastern and central neighborhoods.
Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Rafah, wrote in a post on X that families still in the southern city had “moved as far west as possible,” describing the inland areas as a “ghost town.”
The World Court, also known as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), announced it would hold hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss a request by South Africa seeking new emergency measures over the Rafah incursion. Qatar claims this incursion has stalled efforts to reach a ceasefire. South Africa’s demand is part of a case it brought against Israel, accusing it of violating the genocide convention in Gaza, which Israel has called baseless.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) stated that it had been “forced to stop providing healthcare at Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital” as of Sunday. MSF noted a pattern of systematic attacks against medical facilities and civilian infrastructure since the beginning of the war. Due to the advancing offensive, MSF decided to leave the Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, referring the 22 remaining patients to other facilities as they can “no longer guarantee their safety.”
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron condemned attacks on aid convoys headed for Gaza as “appalling,” insisting that Israel must hold those responsible to account. He pledged to raise his concerns with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government after reports of Israeli protesters blocking aid trucks, throwing food packages on the road, and ripping open bags of grain at the Tarqumiya checkpoint in the West Bank.
ActionAid’s partner in Rafah, Wefaq, has paused humanitarian operations. The charity warned that aid operations could come to a “complete halt” as aid workers face an “unprecedented” level of danger, making their jobs “impossible.” The charity reported that aid workers in Rafah are “experiencing the same inhumane living conditions as the rest of the population” and that “virtually no aid” has entered Gaza in recent days.
The Biden administration has assessed that Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of Rafah to proceed with a full-scale incursion into the southern Gazan city in the coming days, CNN reported. Two senior administration officials mentioned that US officials are unsure if Israel has made a final decision to carry out the full-scale invasion.
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Large parts of Rafah have turned into a ‘ghost town’, according to Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), who is currently in the area. She reported that the families remaining in the southern city have moved as far west as possible.
“It’s hard to believe there were over 1 million people sheltering here just a week ago,” Wateridge wrote in a post on X.
“This morning in western #Rafah: families have moved as far west as possible, now reaching the shore & along the beach. Today awoken by navy shelling. Inland in Rafah is now a ghost town. It’s hard to believe there were over 1 million people sheltering here just a week ago.”
Between 360,000 and 500,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in the past week after Israeli warnings to evacuate eastern and central neighborhoods before assaults that appear to be ushering in a bloody new phase of the war.
In the north of the territory, intense battles over the weekend have led to another 100,000 people fleeing after receiving evacuation orders from the Israeli military.
Al-Mawasi, designated by Israel as an “extended humanitarian zone” for those evacuating Rafah and other areas, is reportedly suffering from limited sanitation, minimal water supplies, and inadequate food, according to displaced people there.
