On Wednesday, Israeli tanks pushed to the edge of a densely populated district in the heart of Rafah, a southern Gaza city, intensifying the conflict. Despite warnings from the US and others, Israel’s offensive in Rafah has driven nearly 1 million people out of the city, many of whom had already been displaced multiple times during the seven-month war.
The conflict extends beyond southern Gaza, with intensified fighting in northern areas battered by Israeli artillery and ground forces earlier in the war. At the Kamal Adwan hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp, 150 patients and medics were forced to flee for their lives during repeated Israeli strikes on Tuesday night. The Israel Defense Forces claimed to have dismantled terrorist infrastructure and conducted aerial and artillery strikes on terror targets in the area, resulting in at least six deaths, including children.
In the central Gaza town of Deir al Balah, an Israeli strike killed at least 12 people, including small children. A CBS News team witnessed the aftermath, seeing an infant being removed from the womb of his mother, who was killed in the strike. Doctors were unable to save the baby.
According to the UN aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA, over 810,000 people have fled Rafah in two weeks, with most moving to the crowded coastal area of al-Mawasi, which Israel has designated as a humanitarian zone. However, UNRWA has suspended food distribution in Rafah due to supply shortages and insecurity, leaving thousands of Palestinian families with nowhere to go. The agency emphasized that “nowhere is safe in Gaza.”
A US official revealed that Israeli leaders have addressed some of President Biden’s concerns about launching a full-scale ground operation in Rafah, but the White House has yet to signal its support for such an assault.
