TENS of thousands of Palestinians streamed into Rafah on the Egyptian border today, fleeing Israeli troops moving to conquer the central part of the Gaza Strip.
Scores more people were killed in intense bombing of the Bureij, Nuseirat and Maghazi refugee camps as the Israeli army marched south, with Gaza’s Health Ministry saying 187 people had been killed in the preceding 24 hours, similar to daily death tolls throughout the Christmas week.
Though Israel has ordered Palestinians to move to southern towns like Rafah or be considered legitimate targets, it bombed residential buildings in Rafah too on Thursday, killing 20. Eyewitness Abu Oun said: “We were displaced from the north and came here as [the Israeli army] said it was safe. I wish we were martyred back there, and hadn’t come.”
Battle continued to rage in the central city of Khan Younis and in parts of northern Gaza, where Israeli forces have reduced towns to rubble. The Palestinian death toll from the war, which Israel launched following the October 7 attack by Hamas which killed over 1,100 Israelis (the official count has been reduced to 1,139 as more missing people have been found), is now over 21,500. Israel says 168 of its soldiers have so far been killed in the ground invasion.
The UN said on Thursday night more than 100,000 refugees have arrived in Rafah, with many setting up roadside tents or sleeping in cars or on carts since there are not enough shelters. Eighty-five per cent of the Gaza population has now been displaced by the war.
What fate Israel’s leaders plan for them when or if they decide to stop bombing remains unclear, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelling a war cabinet meeting scheduled to discuss plans for “the day after” under pressure from far-right members of his cabinet.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, part of the cabinet but not the war cabinet, said the smaller body’s remit did not extend to discussing the peace, while self-proclaimed “fascist homophobe” and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had threatened to hold a parallel meeting outlining his own views. Now the discussion will be rescheduled for a meeting of the full cabinet, where the far right have greater weight.
