According to the New York Times on February 10, as the war heats up, Ahlam Himali watched people flee the fighting and destruction elsewhere in the Gaza Strip and pour into the southernmost city of Rafah, where she lives, in the Gaza Strip.
Rents have skyrocketed, and multiple families share very small apartments. Tent camps occupy most of the open space. Food and fuel had become scarce, so much so that she heated canned beans and baked dough by burning old clothes and books.
Now, Israel has declared that it wants to expand its ground invasion of Rafah, which has terrified her, and she has no idea that she and her family will be able to escape to **.
The 31-year-old said: "What would happen to us if there were tanks, conflicts, invasions and armies? ”
More than half of the 2.2 million people in the Gaza Strip are now seeking refuge in Rafah, many of whom fled after Israel told them to flee south to avoid war in the north, the report said.
Overcrowding is already putting the region's resources under enormous pressure. As fighting in the southern city of Khan Younis intensifies, displaced Gazans continue to pour into Rafah.
Fathi Abu Snema, 45, and his family have reportedly taken refuge at a United Nations school in Rafah since the early days of the war. "The situation is very bad, the sanitary conditions are very poor," he said. We can only eat canned food here, which is healthy anyway. Everything else is expensive. ”
He feared that many would die if Israel invaded Rafah, especially since people had nowhere else to go.
"I'd rather die here," he said. No place in Gaza is safe. ”
The Associated Press said on February 10** that Israel's neighbors and main mediators warned on the 10th about the disaster and impact that the Israeli army would bring if it launched a ground offensive against the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
Egypt's prime minister, Samah Hassan al-Shoukry, said that any Israeli ground offensive against Rafah would have "catastrophic consequences" and insisted that Israel's goal was to finally force Palestinians to leave their land.
According to the report, another mediator, Qatar, also warned that [Israel's attack on Rafah] could bring disaster. Saudi Arabia said it would have a "very serious impact". There is also growing friction between Netanyahu and the United States. The United States** said that if Israel attacked Rafah without planning for the evacuation of civilians, it would lead to disaster.
Annalena Baerbock, the mayor of Germany, said on the social **x platform on the 10th: "The people of Gaza cannot disappear out of thin air. She went on to say that if Israel launched an attack on Rafah, it would be a "humanitarian catastrophe that is in the making." (Compiled by Shen Jian, Xu Yanhong).
*: Reference message).