A Promise of Expansion to Gaza, as Israel Advances

On Friday, Israeli authorities announced their plans to extend their offensive actions against Hamas in Gaza to Rafah, one of the last sanctuaries in the strip, located along the Egyptian border. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed the continuation of the mission to Rafah in a social media post, after the successful dismantling of the militant brigade in the nearby city of Khan Younis. Aid workers and humanitarian organizations have expressed concerns about the precarious situation in Rafah, already packed with displaced civilians, many of whom are ill or on the brink of starvation. Further escalation in the area could result in severe consequences, they warned.“The potential loss of life in Gaza would be significant if Israel escalates its operations there,” said Bob Kitchen, vice president for emergencies at the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian relief organization operating in Gaza.Almost nine out of ten Palestinians in Gaza have been displacedRafah’s population has surged to “at least” 1.4 million people, said Juliette Touma, director of communications for the U.N. agency for Palestinian affairs, UNRWA. This is five times the pre-war population of 280,000, estimated before October 7th. Israeli officials have not provided specific details on their plans for Rafah. Israel’s military has already carried out attacks in the area, including an airstrike near the Kuwaiti Hospital in December, which resulted in the deaths of at least 18 people, according to hospital staff. The conflict in Gaza has drastically changed the demographic landscape of the strip. According to U.N. estimates, almost nine out of ten people living in Gaza are now displaced. The World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that “over 100,000 Gazans are either dead, injured, or missing and presumed dead.”The U.N. agency said that the population of Rafah, Gaza had ballooned from an estimated 280,000 before October 7th to at least 1.4 million people. (Video: Planet)Before October 7th, the most populous area in the strip was Gaza City in the north.On October 13th, six days after the Hamas-led assault on Israel that initiated the war, Israel instructed the evacuation of over 1 million people living in the areas above the Wadi Gaza wetlands. Many sought refuge in Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, in the south.At the beginning of December, Israeli authorities directed Palestinians in Khan Younis to relocate to new areas as military operations were conducted in the city.It is believed that over half of Gaza’s total population is now in Rafah, where many are “living in makeshift structures, tents, or out in the open,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), on Friday, describing the city as a “pressure cooker of despair”.

Timeline of evacuation calls

Previously under evacuation

Timeline of evacuation calls

Previously under evacuation

Timeline of evacuation calls

Previously under evacuation

Timeline of evacuation calls

Previously under evacuation

A Mounting Humanitarian Crisis in RafahHumanitarian organizations have warned that the amount of aid entering Gaza from Egypt is woefully inadequate to meet the needs of an increasingly desperate population. “People in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food,” said Cindy McCain, head of the World Food Program, in an appeal for increased action to allow more trucks to enter Gaza.One Palestinian aid worker, speaking anonymously as he was not authorized to speak publicly, likened the widespread use of tents to stories his grandfather had told him about the living conditions for refugees after the 1948 Israeli-Arab war. According to the aid worker, the tents, which can be up to 200 square feet in size, would accommodate an entire family or two. The addition of winter temperatures has exacerbated the situation. “With this cold and rainy weather, the tent is the last place anyone would want to be in!” they wrote. With overcrowding, sanitary measures have broken down. “Thousands and thousands of people are sharing individual toilets,” Kitchen said, adding that IRC workers in Rafah have witnessed “queues of 4 to 5 hours” to use the bathrooms. Open defecation and urination pose public health risks.”We’re already seeing widespread reports of acute watery diarrhea, which I believe, if tested, would be confirmed as cholera,” Kitchen said. The humanitarian crisis is compounded by a political one, as at least ten Western governments this week suspended funding to UNRWA, the primary logistical force for aid in Gaza. The decision to halt funding came after Israel presented a dossier alleging that more than a dozen UNRWA employees were involved in the October 7th attacks on Israel, and claiming widespread support for Hamas and other militant groups within the organization.