The border city of Rafah, in the far south of the Gaza Strip, is suffocating with displaced people who took refuge there to escape the Israeli bombing, which expanded from the north to the center to the south, pushing more than a million Gazans into the small city, in countless tents, turning it into a “jungle of tents.”
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) confirmed that nearly 90 percent of the population of Gaza were subjected to forced displacement and lack everything, half of them in Rafah, which created a complex reality there, making life more complicated, with endless fears that… The last trip will be to Egypt.
Shadia Numan, a resident of Al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip, a housewife with 9 sons and daughters, said that she was forced to flee her home with her family, to several areas, then to Rafah.
Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, is a tent city that received Palestinians who fled their homes due to Israeli raids (Reuters)
She added to Asharq Al-Awsat: “They pushed us to Rafah. I didn’t expect to see what I saw here. The numbers are huge and the crowding is severe. Honestly, the scene stunned me. I thought a lot… I would rather go back and die with dignity under bombing than live here, but the matter does not concern me alone. “There are the boys.”
Noman fears that the plan is related to their deportation to Egypt: “Everything indicates that.” This situation cannot continue. Rafah is suffocating with people. I imagine if Israel decided to bomb here. What will happen?”.
The population of the city of Rafah, adjacent to the border with Egypt, is 300 thousand people, according to the latest official statistics from the city’s municipality, a number that makes Rafah in its normal state overcrowded even before the arrival of a million new displaced people, all of whom now live in an area of 55 square kilometers, according to statistics from the Relief and Works Agency. Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), government agencies.
This reality makes the city of Rafah the largest center for sheltering displaced persons in the Gaza Strip. The displaced were forced to exploit all the open spaces in the city, especially near the border with Egypt, and lived in tents, which reinforced fears of another trip to Egypt.
A displaced Palestinian woman fled her home carrying a child near the border with Egypt in Rafah (Reuters)
The Palestinian Authority accuses Israel of seeking to displace the population, a trend that Israel did not deny, but was announced by government ministers such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who called for the voluntary displacement of residents from Gaza.
Reham Saad is a resident of the Shujaiya neighborhood. She lives with 13 people, including her husband, sons, and daughters, in a tent on the border, after a difficult journey of displacement from her home in the north, to the center of the Gaza Strip, then to Khan Yunis, and later Rafah.
Saad told Asharq Al-Awsat that she fears that this will be her last trip to Egypt.
She added: “We feel that everything was planned to push us to Rafah, and then finally to Egypt.” She continued: “The situation there is also very difficult. “It’s like a prelude to another journey.”
The role of UNRWA
The suffering of Saad and her family did not stop at the displacement journey only, but rather extended to more severe suffering. The tent, which her husband had to rent for 1,400 shekels (equivalent to about 400 dollars), is barely enough for 6 to 7 people at best.
She said: “14 people live in this tent… We distribute 4 hours of sleep for each person; Because we cannot rent a second tent. No one offers us tents and we cannot rent another one. (UNRWA) has abandoned its role and is content with distributing flour to us. My family and I are forced to adapt to this tragic situation that cannot be described or imagined, and we do not know how long it will last or how it will end.”
UNRWA employees distribute flour rations and other supplies to displaced Palestinians in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on Tuesday (AFP)
The number of displaced people in UNRWA shelters is 713 thousand people, while the number of displaced people in tents, squares and homes is 268 thousand people, according to the Rafah municipality.
All families live like the Saad family, who also complain about the insane rise in the prices of food and various other items.
Khader Al-Barqouni, who was forced to flee from Gaza City to Rafah at the beginning of the war on the Strip, said that he could not buy a lot of food items, the price of which had doubled unreasonably.
Palestinians inspect a damaged house in the city of Rafah that housed some displaced people from the northern Gaza Strip before it was bombed by Israeli aircraft (dpa)
He added to Asharq Al-Awsat, “There is clear exploitation. Of course, traders think that this is an appropriate opportunity. When they see this human flood, this is their opportunity. This flood reminds me of the great crowding inside Old Cairo when I traveled there, with a big difference, of course.”
Al-Barqouni also fears that people will actually find themselves in Egypt. He said: “The numbers of displaced people are very large, and life conditions are difficult, and even more difficult to continue. Rafah is fed up with people, and people are fed up with people too. Everything here is too tight for us.”
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2024-01-08 01:00:43
