UNRWA Says Israeli Attacks Forced Over 1 Million Refugees to Leave Rafah

JAKARTA - The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said on Monday that forced displacement caused by Israeli attacks has caused more than a million people to flee the city of Rafah.

The small city on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip has sheltered about 1 million Palestinians who fled Israeli attacks in other parts of the enclave, the aid group said.

Since early May, the Israeli military has been conducting what it calls a limited operation in Rafah to root out Hamas fighters and eliminate infrastructure used by the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza.

Although the Israeli military has told civilians to leave for an "extended humanitarian zone" about 20 km (12 miles) away.

However, many Palestinians complain that they are vulnerable to Israeli attacks wherever they go, having been on the move in the Gaza Strip in recent months.

"The conditions are beyond description," the agency said, as reported by Reuters on June 3.

UNRWA said thousands of families are now sheltering in damaged and destroyed facilities in the city of Khan Younis, where the agency provides essential services despite "increasing challenges".

Yesterday, UNRWA said Israeli attacks had forced Palestine refugees to abandon all shelters it manages.

"As a result of Israeli Forces operations, thousands of families have been displaced," UNRWA said in a statement, quoted by Anadolu.

"All 36 UNRWA shelters in Rafah are now empty," UNRWA added.

The previous day, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini also said that more than one million people, many of whom have been displaced multiple times, have been forced to leave Rafah in search of safety.

Lazzarini added that the UN refugee agency had to suspend health and other essential services in Rafah.

"However, we are committed to staying and providing services to the community. We are now working from Khan Younis and the central area where 1.7 million people live," he said.

Almost eight months after the Palestinian militant group's attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which was responded to with a blockade and bombardment by Israel, causing Gaza to now be in ruins.

Health authorities in Gaza announced on Sunday that around 60 people were killed and 220 others were injured in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll of Palestinian civilians in the enclave to 36,439 and 82,627 others injured. The majority of the victims were women and children, quoted from WAFA.