{"id":48576,"date":"2024-05-11T20:29:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T20:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/11\/as-israel-steps-up-attacks-300000-gazans-are-on-the-move\/"},"modified":"2024-05-11T20:29:06","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T20:29:06","slug":"as-israel-steps-up-attacks-300000-gazans-are-on-the-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/11\/as-israel-steps-up-attacks-300000-gazans-are-on-the-move\/","title":{"rendered":"As Israel Steps Up Attacks, 300,000 Gazans Are on the Move"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/11\/multimedia\/11mideast-ledeall-swaps-02-wcfh\/11mideast-ledeall-swaps-02-wcfh-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"As Israel Steps Up Attacks, 300,000 Gazans Are on the Move\" title=\"As Israel Steps Up Attacks, 300,000 Gazans Are on the Move\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Around 300,000 Palestinians in southern and northern Gaza are being forced to flee once again, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNRWA\/status\/1789205573814141386\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the United Nations says<\/a>, as Israel issued new and expanded evacuation orders on Saturday. But many are unsure where to find secure shelter in a place devastated by war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The expanded evacuation orders apply to the city of Rafah at Gaza\u2019s southernmost tip, where more than a million Gazans have gathered after fleeing Israeli bombardment elsewhere over the past seven months. They have deepened fears that the Israeli military is set to proceed with an invasion of Rafah, which Israeli leaders have long promised, a prospect that international aid groups and many countries have condemned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some 150,000 people have already fled Rafah over the past six days, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UNWateridge\/status\/1789165197216665802\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">according to UNRWA, the United Nations agency that aids Palestinians<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s such a difficult situation \u2014 the number of people displaced is very high, and none of them know where to go, but they leave and try to get as far away as possible,\u201d said Mohammad al-Masri, a 31-year-old accountant who is sheltering with his family in a tent in Rafah. \u201cFear, confusion, oppression, anxiety is eating away at people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Charles Michel, president of the European Council, criticized the expanded evacuation order on Saturday <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CharlesMichel\/status\/1789344171225919584\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">on social media<\/a>, saying, \u201cEvacuation orders for civilians trapped in Rafah to unsafe zones are unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel seized control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Monday in what it called a \u201climited operation,\u201d and stepped-up bombardment and fighting have continued in and around the city since then.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Israeli military has said it is carrying out \u201cprecise operations in specific areas of eastern Rafah\u201d targeting Hamas. But the majority of the more than 34,000 Palestinians reported killed in Gaza have been women and children, according to local health officials. Dozens have been killed by Israeli strikes in Rafah since Monday, health officials say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Most of Gaza\u2019s 2.2 million residents have been forced to leave their homes, often multiple times throughout the war, with many now living in ramshackle tents, classrooms or overcrowded apartments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On Saturday, the Israeli military said in a statement that it \u201ccalled on the population from additional areas in eastern Rafah to temporarily evacuate to the expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,\u201d a coastal area north of Rafah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSo far,\u201d the military added, \u201capproximately 300,000 Gazans have moved toward the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Although Israel has characterized Al-Mawasi as a humanitarian zone, the United Nations has stressed that the area is neither safe nor equipped to receive the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians already displaced by the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEverywhere you look now in west <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Rafah?src=hashtag_click\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">#Rafah<\/a> this morning, families are packing up,\u201d Louise Wateridge, a spokeswoman for UNRWA, wrote on social media on Saturday. \u201cStreets are significantly emptier.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even as Israeli forces bombarded Rafah, they have also in recent weeks repeatedly returned to areas of northern Gaza, including the town of Beit Hanoun and the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, to deal with renewed militant activity. On Saturday the Israeli military ordered an evacuation of the northern city of Jabaliya in advance of a planned operation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel\u2019s ground invasion began at the end of October in northern Gaza, in response to the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel. Large swaths of the area were left devastated by months of Israeli airstrikes and shelling, leaving a lawless wasteland dominated by street gangs. The Israeli military has said it killed many of Hamas\u2019s key commanders in the area while driving out the group\u2019s fighters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Friday in northern Gaza by an explosive device, the military said. On Saturday, it said in a statement that Hamas was trying \u201cto reassemble its terrorist infrastructure and operatives\u201d around Jabaliya, which the Israeli military considers a Hamas stronghold and base for operations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Fatma Edaama, 36, a resident of Jabaliya, said Saturday that she hoped the latest fighting would be limited enough to allow her family to stay. \u201cOur lives already ended in 2006,\u201d when Hamas won Palestinian legislative elections, leading Israel to begin tightening restrictions on Gaza, she said, adding, \u201cThere\u2019s no safe place for us to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israeli military analysts called Hamas\u2019s apparent resurgence in northern Gaza the result of Israel\u2019s failure to establish any alternative form of government there, leaving behind a vacuum that is an ideal breeding ground for an insurgency. Even though Israeli forces sweep through areas, when they inevitably retreat Hamas reasserts its control, whether directly or through allies, said Michael Milshtein, a former senior Israeli intelligence official.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHamas still rules,\u201d Mr. Milshtein said. \u201cTheir forces have been badly damaged, but they still have capabilities. There\u2019s still no alternative to them in Gaza, and every alternative we tried to establish failed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Earlier in the week, Razan al-Sa\u2019eedi, an 18-year-old university student studying accounting, prepared with her family to leave the UNRWA school in Rafah where they had been living for months. But as they waited for the driver they had arranged to transport them to another city, they learned that his vehicle \u2014 a tractor pulling a large cart \u2014 had been struck by an Israeli missile, Ms. al-Sa\u2019eedi said. One man was killed, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a panic, they called local emergency responders, who told them that no help was available. Instead, Ms. al-Sa\u2019eedi said, the family members left behind most of their belongings and set out on foot, with each person carrying only a backpack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As they waited outside the school entrance for Ms. al-Sa\u2019eedi\u2019s father and brother, they saw them running with blood streaked on their faces.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe saw a drone firing around them,\u201d she said. \u201cWe held our backpacks and ran away from that whole dangerous area.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As they fled, Ms. al-Sa\u2019eedi said, they occasionally stopped to try to flag down passing taxis, but again and again found them full.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After a nearly two-day trek that involved hours of walking and then \u2014 finally \u2014 a taxi ride, she said, they arrived at Al Aqsa University, in the southern city of Khan Younis. Inside a building at the university the walls of classrooms were scrawled with messages. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One message said, \u201cThis floor is booked,\u201d she said, while another read, \u201cPlease do not take any room, otherwise we will kick you out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Only a small closet once used to store generators was empty. That would have to do.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe only have three blankets to use as curtains,\u201d Ms. al-Sa\u2019eedi said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any alternative to this small room.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Rawan Sheikh Ahmad<!-- --> contributed reporting from Haifa, Israel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/11\/world\/middleeast\/israel-gaza-rafah-palestinians.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Around 300,000 Palestinians in southern and northern Gaza are being forced to flee once again, the United Nations says, as Israel issued new and expanded evacuation orders on Saturday. But many are unsure where to find secure shelter in a place devastated by war. The expanded evacuation orders apply to the city of Rafah at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/11\/multimedia\/11mideast-ledeall-swaps-02-wcfh\/11mideast-ledeall-swaps-02-wcfh-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1179,3451,38,59,442],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48576"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48578,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48576\/revisions\/48578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}