UN says displaced Palestinians fleeing Rafah after intensified Israeli airstrikes

“Intensified airstrikes on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population are crammed into less than 20 per cent of the Gaza Strip, and statements by Israeli officials about a ground operation in Gaza have reportedly led to the movement of people out of Gaza’s southernmost governorate toward Deir al Balah,” said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

On Friday, former Israeli prime minister and current war cabinet minister Benny Gantz stated Israel “won’t stop” until all hostages are returned, even if that means continuing hostilities during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

He added that Israel is preparing for a military incursion into Gaza and will act “in dialogue” with its partners, including Egypt, and “direct the population to protected areas.”

In a separate statement on Friday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told reporters that Israel had “no intention” of sending Palestinians into Egypt as part of an evacuation of Rafah, the focus of its next military offensive.

Gallant provided no details about a potential evacuation but claimed “we are thoroughly planning future operations in Rafah, which is a significant Hamas stronghold.”

Israel has driven most of Gaza’s population into Rafah with repeated evacuation orders that international human-rights experts have deemed to be attempted ethnic cleansing, designating “safe” corridors only to bomb them hours later, according to survivors.

Over 85% of the territory’s inhabitants have been displaced since Israel declared war four months ago, many more than once, and hundreds of thousands live in famine conditions, according to the UN.

Hostilities between Hamas and Israel have so far claimed the lives of around 1,200 Israelis and nearly 29,000 Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that peace in the region can only be achieved after the armed group is destroyed and Palestinian society is “deradicalized”. He has also pushed back against a potential peace deal that would involve the “unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state”.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh has blamed Israel for a lack of progress in achieving a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Haniyeh stated on Saturday that Hamas would not “accept anything less than a complete cessation of the aggression, withdrawal of the occupation army from Gaza and lifting of the unjust siege”.