Rights groups have warned that civilians have nowhere to go to escape Israeli bombardment. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Hundreds of Palestinians are fleeing Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah after Israeli forces attacked the area where at least 1.4 million internally displaced people have been sheltering.
Palestinian health authorities said at least 67 people were killed in overnight attacks on Monday after Israeli strikes hit 14 houses and three mosques.
Despite calls to refrain, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been talking about staging a land assault on Rafah. With the threat of more attacks looming, many Palestinians who initially fled south towards the city for safety and now fleeing back to the central region.
Gaza’s Rafah, about 64sq km (25sq miles) in size, is massively overcrowded since hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians fled there after the Israeli army designated it a so-called “safe zone” in its ongoing war.
More than half the population of Gaza has now crowded into the tiny area to escape Israeli bombardment, which has flattened much of the rest of the enclave.
With an influx of desperate people and a lack of clean water, food, medicine and other basic supplies, disease is also flourishing.
Rawaa Abu Dayya, who has been displaced with her family seven times since Israel’s war began on October 7, is among those who recently fled Rafah.
“We were living in unbelievable fear,” she told Al Jazeera. The family hails from Beit Lahiya in Gaza’s north, and are now setting up a tent in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.
“There is no place that is safe. But at least we feel like there is relative safety in Deir el-Balah at the moment,” she said.
“My biggest fear is losing a member of my family, someone I love and who I care about deeply.”
Many displaced Palestinians in Gaza have already been forced to flee multiple times since October 7. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
A displaced family is seen setting up a tent in central Gaza’s Deir el-Balah. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Palestinians have resorted to using donkey-pulled trucks as a means of transport amid a severe lack of fuel. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Many of those fleeing loaded their vehicles with mattresses and blankets. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Children are seen playing near the sea in central Gaza. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
The United Nations says 1.9 million people have now been displaced, more than 80 percent of Gaza’s pre-war population. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Displaced women are seen waiting alongside their belongings on the side of the road. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
A displaced man, Nael Abu Dayya, said he decided to flee Rafah with his family because the school they were sheltering in came under attack. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
‘At least there is some water and a bit of electricity to charge our mobile phones here in Deir el-Balah,’ Abu Dayya said. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Palestinians are bracing for yet another escalation in southern Gaza. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
A child looks on as she rides on a truck bound for Deir el-Balah. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Cold winds and rain in Gaza have worsened the misery of displaced Palestinians. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
A family is seen escaping Rafah on a donkey-pulled cart. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
Many grabbed what was left of their personal belongings amid a total siege imposed on the enclave by Israel. [Abdelhakim Abu Riash/Al Jazeera]
