Rafah streets look empty as most Palestinians flee

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STORY: :: The streets of Rafah look empty as most Palestinians flee the Gazan city

:: May 12, 2024

:: Rafah, Gaza

:: "I don't have a choice, like everyone else. If I was free, I wouldn't leave my home or my place but I am not free and everyone left; so I am doing the same. What should I do? Stay alone? I am scared to stay alone."

:: "I salute every person standing still in the camp, every person staying in the camp and every person looking to stay in the camp. We are against people leaving the camp... We are a resistant people and a people who sacrifice, and hopefully we will keep on sacrificing."

With so many leaving, aid groups warn that a humanitarian crisis could sharply worsen.

Israeli forces pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza's northern edge on Monday (May 13) to recapture an area where they had claimed to have defeated Hamas months ago, while at the opposite end of the enclave tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah.

UNRWA, the main United Nations aid agency in Gaza, estimated that about 360,000 people had fled the southern city since the Israeli military gave its first evacuation order a week ago.