Air strikes Israelis left at least 17 dead in Rafah at night, doctors said on Saturday, while more a million Palestinians gathered together In a border town, they wait in ruins with nowhere to run.

After four months of war in Gaza, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office Benjamin Netanyahuordered the army to prepare evacuation plan Rafah and destroy the four Hamas battalions stationed there.

At the moment more 28 thousand Palestinians died due to the military offensive launched by Israel in response to the October 7 attacks. In a statement, Gaza’s Ministry of Health regretted that “the balance of Israeli aggression has increased to 28 thousand 064 martyrs and 67 thousand 611 wounded“. In the last 24 hours, 117 deaths and 152 injuries were confirmed.

This is in contrast to previous Israeli attacks on cities during the war, when the army ordered civilians to flee south into the Gaza Strip. no other area remained relatively unscathed and aid agencies warn that large numbers of civilians could be killed.

“Any Israeli incursion into Rafah means massacres, destruction. People fill every inch of the city and we have nowhere to go“Said Rezik Salah, 35, who fled his home in Gaza City with his wife and two children to Rafah at the start of the war.

Much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble, and Israeli forces have destroyed a number of towns with airstrikes, artillery fire and controlled explosions. leaving more than 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents homelessfollowing cross-border Hamas attacks on October 7.

Most of the displaced people took refuge in Rafah, in the province border with Egyptbut after the collapse of ceasefire talks, Netanyahu said this week that Israeli forces They will continue to fight until “total victory.”even there.

On Friday night, an airstrike on a house in Rafah killed 11 people and wounded dozens more, while a second raid killed six people at another house, medical officials said.

IN Ian YounisThe Palestinian Ministry of Health expressed alarm over Israeli operations around Nasser’s main hospital.

The ministry stated that Israeli forces surrounded the hospital and they were shooting in the surrounding areaand was concerned about the fate of the 300 medical workers, 450 patients and 10 thousand people sheltering there.

Images circulated on social media that Reuters They couldn’t check it themselves, they showed tanks at the hospital gates.

ISRAEL SUPPORTS THE ACTIVITIES

On Saturday, the Israeli army said its forces were continuing their offensive. “intense” events in Khan Yunis, as well as in northern and central Gaza, killing militants, confiscating weapons and attacking infrastructure. He did not respond to a request for comment on the situation at Nasser Hospital.

In Gaza City, residents reported heavy fighting on Saturday.

An Israeli official, who wished to remain anonymous, said that Israel will try to organize the return of the population of Rafah to the north before any attack.

The continuation of the war in Gaza City shows the limitations of any proposal to evacuate displaced people from Rafah to other parts of the enclave.

Meanwhile, doctors and humanitarian workers strive to provide basic help Palestinian refugees around Rafah. Many are trapped along the Egyptian border fence and living in makeshift tents.

United Nations stated that the Palestinian civilian population in Rafah needs protection, but should not be mass forced displacementprohibited by international law.

“War cannot be allowed in a giant refugee camp”said Jan Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, warning of a “bloodbath” if Israeli troops entered Rafah.

The UN agency for Palestine refugees said it did not know how long he would be able to work “in such a risky operation“.

(according to information from EFE And Europe Press)