Highlights: Nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are there. Civilians who fled, on orders from the Israeli army, bombings targeting their neighborhoods in the north and center of the enclave, or even in Khan Younes. A population that is completely destitute and fears the worst. “If we go to Sinai, we will never be able to return”, says a displaced person from Gaza. An assault on Rafah would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare, says the UN.

Objective: Rafah. The Israeli Prime Minister on Wednesday, February 7, rejected Hamas' conditions for a ceasefire, and ordered the army to prepare for an offensive in the very south of Gaza.…

Testimony

Gaza: in Rafah, “if we go to Sinai, we will never be able to return”

Objective: Rafah. The Israeli Prime Minister rejected Hamas' conditions for a ceasefire on Wednesday February 7, and ordered the army to prepare for an offensive in the very south of Gaza. Problem: nearly 1.5 million displaced Palestinians are there. Civilians who fled, on orders from the Israeli army, bombings targeting their neighborhoods in the north and center of the enclave, or even in Khan Younes. A population that is completely destitute and fears the worst.

Listen - 01:19

A crowded street in the center of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, this Thursday, February 8, 2024. AFP - MOHAMMED ABED

By: RFI Follow

Testimony collected from Jerusalem by our correspondent,

Sami Boukhelifa

“

A lot of bombing in Rafah.

» Intense bombardments are already targeting the city, while the Israeli offensive has not yet officially started.

On site, there is general concern. “

The threat is taken very seriously

,” says Asma, a Gazan currently taking refuge in the city, on the border with Egypt.

We know the Israelis well. When they say they are going to attack a place, they do it. When they say they are going to carry out an operation, they carry it out. We know well that Netanyahu wants to continue this war. He is not interested in a truce or ceasefire.

In Rafah, where Palestinians from the four corners of the Gaza Strip have taken refuge, one fear is on everyone's minds: the population fears being pushed towards the Sinai desert, in the neighboring country.

Everyone is afraid. We talk about it among ourselves, among colleagues, among friends, among friends... In Rafah, more generally, the majority of people say that they will not go to Sinai. People prefer to die here, in Rafah. They left Gaza City, and now they cannot return. So, if we go to Sinai, we will never be able to enter the Gaza Strip again.

Egypt categorically rejects this possibility. Israel, for its part, says it wants “

total victory

”.

Israel has no choice but to hunt down Hamas leaders in Rafah. This operation will require coordination with Egypt. Because Egypt fears that Gazans will cross its border and find refuge in Sinai. Currently, Egypt is erecting barriers and walls to prevent this. But Israel says there are tunnels under the Rafah crossing on the Gaza-Egypt border. And that the weapons that enter Gaza go through these tunnels. So the question now is: what kind of military operation should Israel carry out in Rafah? This will be a very different operation from those already carried out elsewhere in Gaza. I think one option is for Gazans in Rafah to be allowed to return to central or even northern Gaza.

00:48

Eytan Gilboa, professor at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv

Sami Boukhelifa

“This is proof that ultimately, it is not a safe place”

Our correspondent in the Palestinian Territories,

Alice Froussard

, produced testimonies of the same ilk today, also in Rafah. “

It’s proof that ultimately, it’s not a safe place, but where can we go?

», Ask residents contacted on site, faced with the intensification of Israeli bombings on the city.

Rami, a displaced person from Gaza, clarifies by telephone that everyone is asking the same question: “

Are we going to have to cross the border and go to Sinai?

» Unless we have to go to the center of the Gaza Strip, “

like in Deir el-Balah or Maghazi, and be even more crowded than we already are?

», asks Rami.

An assault on Rafah “

would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare

,” says the UN. And this is the cry of the NGO International Rescue Committee, which adds that in the event of an attack, humanitarian aid would no longer be able to enter, and that "

all those who are not killed in the bombings would end up by dying of hunger

Read alsoGaza: in Rafah, “in the heart of winter, in the rain, with summer clothes and sandals”

Gaza: in Rafah, “if we go to Sinai, we will never be able to return”

Gaza: in Rafah, “if we go to Sinai, we will never be able to return”

“This is proof that ultimately, it is not a safe place”

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