Following a night of airstrikes on the Palestinian enclave, the Israeli military took control of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday. Its tanks then advanced into the southern Gazan town of Rafah.
The militant Palestinian group announced late on Monday that it had accepted a proposal for a truce, but Israel claimed the terms did not satisfy its demands.
Israeli tanks and jets attacked multiple locations and homes in Rafah during the night, sparking alarm from around the world over the condition of the population trapped in the area.
More than 33,000 Palestinians have been massacred in the past six months by Israel, including 13,800 children.
Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from the international community to call off any attack on Rafah, where around 1.5 million displaced Gazans are currently sheltering.
Earlier this year, a spokesperson for Rishi Sunak said he was “deeply concerned” about a Rafah attack, while Foreign Minister David Cameron said it was “impossible to see how you can fight a war amongst these people, there is nowhere for them to go”.
Despite this, Cameron also maintained this week that the UK would continue selling arms to Israel.
Since Israel’s bombardment of Occupied Palestinian Territories began in October, the population in Rafah has hugely increased.
Israel has continuously forced Palestinian civilians toward the city, deeming it a “safe zone”. However, Israeli strikes have continued to kill Palestinians seeking refuge there, prompting international alarm about an imminent ground offensive.
Rafah is located along the border of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and is currently one of the most densely populated places on Earth.
Despite mounting concern for the city’s inhabitants, of whom 600,000 are reportedly children, Netanyahu appears determined to push ahead with the offensive.
Palestinian civilians reportedly have nowhere left to go, and Israel has so far proposed no evacuation plan to help families desperately trying to escape the conflict.
Why is Rafah important?
Located next to Egypt, Rafah was previously one of the last borders in operation in the Occupied Palestinian territories and the only way that Palestinians could leave the Gaza Strip. The border remains tentatively closed, meaning most Palestinians cannot leave and most humanitarian aid cannot get in.
Israel controls all sea and other land borders across the Palestinian Territories. Reports have shown Israeli protesters attempting to block humanitarian aid passing into Gaza.
Foreign aid groups – which have also been targeted by Israeli attacks in a break of international humanitarian law – warn that the Gaza Strip is facing a serious famine.
Rafah is now one of the last major cities in which Israeli forces are yet to enter as part of their six-month “operation” to eradicate Hamas fighters. However, that is expected to change very soon.
The city has transformed into a mass refugee camp, with more than a million distressed people fleeing other parts of the Gaza Strip to seek refuge from intense Israeli bombing.
Shelling across Rafah has already turned many buildings into rubble, killing hundreds of Palestinians.
Food and clean water remain scarce, prompting major concerns about a mounting regional humanitarian crisis.
All eyes are now on Rafah, as Netanyahu has pressed on with a ground offensive – despite international condemnation of such a move. US President Joe Biden had joined calls to halt a Rafah offensive.
UN human rights high commissioner Volker Türk previously warned that Israel’s offensive in Rafah would be "terrifying, given the prospect that an extremely high number of civilians, again mostly children and women, will likely be killed and injured".
What happens in Rafah is important as it may demonstrate how far Israel is prepared to go in ignoring calls from the international community. A ground offensive in Rafah may also lead to further instability in the Middle East and threaten key regional peace agreements.
Having so far failed to keep Palestinian civilians safe, according to some reports, Israel is in breach of International Court of Justice orders.
Is Rafah a safe zone?
Rafah was previously considered a safe zone in the Gaza Strip and displaced Palestinians had been told by Israel to head south towards it.
In December, for example, Israel reportedly dropped leaflets over civilian homes in Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, saying: “To the residents of the towns of Al-Qarara, Khuza’a, Abasan, and Bani Suhaila, you must evacuate immediately and go to shelters in the Rafah area.”
Most Palestinians, having witnessed attacks carried out in other parts of Gaza, adhered to the guidance and fled there.
Will Egypt let Palestinians in?
Egypt has served as a mediator between Hamas and Israeli leaders, recently hosting further ceasefire talks in Cairo.
Analysts have suggested that by pushing Palestinians south, Israel could eventually aim to force them to leave Gaza and enter Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
An Israeli concept paper released on October 8, 2023, suggested as much, detailing plans to transfer the population of the Gaza Strip into Egypt.
However, Egyptian officials are against the idea of allowing Palestinians into the arid Sinai desert. They argue that Israel will never allow Palestinian people to return to their land – further prompting instability in the Middle East.
However, Egypt is reportedly building a walled camp in the Sinai Peninsula to receive displaced Palestinians fleeing Gaza.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt was constructing an “eight-square-mile walled enclosure” on its side of the border with Gaza.
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR) has posted photos and videos of construction under way around the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing.
The SFHR said the enclosure was intended to house the refugees in case of a mass exodus. However, the governor of North Sinai, Major General Mohamed Shousha, rejected the claims that Egypt was developing "an isolated area in Sinai" for refugees.
