As Israeli troops are expanding their operations in Rafah, civilians report food is running out, and at least 100,000 have fled the city. Al-Qassam, the armed faction of Hamas, says it has engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) around the city. At least one million internally displaced Palestinians were taking refuge in Rafah before the assault began.
Georgios Petropoulos, an official for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) working in Rafah, said that 110,000 Palestinians have now fled the city. He slammed the Israeli attack for causing “even more unprecedented levels of emergency.” Rafah had a pre-war population of 250,000, but absorbing the internally displaced in Gaza has increased the population to around 1.5 million Palestinians.
Most other cities in Gaza have been reduced to rubble by the IDF, causing widespread starvation and famine in northern Gaza. While the situation in Rafah was desperate before the Israeli attack, Palestinians in the city had access to some food and other assistance.
Al-Qassam says it has inflicted some casualties on the IDF. A statement from the group claimed it killed and wounded several Israeli soldiers in a “complex and simultaneous” operation in Rafah. The IDF stated in turn it killed several Palestinian gunmen.
On Monday, the IDF seized control of the border crossing between Egypt and Gaza near Rafah. That crossing has been used to bring most aid into Gaza since October 7. Since Israel gained control of the Rafah crossing, aid trucks have been unable to deliver food and other lifesaving assistance into Gaza.
Petropoulos said the attack left the World Food Program (WFP) without a way to bring additional assistance into Gaza, and it will run out of food to distribute on Saturday. Sam Rose, an official for the UN Palestinian Aid Agency (UNRWA), explained, “No aid has come into Gaza now since Sunday. No aid, no fuel, no supplies, nothing. And we really are now down to our last reserves.”
Rose added that UNRWA’s ability to aid Palestinians is being plagued not just by a lack of food but also of water and fuel. “We have a few more days of flour that we can provide. But everything else will start to shut down very soon without fuel, without water. So the situation is really desperate,” he noted.
Hamish Young, senior emergency coordinator for the UN Aid Agency for Children (UNICEF), explained, “For five days, no fuel and virtually no humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip, and we are scraping the bottom of the barrel. The lack of fuel could grind humanitarian operations to a halt.”
Palestinian doctor Mohammed Zaqout said the fighting knocked out one of Gaza’s hospitals in Rafah and severely limited the services another can provide. “Al-Najjar Hospital is out of service. And the Kuwaiti Hospital [in Rafah] is just for trauma and emergency. We have no beds, no hospitals to refer [people to], especially for critical patients,” he stated.
Washington and Tel Aviv initially indicated the operations in Rafah would be limited, and President Joe Biden gave his blessing for the attack to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call. The White House has threatened to suspend some arms shipments, specifically “large bombs,” to Israel. However, an Israeli official said Tel Aviv has all the weapons it needs to finish the job in Rafah.
On Friday, the IDF pushed into Rafah with Israeli tanks establishing control over the main road dividing the eastern and western halves of the city. While Tel Aviv ordered residents and refugees out of eastern Rafah earlier in the week, residents say the IDF is pummeling the whole city with airstrikes.
Netanyahu said Israel’s operation in Rafah will be completed, even if it means losing Biden’s support. “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary — we will fight with our fingernails,” he posted on X.
The White House says it opposes the operations because it does not believe attacking Rafah will lead to the defeat of Hamas. “Smashing into Rafah, in his [Biden’s] view, will not advance that objective,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com, news editor of the Libertarian Institute, and co-host of Conflicts of Interest.
If you donate to UNRWA, will it get there?
Bizarre IDF Report :
“…, Later on Friday, Israeli occupation military announced that 11 soldiers were evacuated from southern Gaza for treatment, claiming that they were stung by wasps in the southern Gaza Strip.
“The incident occurred amid an operation by the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade in the border area, near Nirim,” Israeli media quoted occupation army as saying.
“A tank had driven over a large wasp nest, leading the insects to sting the troops,” the Israeli occupation military added.…”
https://english.almanar.com.lb/2106040
Not bizarre. Just stupid. Really. How can wasps sting them when they are outfitted with military gear from head to toe? Like, wow, it really lines up with the “war effort”, rather, the genocide as Hebrew scholar, Amos Goldberg, calls it.
I’m rooting for the wasps to defeat the IDF. Go wasps.
Team Wasp
Netanyahu said Israel’s operation in Rafah will be completed, even if it means losing Biden’s support. “If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary — we will fight with our fingernails,” he posted on X.
But only if the other side’s arms are amputated.
Or dead, or buried alive by backhoes.
They certainly don’t ever seem to go against a peer “enemy”. So, if Bibi is saying they’ll fight with their fingernails, the other side will have to have much less to fight with.
“They certainly don’t ever seem to go against a peer “enemy”.” 1948,1967.1973 wars, Operation Mole Cricket June 1982 and 2024 April’s Iran air assault come to mind?
Including Iran’s “air assault” is humorous. Never mind the advanced warning to Israel and the 3-day warning to countries in the region. Other than that, you had to go back 40 years and they didn’t do that without western weaponry. By the way, Nixon’s airlift saved their asses in 1973.
The bottom is line they won air assault by Iran. Not even close. And as for winning the wars with western weaponry so what? They won against numerically superior opponents.
And as for going back years, I’m not the one who said ‘certainly don’t ever”.
No, Israel didn’t win the air assault by Iran. Those drones and older cruise missiles were meant to be shot down, so that Iran could see how Israel’s air defense system operated. Nine ballistic missiles got through and hit the targets that Iran intended to hit. This was a message to both Israel and the United States. The message was that Iran can strike Israel anywhere it wants and there’s nothing Israel can do to stop it. I believe that the United States got the message loud and clear. Israel might need a stronger message. I hope not.
Agree completely.
“Nine ballistic missiles got through and hit the targets that Iran intended to hit” Was the target dirt? Because that is all that was hit. Nine using your data and 4 hits according to IDF. In any case the percentage is small and unless Iran intended the missiles to do no damage, they all missed their targets.
Meanwhile, the very small counter act by Israel, destroyed a S-300 missile defense system..
Yes Iran can strike Israel, but the counter strike by Israel will be worst. Iran lucky that none of those missiles hit a population center in Israel.
How would you know what those Iranian missiles hit? Israel is refusing to release photographs of their military installations which Iran says it hit. It’s not just me that says that nine Iranian missiles hit their targets. Alistair Crook was on The Duran this morning saying exactly the same thing that I told you yesterday. Iran is not going to hit population centers. Israel is the party killing civilians. Not Iran. You go ahead and keep believing the western mainstream narratives, Tim.
No, the bottom line is Iran didn’t want to escalate so they warned everyone. That’s why the air defenses were ready. But I know that’s difficult for you to comprehend.
And “so what” about the weaponry? More brilliant logic. Similar to those who say tiny Ukraine is standing toe to toe with Russia while ignoring the $170 billion the US has poured into that proxy war or the other NATO countries that also have contributed.
You left out a word in what I said about Israel not fighting a peer enemy and that word was “seem”. And the reason I added that word was because of their recent history especially regarding Gaza. Without the humongous superior weaponry provide by daddy warbucks, they’d be toast.
Iran attacked failed. And yes Iran warn that they were going to attack, but not timing or the details. You think that in history of warfare this was the first time a country warn another that they were going to attack? You think that they warn people so that their attack would fail? That is a great plan.
And yes Israel from it beginning has build or obtain superior weapons to protect itself. That is why they have over 100 nuclear warheads. The is just being smart.
After reading that, I understand why you referenced third graders in another comment section. It’s because they are presently your classmates. You’re dumber than two normal dumb people.
Israel has over 100 nuclear warheads because they stole the materials and the technology from the United States.
That is how women fight.
And absolutely no one saw this coming.
Excellent comment. On the nose…………….
It wasn’t hard. I’m sure damn near everyone here thought the same thing.
Weren’t the Jews those who suffered terribly thru the holocaust and yet, here they are doing such reprehensible things. It seems like they are being punished by the father and son.
It is not “the Jews” who are conducting an extermination campaign in Gaza. It is the Israeli regime. There’s a difference.
It is not “the Jews” who are conducting an extermination campaign in Gaza. It is the Israeli regime. There’s a difference.
More specifically it’s mostly the Likud –
There are plenty of anti-genocide Jews. #notinourname
Yes, but I think a lot of them are afraid to speak up. It would be like an American supporting Hanoi during the Vietnam War.
Israeli army orders more evacuations from Rafah as it expands Gaza assault
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/11/israeli-army-orders-more-evacuations-from-rafah-as-it-expands-gaza-assault
Israel warns of an attack which put more of its troops at risk to try to reduce the civilians losses.
So why not buy more from Hamas? They stole most of the food.
This was the plan all along. This is what Israel wanted to have happen.
They want Palestinians to be so desperate and starving that they must leave.