Israeli Military Actions Force 810,000 to Flee Rafah, UN Says

News Desk 

New York:  Over 810,000 people have fled Rafah in the past two weeks, according to UN humanitarian officials. This exodus occurs amid ongoing Israeli military assaults in Gaza’s southern city and northern regions of the besieged enclave.

“Every time families are displaced, their lives are at serious risk. People are forced to leave everything behind, searching for safety. But there’s no safe zone,” stated the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in a post on X.

Accompanying this alert were images depicting families with their belongings piled high on cars and makeshift trailers. Another photograph, taken from the coastline, showed a vast expanse of makeshift shelters stretching to the horizon.

Gazan health authorities report that at least 35,300 Gazans, mostly women and children, have been killed, and over 79,260 injured due to Israeli shelling.

According to the latest data from UNRWA’s online logistics platform, the delivery of humanitarian aid has nearly stopped via the main entry points to Gaza—the Rafah crossing and Kerem Shalom in the south.

Amid increased military activity in eastern Rafah, no UN relief supplies reached the enclave on Sunday, May 19. Only 27 aid trucks entered via Kerem Shalom on Saturday. Since May 6, only 33 additional aid trucks have used Kerem Shalom, with none entering via Rafah.

In the northwest of the enclave, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) reported using Erez west, also known as Zikim, to transport supplies and “try to get enough food to stop famine in its tracks.”

Matthew Hollingworth, WFP Country Director for Palestine, emphasized the need for additional entry points for aid. “Every new entry point is a new artery, pumping lifeblood into Gaza.

We will work hard to continue finding new entry points and get more assistance in, at volume, consistently,” he said in the aid agency’s latest update.