{"id":8223,"date":"2024-05-09T01:13:30","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T01:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=8223"},"modified":"2024-05-09T01:13:30","modified_gmt":"2024-05-09T01:13:30","slug":"safe-evacuation-of-rafah-impossible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalpulse.net\/?p=8223","title":{"rendered":"Safe evacuation of Rafah impossible"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nunited nations \u2014\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Humanitarians and medical professionals working in the Gaza Strip warned Wednesday that a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah would be a catastrophe and said the safe, mass evacuation of civilians is not possible.<\/p>\n
About 1.3 million Palestinians are sheltering in Rafah in southern Gaza after moving repeatedly from other parts of the strip to escape bombings and fighting.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Israel dropped leaflets on a 30-square-kilometer area in eastern Rafah, telling residents to move to the coastal town of Al Mawasi, which the United Nations says is already overcrowded and lacking safety and essential humanitarian services.<\/p>\n
Ghada Alhaddad, a spokesperson in Gaza for the British aid group Oxfam, said people do not know where to go, and tents are popping up all over Al Mawasi and in the central town of Deir al-Balah.<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nDisplaced Palestinians arrive in central Gaza after fleeing from the southern Gaza city of Rafah in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024. The Israeli army has ordered tens of thousands of people to evacuate Rafah as it conducts a ground operation there.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cEven on the sidewalks, on the pavement, on the streets, in the graveyards, in the courtyards of hospitals, in the courtyards of the schools \u2014 there are tents that are being built,\u201d she told reporters on a briefing call with doctors and humanitarians from several aid agencies.<\/p>\n
The population is so deteriorated after seven months of war, with many, including children, maimed by bombs or malnourished, that they are not healthy enough to relocate on foot \u2014 for most their only option.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren and elderly who are so starved that they can barely walk \u2014 these people cannot just pick up and walk and relocate to another area,\u201d Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian advocacy and policy at Save the Children International, told reporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concept of a safe zone is a lie,\u201d Helena Ranchal, director of international operations for French charity Medecins du Monde (Doctors of the World), said from Nablus in the West Bank. \u201cThere is not a safe area anymore in Gaza.\u201d <\/p>\n
She echoed the concerns expressed this week by many human rights advocates and aid workers about the Israeli-ordered evacuations \u2014 that civilians must be protected and have their basic needs met.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of these criteria were not met, and these displacements constitute forcible transfer in grave breach of international humanitarian law,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Malnutrition rising<\/strong><\/p>\n
Israel began targeting Hamas battalions in eastern Rafah on Monday, and also took control of the Rafah border crossing, which is the main humanitarian entry point into Gaza. It has been closed since.<\/p>\n
Israel closed a second crossing, Kerem Shalom, after a Hamas rocket attack killed four Israeli soldiers on Sunday. It said the crossing had reopened on Wednesday, but the U.N. said no aid had passed through yet.<\/p>\n
A third crossing, Erez, has been open only sporadically, humanitarians said.<\/p>\n
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told his troops Tuesday that the Rafah operation would continue \u201cuntil we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and the entire Gaza Strip, or until the first hostage returns.”<\/p>\n
Humanitarians say the shutdown of the border crossings and the halt to the entry of supplies, including fuel, could risk the near-term collapse of their aid operations, even without a full-scale military operation in Rafah.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole aid operation runs on fuel. So, if the fuel is cut off, the aid operation collapses \u2014 and it collapses quickly,\u201d said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International. \u201cThat means water can\u2019t be pumped, lights can\u2019t be kept on in hospitals, vehicles can\u2019t distribute aid.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n<\/div>\nA woman mourns the loss of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes, amid the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024.<\/span> \n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
He said it comes as the threat of famine is growing across Gaza, not just in the north but also in central and southern Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is a Rafah invasion, that will certainly push things past the tipping point, because then the aid operation will collapse, and then we will see really skyrocketing mortality related to famine,\u201d Konyndyk said.<\/p>\n
Doctors who have worked in Gaza agree.<\/p>\n
British surgeon Nick Maynard has been to Gaza twice since the war started with British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. He was evacuated from Rafah on Monday.<\/p>\n
He told reporters he treated patients who had developed complications and severe infections that were the direct result of malnutrition, because they have weakened immune systems.<\/p>\n
\u201cI operated on many patients in the last two weeks who had awful complications from their abdominal surgery related to inadequate nutrition,\u201d he said. \u201cParticularly those with [their] abdominal wall breaking down. So literally, their intestines end up hanging outside.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said malnutrition directly contributed to the deaths last week of two young female patients, ages 16 and 18, both with survivable injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will see far more of that over the coming months,\u201d Maynard said.<\/p>\n
Doctors and aid workers are also worried about the impending summer heat. A recent three-day heat wave saw temperatures hit 37 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). They say clean drinking water is already in short supply, and severe heat will make dehydration a major contributor to deaths.<\/p>\n
Already more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, and more than 78,000 injured, according to the Gaza-run Health Ministry. Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel during its October 7 terror attack.<\/p>\n
The U.N. office for humanitarian affairs said Wednesday that all the main medical facilities in Rafah could soon become inaccessible or inoperable. One of the three hospitals in Rafah \u2014 Al-Najjar \u2014 was vacated Tuesday because it is located in the area under the current evacuation order.<\/p>\n
The World Health Organization said Al-Najjar has the only dialysis department still operating in Gaza \u2014 a lifeline for 200 patients with kidney failure.<\/p>\n
The humanitarians stressed that the only way to help everyone in need is for the fighting to end.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe solution \u2014 and we are asking for that since the beginning \u2014 is a cease-fire,\u201d Ranchal of Doctors of the World said. \u201cA cease-fire now.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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