‘Worried and afraid’
President Joe Biden spoke with Netanyahu on Monday and “reiterated his clear position on Rafah,” the White House stated, as world officers and help teams urged Israel to halt any plans for a floor assault.
Samah Hadid, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council, stated she feared the evacuation orders have been the “start of the nightmare scenario that we’ve been dreading for months.”
“We’ve been warning against a military operation in Rafah because the consequences will be deadly and devastating for the over 1 million IDPs in the area,” Hadid stated in a telephone interview early Monday, utilizing the acronym for internally displaced individuals.
Hadid additionally warned that she didn’t consider the Al-Mawasi space was outfitted for a mass inflow of individuals, regardless of Israel’s assurances that the expanded humanitarian space would come with “field hospitals, tents, increased quantities of food, water, medicines and additional supplies.”
Hadid referred to as on the Biden administration to “use its influence and leverage over Israel” to dam any military operation in Rafah.
“We need this to happen urgently so that the Israelis get a clear message from their strongest ally that a military offensive in one of the largest displacement sites in the world cannot take place,” she stated.
“We have yet to see real pressure applied.”
While Israel has solely ordered these within the east of the town to evacuate, Hadid stated that this may increasingly solely be the start of a broader effort, a priority echoed by Palestinians in different parts of Rafah.
Abdallah Abujaser, a 22-year-old who had been finding out medical psychology earlier than the battle, stated that he was simply outdoors the evacuation zone — however feared he, too, would quickly be compelled to go away.
“Everyone here is worried and afraid,” he stated.
Abujaser stated he and most others in Gaza are additionally exhausted as they weigh fleeing as soon as once more or going through Israel’s offensive, which native well being officers say has already killed greater than 34,700 individuals. Israel launched its assault on Gaza following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 assaults, wherein some 1,200 individuals have been killed and 250 others taken hostage into Gaza, in line with Israeli officers.
Abujaser referred to as on nations all over the world, together with the U.S., to do what they’ll to “stop the war on us.”
“We are not running away from fear. We are running away for life, to secure our lives,” he stated.