Rafah residents face ‘the fire of hell’ as Israeli tanks seize border crossing
Gaza has entered the “darkest days of a seven-month nightmare” United Nations officials have said, warning that vital aid is being “choked off” after Israeli forces and tanks seized control of the main aid crossing in Rafah.
Civilians in the border city, which is sheltering over 1.4 million mostly displaced families, likened the bombardment to “the fire of hell” as “missiles fell like rain” while they scrambled to evacuate following orders from the Israeli military.
Despite pleas from its closest allies to hold off, Israel moved its tanks into east Rafah and captured the border crossing overnight on Tuesday in what it called a “limited” operation meant to kill fighters and dismantle infrastructure used by Hamas militants.
It came hours after Hamas announced it had accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated ceasefire and hostage proposal. Israel insisted the altered agreement is far from meeting its core demands. Negotiations for a truce in Cairo are ongoing – with Israel saying it had sent officials to the Egyptian capital – but on a knife edge.
In Gaza, the UN warned that a full-scale assault on the area and continued closure of Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings would have a “catastrophic” impact on hundreds of thousands of people mostly living in the tents there.
The UN’s Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, the largest operating in the besieged strip, warned they had less than one day’s left of fuel, needed to power trucks, the remaining hospitals, as well as water and sewage pumps.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN’s humanitarian office OCHA said the closures were the most effective way to put the aid response “in its grave”.
“Rafah and Kerem Shalom are main arteries of the humanitarian operation for not only Rafah but the entire Gaza strip, and have been currently choked off completely. That is catastrophic,” he told The Independent.
“There are very little in terms of stockpiles inside Gaza. There were still vastly inadequate amounts of aid coming into Gaza . The aid comes in and is distributed pretty much immediately.”
He said the start of the ground assault in Rafah was devastating for civilians who had nowhere to go as most of the strip had been “bombed into moonscapes” and is littered with unexploded ordinances.
“This is one of the worst mornings of this seven month nightmare. Yesterday, we saw pictures of people celebrating dancing in the streets. There was a glimmer of hope that finally we have a ceasefire, then just a few hours later, no.
“It’s soul crushing. These are very dark days.”
Civilians in Rafah told The Independent they experienced “the most difficult night” of bombing since the war erupted seven months ago.
“It was like the fire of hell. I saw missiles fall like rain. Rockets with a very terrifying sound. Their bodies were still lying in the streets. There was continuous artillery shelling and air strikes,” said Abu Yahya Zoroub, 37, who was near the crossing when Israel forces pushed in.
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