Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Rafah after the Israel Defense Forces ordered evacuations. Strikes in the southern Gazan city killed more than a dozen people on Saturday, according to hospital officials.
Many of those leaving Rafah are being told to move to places that are already crowded with displaced people and facing an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis. It comes as Egypt says it will not coordinate with Israel on aid entering Gaza through the Rafah crossing, an official told Egypt's state-run media Al-Qahera News.
Here’s what to know to get up to speed:
- Rafah evacuations: At least 300,000 people have moved away from Rafah as a result of what the Israeli military calls the “current temporary evacuation” from the southernmost Gazan city, the Israel Defense Forces says. The United Nations and humanitarian groups estimate that somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4 million people were living in the Rafah area before the Israeli operation in the eastern part of the city began.
- Strikes in Rafah: At least 15 people were killed in an airstrike and artillery strike in Rafah, according to officials at the Kuwait Hospital, where the bodies were brought on Saturday. Artillery shelling hit the Al-Salam neighborhood in eastern Rafah, while an airstrike hit a building in Al-Hashasheen neighborhood in western Rafah.
- In the north: The Israeli military is carrying out strikes against militants in northern Gaza's Jabalya, spokesperson Daniel Hagari said. Israeli forces dropped leaflets Saturday morning ordering residents in several areas in northern Gaza to evacuate, according to residents. Hagari said the military is targeting militant infrastructure in the Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahya areas. Fleeing Palestinians who've been displaced multiple times told CNN they are scared for their lives and have nowhere safe to go.
