Displaced Palestinians flood southern Gaza town as Israel expands its offensive in centre

Rafah: Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have streamed into the overwhelmed town of Rafah in the southernmost end of Gaza in recent days, according to the United Nations, as Israeli forces on Friday continued to blast through dense areas in the centre of the strip, killing dozens of people.

Israel’s unprecedented air and ground offensive against Hamas has displaced some 85 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents, sending swells of people seeking shelter in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless also bombed. That has left Palestinians with a harrowing sense that nowhere is safe in the tiny enclave.

Israel’s widening campaign, which has already flattened much of northern Gaza, is now focused on built-up areas in central Gaza, where Israeli warplanes

and artillery pounded the urban refugee camps of Bureij, Nuseirat and Maghazi, levelling buildings, residents said.

But fighting is raging across many areas of Gaza. It has not abated in the north, where Hamas is still battling Israeli troops with tough resistance.

And the second-largest city of Khan Younis in the south, where Israel believes Hamas’ leaders are hiding, is also a smoldering battleground.

The war has already killed over 21,300 Palestinians and sparked a humanitarian crisis that has left a quarter of Gaza’s population starving.

Israel has vowed to dismantle Hamas and bring back more than 100 hostages still held by the militants after their October 7 attack on southern Israel.

The assault killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Israeli officials have brushed off international calls for a cease-fire, saying it would amount to a victory for Hamas.