People collect belongings and leave Rafah in bid to find safety

(9 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah, Gaza Strip - 8 May 2024
1. Various of people evacuating from UNRWA school, loading their luggage in donkey carts
2. Various of people collecting their belongings in the school yard to evacuate
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Muhammad Rayhan, displaced person:
"We evacuated from here because of the leaflets that the Israeli army threw on us. In addition, they called us on our mobile phones and told us to evacuate the entire area, even though we know that there is no evacuation of schools in Rafah, only the crossing area, but they insisted that we evacuate this area completely."
4. Donkey cart loaded with luggage leaving
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Muwasi, Gaza Strip - 8 May 2024
10. Various of people building new tent in Muwasi
STORYLINE:
Dozens of Palestinians fled central Rafah Wednesday following Israel's ground invasions and evacuation order of the city's eastern suburbs.
Residents were seen packing up their belongings in bags that were loaded on cars and carts heading in different directions seeking safety.
"We evacuated from here because of the leaflets that the Israeli army threw on us. In addition, they called us on our mobile phones and told us to evacuate the entire area," said Mohammed Rayhan, a displaced person.
Many headed to an area west of the city known as Muwasi, a coastal strip designated as a safe zone by the Israeli military.
But the area has swelled in size with the United Nations Palestinian Refugee Agency estimating that over 450,000 displaced Palestinians are sheltering there, mostly living in tents.
The Israeli tanks that entered the periphery of Rafah early Tuesday stoked global fears that an offensive on Gaza's southernmost city could endanger the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there.
The ground assault dimmed hopes of an immediate cease-fire deal that the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have spent months pushing for. In the hours before the attack began, Hamas agreed to a cease-fire proposal that the Israeli government swiftly rejected.
About 1.3 million Palestinians - more than half of Gaza’s population - are jammed into Rafah and face the prospect of having to evacuate with no good plan for where to find adequate shelter.
AP video shot by Mohammad Jahjouh
Production by Wafaa Shurafa
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[@mohammedsaadali.8022]

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[@joneal8360]

No water no electricity but the guy at the beginning sure has toilet paper!