(17 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah - 16 April 2024
1. Various of people at local market
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ahmed Fuju, Rafah resident:
"It will be a huge problem if a ground invasion takes place in Rafah. You can see thousands of people, more than a million and a half people in Rafah. Where can they go? We can barely find space for each other, every tent hosts six, four or three families instead of one. The least you can find is two families inside a tent. What will happen when they (the Israeli forces) get into Rafah? Where can we go? There is no space, Mawasi (camp) is full, playgrounds are full, everywhere, sidewalks, streets. There is not a single empty place."
3. Various high shots showing congested streets
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mounir Shabaan, displaced man:
"Two million people who are packed tightly in the city of Rafah. Rafah can't take half a million people. For two million people staying in an area like this it a huge number. Of course we are scared, terrified and whoever says he is not afraid is lying, we can't go anywhere. Mawasi can't take more people neither Rafah, geographically it can't take more, we are really worried."
5. Women walking in street
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Tamam al-Handy, displaced from central Gaza:
"My husband is in Hebron and I have no one, only me and my children. We are scared if an invasion takes place in Rafah, where can we go? We are more than 20 people. I really dream about going back to my home, I wish I can go back to my apartment even if it is rubble now, I'll stay in a tent there but at my place. We are emotionally devastated."
7. Various of people at local market
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Amal Mahdy, displaced from Gaza City:
"For me, it is a great tragedy, my children are emotionally unstable because we were hit by an F-16 in Gaza, my husband, may God rest his soul, martyred in the beginning of war. We fled to Khan Younis and we didn't get to stay for a month and a half, they (Israeli forces) threw leaflets on us and the whole area where I was staying was damaged. Again, we fled to Rafah but there is no way to go after that, where can we go? My children are devastated all the time, I tried to apply to travel to Egypt but the cost is very high and no one can afford it. We pray that God will protect us and war will stop."
9. Various of tents inside camp in Rafah
10. People inside camp
STORYLINE:
Thousands of Palestinians in Rafah are wondering where they might go if Israel carried out a ground invasion in the city.
"Where can we go?" is the most common question among people in the city.
People in Gaza’s southernmost town expressed their fears as Israel says it plans to attack it eventually to root out Hamas.
"Of course we are scared, terrified and whoever says he is not afraid is lying, we can't go anywhere," said Mounir Shabaan, who was displaced from his home.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from the north after Israeli forces first launched their offensive there soon after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.
The attack killed 1,200 people and an additional 250 people were kidnapped.
Israel's offensive in Gaza has caused widespread devastation and killed over 33,800 people.
In the months of fighting since, vast parts of the north have been flattened, including much of Gaza City.
After months of Israeli restrictions on aid to the north, some 300,000 who remained there are on the brink of famine, according to the United Nations.
Still, many Palestinians have wanted to go back, saying they are sick of the conditions they endured in displacement.
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