The Israeli army took control on Tuesday of the Palestinian part of the Rafah border crossing which connects the Gaza Strip to Egypt while the East suffered intense nighttime bombardments.
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It all began on the evening of Monday May 6 with scenes of joy and shots in the air from the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, relieved after the positive response from Hamas to the truce proposal submitted by the mediators of Qatar and Egypt.
A truce rejected by Israel which dampened the hopes of the population. “A wave of hope has invaded our streetssays Mohamed, a resident of Rafah. We say that it is Israel which is at the origin of this latest version of the truce agreement. So all that was missing was validation from Hamas. Hamas agreed and instead of a cessation of fighting, there was an intensification of bombing east of Rafah, random and uninterrupted strikes.”
What followed were bombings which left at least 27 dead, according to two Palestinian hospitals before the Israeli army took control of the crossing point with Egypt. “Israeli tanks did not stop targeting the neighborhoods of the city of Rafah last nightexplains Hassan, a lawyer from Rafah. And we still hear intermittently the sound of explosions, artillery fire, but also that of air strikes on this eastern part. As a result, people have been fleeing since this morning and this will continue until tonight.”
At this stage, the Israeli military operation is focused on the eastern part of Rafah. But residents, like Asma, fear that the offensive will be extended to other districts of the city. “If they are going to carry out an operation, it will be a catastrophe because things in Rafah are going to be worse. Because here, there are only houses. I think Egypt is not going to accept that things are worse next to the border.” Because Egypt fears a collapse of the situation which would cause an influx of Gazan refugees on its soil.
