in Rafah, the threat of an Israeli offensive raises fears of a “huge massacre” among Gazan refugees

The Israeli army on Thursday intensified its strikes on the border town with Egypt, where a large number of people who fled the fighting in the North have taken refuge.

Despite the warnings, will Benjamin Netanyahu follow his plan? The Israeli army bombed the town of Rafah, in the south of Gaza, on Friday, February 9, where more than a million Palestinians displaced by the war are crowded together, raising fears of a “disaster“humanitarian from its American ally who judges”excessive“his response against Hamas.

The Israeli Prime Minister has in fact asked his army to be ready for a ground offensive in this town in the far south of the Palestinian enclave bordering Egypt, which has become the last refuge for people displaced by the fighting in recent weeks. The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, who concluded a regional tour aimed at encouraging efforts to obtain a truce, urged Israel to “protect“civilians in its operations.

However, more than a million Gazans are now trapped between the Israeli army, the Mediterranean Sea and a completely closed border with Egypt. Nabil, a journalist who took refuge in Rafah, confides to franceinfo the anxiety that is growing hour by hour among the population: “Each time, in the street, we hear people wondering if there will be a truce, which is what the latest rumors say… But in the last three days, the bombings have started. And no one knows exactly what will happen.“

“I hope there will not be an incursion on Rafah”

The residents, left to their own devices, have nowhere to go. Fleeing towards the north means crossing zones of incessant combat. As for the border with Egypt, it is closed. Before launching the assault, Israel will therefore have to convince the Egyptian government to accept a massive movement on its soil, which is far from certain. In the meantime, more and more Gazans are crowding into makeshift camps. “Here, the tents are set up on the beach, in the neighborhoods located on the border. I hope there will not be an incursion on Rafah. Because the massacre is going to be enormouse”, alerts Khaled, former employee of the NGO Médecin du Monde.

Backed by the Egyptian border, hundreds of thousands of Gazans are ready to force their way towards the Sinai desert which belongs to Egypt. Their only hope: that Benyamin Netanyahu gives up attacking Rafah.