Nearly half a million people with nowhere to go left Rafah in southern Gaza before the long-awaited Israeli offensive, but the Israeli army continued to strike all areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli warplanes targeted a building in the Nueseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing several people – including women and children – while survivors had to be exhumed from the rubble.
In another nearby strike, the Israel Defense Forces said it hit a “Hamas war room” at a UN school. Israel said it had killed more than 10 fighters, although CBS News could not independently verify this claim.
The carnage comes as aid agencies say hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled Rafah since Israel began targeting areas there last week. Among those who fled, Mustafa al-Gazzar, 81, is now displaced and living in a temporary camp.
“I live in extreme fear,” he told CBS News.
All crossings out of Gaza are now blocked, leaving 20 American doctors stuck inside.
“It was very difficult to leave my wife, my two children and my surrounding family. It was something I had to do,” Dr. Mohammed Abdelfattah, of California, told CBS News. “I had the impression that the efforts made at home were achieving nothing, they were falling on deaf ears.”
Abdelfattah was originally scheduled to leave Gaza on Monday, but is now stuck at the European Hospital in the Gaza Strip in Al-Fukhari, near Khan Yunis. He said the impending operation in Gaza had sparked fear among local residents.
“Residents have told me several times that there is no safe place in Gaza. They have seen hospitals, mosques, churches, bakeries over the last six or seven months,” he said. he declared. “Currently we are in a green zone, a ‘safe zone,’ but the population knows that there is no safe zone in Gaza.”
Abdelfattah said many patients in the intensive care unit are young children suffering from “severe burns and explosive injuries that will virtually lead to guaranteed death here, and that’s what I’ve seen because of the lack of resources, lack of supplies.
“This is all intentional,” he added. “This is not a natural disaster. This is an intentional disaster that is being inflicted on these people with the support of my government.”
President Biden has become increasingly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war and in Gaza, going so far as to suspend shipments of certain weapons in Israel over concerns about IDF plans in Rafah. But Abdelfattah told CBS News that wasn’t enough.
“American weapons are being dropped on the people of Gaza every hour, and our American government – President Biden – has the power to stop it all with a single phone call,” he said.
Abdelfattah said several people told him: “The only thing that gives us hope right now is the student protests that are happening all over the country, here at home. »
Meanwhile, Israel marked 76 years since the founding of the nation on Tuesday. But amid the commemorations, thousands of Israeli settlers marched toward Gaza, blocking aid to enter and demand the right to build settlements inside Palestinian territory.
Humanitarian agencies warn that more than a million Palestinians now face catastrophic levels of hunger. A floating pier that Mr. Biden ordered built to help speed aid distribution could soon become operational, allowing more food and supplies to enter the territory.
Imtiaz Tyab
Grub5
