From 200K to 1.5M people: Startling images show the ongoing war’s impact to this small area in Gaza
Israeli airstrikes killed over a dozen people Thursday in Rafah, hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Hamas’ cease-fire terms and vowed to expand the offensive into the southern Gaza town. (Feb. 8)
Israel has identified the southern Gaza town of Rafah as the next target in its military offensive against Hamas.
The town is normally home to 280,000 people. But its population has swelled to over 1.5 million – roughly three quarters of Gaza’s population -- as people flee fighting elsewhere in Gaza. Sprawling tent camps now dot the city.
The photos below were taken three months apart -- and capture the difference.
They show an area near the Tel al-Sultan refugee camp. It’s part of the wider urban Rafah refugee camp, one of eight in the Gaza Strip that were built for families displaced during the war surrounding the creation of Israel in 1948.
In what was once scrubland near farm fields, a tent city has now sprung up. Hundreds of makeshift shelters surround the warehouse -- one distribution center for the limited aid now entering the besieged strip.
The U.S. and other members of the international community have raised concerns about the safety of civilians if Israeli troops move into the densely populated city.