Under a blazing summer sun, tens of thousands of Palestinians fled Israeli bombardment and clashes with Hamas militants in Rafah on Friday, choking roads with donkey carts, bicycles, pickup trucks and wheelchairs.
Aid officials there believe the total who have now left Gaza’s southernmost city may be about 350,000, since receiving warnings early last week from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of an imminent military operation, with most moving after airstrikes and fighting intensified.
“The streets that were previously packed with [people] living in makeshift tents, most of those tents have been dismantled and people have fled. The area around the United Nations building [in the city centre] is unrecognisable … all of the people who were seeking some degree of sanctuary there have fled,” said Dr James Smith, a British medic currently
