TRANSCRIPT
The United Nations says in one week, around 600,000 Palestinians have fled the southern city of Rafah - the latest in a series of mass displacement events that have characterised the experiences of the majority of civilians trapped in the Gaza Strip.
While Israel's allies say eradicating Hamas from Gaza is impossible without the killing of many more Palestinian civilians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says its bombardment and ground invasion will not stop until Hamas is eliminated.
"So far in Rafah, close to half a million people have been evacuated from the combat zones. The humanitarian catastrophe they talked about has not materialized, nor will it materialize. The elimination of Hamas is a necessary step to ensure that 'the day after' there will be no element in Gaza that threatens us."
Gaza health officials say the death toll in Israel's assault on Gaza which followed Hamas' October 7 attack has now surpassed 35,000 , most of whom are civilians.
Israel began a long-anticipated ground invasion of the southern border city when its tanks rolled through and captured the Rafah crossing into Egypt last week.cutting off key supply lines for humanitarian aid deliveries and medical transfers.
Ni'ma Ali Imad is desperate to get her wounded son Mohammed out of Gaza for the medical treatment that doctors say they cannot provide in the Palestinian enclave.
“There was shelling where we were staying after our house was shelled. Mohammed was subjected to the violent bombardment. He was injured in his head, as you can see. The capabilities here are weak. The care is a bit weak. The doctors here did what they could, but we still need the authorities to cooperate with us and open the border crossing, because this is a child, and we would want him to live like other children in the world. He has the right to treatment; he has the right for medical care. We hope that you will be able to open the Rafah border crossing for the humanitarian cases, so that they can receive treatment, and be provided with medication, so the boy can once again see with his eyes.”
This comes one day after displaced Palestinians around the world marked the 76th anniversary of being forced from their homes during the establishment of the state of Israel.
Referred to by Palestinians and their allies as the 'Nakba', which means catastrophe in Arabic, about 700,000 Palestinians — a majority of the pre-war population — fled or were driven from their homes under threat of violence amid the establishment of Israel in 1948.
For Israel, 14 May is the country's national day, commemorating the Israeli Declaration of Independence.
The Israeli government has banned uses of the term "Nakba" in school textbooks and, according to newspaper Haaretz, has systemically hidden documents referencing massacres committed during this period.
83-year-old Mohammad Al-Najjar, who lost 13 relatives including his two sisters to the violence, recalls the day when his family were forced to flee their home village of Al-Faluja.
"My father came and said to my mother to take the kids. It was just me and my brother Ahmad that remained, I was six and he was four, he said you have to leave. My mom asked why and he said 'flee or you will die, I will send you to my uncles'. We left for Ithna and went on for two days, barefoot and without food or headcover on foot, until we got to Beit Jibreen. We sat under an olive tree, then planes came and we fled running to Ithna."
Meanwhile, for protesters in the Occupied West Bank, the 'Nakba' is not a historical event but an ongoing process.
"This has been a Nakba for the past 76 years , it's not new. We have many other catastrophes in villages and the last one is the Nakba we see in Gaza. We are here to mark the 76th anniversary of the Nakba."
Out of the approximately 700,000 Palestinians who fled their homes, many fled to Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan.
The remainder fled into refugee camps in the Occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
At least 74 per cent of Gaza’s population are registered refugees with the U-N.
In the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza's north, the Israeli military is now raiding and bombing the area, saying they have returned to deal with a resurgence of Hamas militants.
Fatima Okal was forced to flee from Jabalia to the ruins of Gaza City amid the violence.
"It's been four months we've been on the streets. We went back to find we don't have houses. We were staying in tents, they came back to us and displaced us. Here, we thank those who welcomed us but we're under the ruins, as you can see. There is no shelter, no housing, no toilets, nor clothes to our children... We left with nothing."
The World Food Programme says an estimated 300,000 people in Gaza's north are also experiencing a "full-blown famine" due to a lack of aid deliveries after more than six months of war.
