UNRWA: Some 150,000 Palestinians were forced to flee Rafah due to the Israeli bombardment

The UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday said that 150,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah in the southern blockaded Gaza Strip in search for safer place as the Israeli shelling and attacks on the city escalate.

UNRWA said in a statement on X “everywhere you look now in west Rafah this morning, families are packing up. Streets are significantly emptier”, clarifying that at least 300,000 people have been affected as further areas across Gaza Strip receive new evacuation orders today, both towards central Rafah in the south and Jabalia in northern Gaza.

The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) estimated population residing in Rafah Governorate as of April 22nd, 2024 is approximately 1.1 million individuals living in an area of 63.1 square kilometers. The population density in Rafah on the eve of the aggression was 4,360 individuals per square kilometer, while it has now reached approximately 17,500 individuals per square kilometer, which constitutes a humanitarian and environmental disaster and puts immense pressure on scarce services and the ability to access the most basic means of life in the midst of the aggression.

Hamda Mustafa