Relatives of displaced families say conditions in Rafah are “unbearable” and like a “slow death”
A man whose sisters are trapped in Rafah described the conditions there as like living a “slow death.”
Ahmed Najjar told Sky News that he had not been able to speak to his family in recent days as they were told they had nowhere else to go.
He said they fled Gaza City first to Khan Yunis in the south, then back to Rafah seeking safety from Israeli attacks.
Asked about the conditions in Rafah, Najjar said: “Terrible, unbearable, uninhabitable.”
“We're talking about a city that used to have a population of only 250,000 people, and now 1.5 million people live in this city.”
He said most of Rafah's residents were living in tents, meaning access to medical care and humanitarian supplies was “very limited.”
“What's happening there is like a slow death for them. They're being killed by bombs falling on their tents or by this horrible, intolerable situation.”
“I doubt whether we should still believe what the Israelis say,” Najjar said when presented with an Israeli proposal that there would be a safe place for Palestinians to move.
“They went into Khan Yunis and said, 'This is the heart of Hamas.'” [is] And that will be our final attack. ”
“Now we see them trying to move to Rafah. They first told people, that's why my sisters went there, Rafah is going to be a safe place, you said I should go there.”
Najjar said she hopes the war ends “in a place where my family can survive.”
“It's a little selfish, but I'm so worried about my family. I go to bed every night thinking about them, and I wake up thinking about them. Did they survive the attack? Or are you not alive?”
