Israel abandons full-scale Rafah invasion after US talks

Israel Defense Forces tanks took up new positions further west than before along the southern border fence with Egypt and were now stationed on the edge of the Yibna neighbourhood in central Rafah, residents and militants told Reuters. They reportedly have not yet entered the district.

Spooked by the reports of an imminent Israeli invasion of Rafah, Palestinians there had been fleeing northwards, with some 800,000 people leaving the area in about two weeks, according to the UN.

The UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Wednesday raised the alarm about overcrowded, unsanitary conditions in the areas where the locals had fled to, with no better alternative in the sealed-off enclave available.

UNRWA said the population of its facilities in Khan Younis, a city to the north of Rafah that was badly bombed earlier this year, alone has increased by over a third in the past fortnight.

Photos from UNRWA facilities there showed Palestinians living amongst the rubble in damaged school buildings, with no tents or vital services.