The Israeli government has repeatedly announced its intention to carry out a military operation against Hamas in Rafah, the city located on the southern border of the Gaza Strip. The operation, according to the government led by Benjamin Netanyahuit is necessary for destroy what remains of Hamas, which on 7 October 2023 launched the attack that led to the death of 1,200 Israelis, and for capture its military leader, Yahya Sinwar.
However, the United Nations, the United States and a large part of the international community continue to underline how an operation in Rafah would be equivalent to a humanitarian catastrophewhich would add to the deaths of at least 35,000 Palestinians since the start of the war.
The reasons are easily understandable when trying to compare the city of Rafah with an Italian city – for example, with Milan.
Rafah has one surface area of approximately 64 square kilometers: approximately one third of the Lombardy capital – approximately as much as the circle of avenues.
In Rafah, they normally lived approximately 170 thousand inhabitants (the data is from 2017).
Since Israel launched the ground operation in the Gaza Strip, the army has pushed the Palestinians who lived there south: and so, to date, 1.3 million people are in Rafah.
In other words: a population comparable to that of the city of Milan is found in an area one third larger of the Lombardy capital, mostly in makeshift homes, and have nowhere to go.
According to Unicef, of that million and 300 thousand people, 600 thousand are children.
