Israel's Rafah offensive in Gaza: 'Struggle for survival'

Just before the Israeli military took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on May 7, closing Gaza's main gateway for people and aid deliveries ahead of a "limited" ground offensive, Ayman Mghamis and his family were able to cross into Egypt.

But not all of Mghamis' family made it out. His mother and brother had to stay behind in Rafah, where the family had taken refuge in recent months, just like the more than a million displaced Palestinians seeking some form of safety.

"The plan was for all of us to leave Gaza. All I am thinking about now is my mother and my brother and how they will get out of Gaza, especially after the closure of the crossing," said Mghamis from Cairo, where the family was trying to come to terms with their new situation as refugees and the uncertainty about whether they will ever be able to return home.

The family didn't have enough money to pay for everyone to leave. In recent months, fees paid to a travel agency and middlemen to get on the approved list of travelers have become exorbitant. Mghamis was able to raise most of the money with the help of strangers through crowdfunding.

But now he can only watch from afar as the Israeli military expands its ground offensive in Rafah amid reports of intense shelling and renewed fighting in many areas of Gaza.

Poor communication and constant worries

"I communicate with them every two to three days, there is often no internet or stable phone connection. It's exhausting," said Mghamis, a hip-hop artist and musician from Gaza City, who was displaced multiple times during the war and spent recent months in a tent in al-Mawasi in western Rafah.

"We are here, they are there, and I can only hope that no harm will happen to them. My mind is preoccupied with this," he wrote in a WhatsApp message.

He told DW he had never wanted to leave Gaza but that the war had forced him to make this difficult decision for the safety of his children.

Earlier this year, the Israeli military ordered residents of eastern Rafah to evacuate to al-Mawasi, a sandy area on Gaza's western coast that aid agencies have said is inadequate to accommodate thousands of displaced people. Since then, the United Nations estimates that 800,000 people have left the area, including many from areas not yet under evacuation orders, as the Israeli military advances and intensifies its shelling.

'Nightmare of daily survival'

Khalil Khairy from Gaza City, who has been displaced with his family multiple times, also had to organize his way back from Rafah to Nuseirat, a refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

"We were shocked when the Israeli army entered Rafah and the Rafah crossing was closed. I was waiting close by for a few days, all ready to travel, until our names come up on the list," he said by phone from Nuseirat.

The 74-year-old and his family arrived in Rafah in March 2024. Some family members had been able to leave Gaza in previous weeks, but he stayed behind with his wife, one of his sons and his grandchildren.

"I live in a nightmare of daily survival. I am an old man, but my children and grandchildren should be in a better place," he said.

Just two weeks ago, he said, he was hoping both sides would reach a cease-fire. But then, indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo on a temporary truce ended without results.

Israel advances in Rafah despite international pressure

While there has been international pressure on Israel to refrain from a full-scale invasion of Rafah, this hasn't stopped the Israeli military from expanding its push into the area in recent days. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said the military must enter Rafah to remove Hamas from power, saying its militants are hiding among the local population.

Nearly eight months of war have killed more than 35,500 people in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. Around 80% of the enclave's population of 2.3 million has been displaced multiple times, and wide areas of Gaza are believed to be completely destroyed.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas, listed as a terrorist organization by many countries, including Israel, Germany and the United States, entered Israel on October 7, 2023, and killed almost 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted some 240 people.

Israel's recent incursion into Rafah and renewed fighting in Gaza's north have led to a further dramatic decline in access to basic necessities such as food, water and health care.

"All of the predictions about the consequences of an operation in Rafah are coming true. There is almost no food left, and humanitarian efforts are stuck," said UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths in a post on X on Saturday.

'Absolutely terrifying' for humanitarian groups in Rafah

The critical humanitarian situation has played a major role in the decision by Karim Khan, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), to apply for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity. 

Among the allegations are "starvation of civilians as a method of warfare" and "intentionally direct attacks against a civilian population."

The ICC also seeks arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and two other representatives of the militant group for alleged war crimes. 

In recent weeks, Israeli authorities have opened two crossings in northern Gaza, the Erez and Erez West crossings, but aid agencies say that more needs to be done to consistently deliver food and goods to a population on the brink of famine. On Friday, 300 pallets of aid entered Gaza for the first time via a US-built temporary pier, the Israeli military said. The Rafah crossing, however, remains closed.

On Tuesday, UNRWA and the WFP announced via X that they had been forced to suspend aid activity because ongoing Israeli military operations in eastern Rafah had made their distribution center and warehouse inaccessible. 

Dr. John Kahler, a pediatrician from Chicago and co-founder of the humanitarian NGO MedGlobal, has been in daily contact with his Palestinian medical team in Rafah. Kahler was due to enter Gaza on his third medical mission when the Rafah crossing was suddenly closed. Most of the international aid work was concentrated around Rafah and has now been forced to move to other areas because of the Israeli incursion.

"In fact, I've just been informed that we're going to have to move our primary health center and our nutritional stabilization center in the south, which has just been marked as one of the areas to be evacuated," said Kahler by phone, worried about the safety of his Rafah staff.

"It's absolutely terrifying," he said. "You have to trust that those who are doing the assaulting are paying attention to the coordinates you give them."

He said the MedGlobal clinic has been safe so far, but it was recently hit by shrapnel from a nearby explosion.

Lack of basic supplies blocking aid

Kahler called the situation in the besieged territory he witnessed firsthand on earlier missions "dystopian." He said the scarcity of basic supplies hampered his work helping children.

"It just dawned on me while I was seeing these kids that literally 100% of the advice I would have given these parents, they couldn't follow through," he said, citing a complete lack of clean water, diapers and medicine.

On Sunday, airstrikes on the Nuseirat refugee camp killed at least 27 people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Khairy who has sought refuge in the area, said there seemed to be no end in sight to the fighting.

"This crazy war must stop. Politicians must find a solution that will end the suffering for the people," he said. "I do not know how, but this is what all the people in Gaza want, myself included."

Edited by: Martin Kuebler, Carla Bleiker