Brian McDonald
Tel Aviv – Nearly 360,000 people had fled the city of Rafah, at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, by Monday, according to the United Nations, in an exodus that tripled in size in just a few days. The Israel Defense Forces sparked the uprising late last week, issuing evacuation orders by text messages and flyers dropped from the sky to people in the eastern half of the city.
Since then, IDF forces have advanced through the southern part of Palestinian territory in what the military considers limited and precise attacks. targeting Hamas militants and infrastructure.
The US has repeatedly warned Israel against launching a major ground military operation in Rafah, fearing mass casualties. The White House, in conjunction with other countries, has also increased pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to come up with a plan to address the humanitarian crisis caused by the war, and for the so-called “day after” to find out who or what which will replace Hamas as Gaza’s governing body.
Pressure mounts on Netanyahu
The Biden administration warned again over the weekend that Israel needs an exit plan from the war and that even if Hamas can be defeated, without a viable alternative to governing Gaza, the group long designated by Israel and the US as a terrorist organization could stage a comeback.
“We will have a vacuum, and a vacuum that will likely be filled by chaos, anarchy and, ultimately, Hamas again.” Blinken told CBS’ “Face the Nation” moderator Margaret Brennan on Sunday. He emphasized that the US “will not support” an Israeli military operation in Rafah without a “credible plan to protect civilians.”
Meanwhile, very public fissures are now emerging between the Israeli government and its military. Senior military officials have begun openly demanding that Netanyahu decide who will replace Hamas in governing Gaza – saying that if this is not determined, Israeli forces could end up trapped there.
Many families of Israeli soldiers have similar concerns. Over the weekend, a letter signed by 600 family members of current IDF soldiers called on Netanyahu’s government to forego a ground attack on Rafah, warning that it “could be nothing short of a death trap.”
“Any reasonable person understands that when they announce and warn for months about the entry into Rafah, there are those who are working to prepare the ground and harm the forces there,” the families warned in the letter.
The Biden administration has made clear that it will not supply weapons for what it considers a reckless large-scale military operation in Rafah, but Netanyahu has refused to back down from his promise to carry out such an attack, saying there are several Hamas battalions hiding in the city.
In a late-night phone call, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant gave US Secretary of State Antony Blinken an update on the war, including on “the precise operation in the Rafah area against the remaining Hamas battalions,” from according to a statement from Gallant’s office.
Gazans forced to flee repeatedly
In the southeast corner of Rafah, destroyed neighborhoods were eerily quiet on Monday morning – abandoned after Israeli warnings of an imminent advance.
Hundreds of thousands of people who fled to the city on Israel’s previous orders have fled once again, this time to western Gaza, to the coastal area of al-Mawasi, which Israel has turned into a sprawling camp for displaced people.
AFP via Getty
It may be out of the line of fire for now, but it is far from a safe haven as thousands of families are exposed to the elements in tents pitched along an arid stretch of coast.
Displaced mother who lost 6 of her 7 children “still in shock”
To the north, in a makeshift camp in Deir al Balah, Jamila Abu Jebara told CBS News that she lost virtually her entire family in an Israeli air strike overnight exactly seven months ago. Her husband and six of her seven children were killed. Neighbors were only able to pull her and her 10-year-old daughter Dema out of the wreckage of their home.
“My 8-year-old son’s body is still under the rubble,” she said. “I’m waiting for a ceasefire to remove him.”
Additionally, the now-single mother said she had no plans for the future, “because I’m still in shock.”
“As a mother, I need to stay strong for my daughter Dema, so I can take care of her and build her future. She’s with me all the time and I don’t like her going anywhere without me. my.”
CBS News
“I wish this war would end,” his daughter Dema told CBS News.
Many Israelis have the same desire. On Sunday, as Israel marked its Memorial Day, the country mourned its fallen soldiers and the approximately 1,200 victims of the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, which triggered the current war.
But as dozens of families press Netanyahu to agree to a deal to bring home the 100 or so Israelis still believed to be held hostage by Hamas or other groups in Gaza, the prime minister’s comments at a memorial service were unequivocal.
“We will continue until victory,” he said, pledging to complete his stated mission of “destroying Hamas.”
In the Deir al Balah camp, Abu Jebara told CBS News he wished he had protected his six children from Israeli attacks.
“I wish I had died and they had lived,” she said, adding a plea as Americans celebrated Mother’s Day:
“My message to any mother: look at our lives and our sadness. I am one of the countless mothers who have lost.”
CBS News’ Tucker Reals contributed to this report.
Ramy Inocêncio
