Consider This from NPR - Israel seized control of the Rafah border crossing. The impact could be devastating

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

The Biden administration has put a hold on an arms shipment to Israel. A senior administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity told NPR it was due to concerns the bombs could be used in Rafah.Rafah is the site of Israel's latest campaign in its war against Hamas. It's also home to some 1.3 million Palestinians. More than half of those people have fled fighting in other parts of Gaza.On Monday night, Israeli tanks rolled into Rafah taking control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt. The seizure of the border crossing cuts a key supply line for humanitarian aid. Israel says its incursion in Rafah is a "precise counterterrorism operation." But possible further military action along with the closed border crossing could exacerbate a humanitarian catastrophe.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

On Monday, leaflets fell from the sky in southern Gaza. They were dropped by Israeli forces, and they told residents in parts of Rafah that they should evacuate some 100,000 people. They were directed to a, quote, expanded humanitarian area north and northwest of the city. To many people in Rafah, that concept is meaningless. There are no safest spaces in Gaza. Abdelwahab Hamad works for a community development organization in Gaza. He spoke to us this week from Rafah. The concept of safe designated area has become elusive for the people of Gaza. It is elusive because it has just been shattered. We speak about 1.3 million Palestinians living in a place smaller than Hetero Airport. It is the last remaining sanctuary in Gaza, the last refuge. And by the way, there is no refuge.

Monday night, tanks rolled into Rafah, taking control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt. Israeli airstrikes had already been pounding the city for weeks, killing hundreds since late March, most of them women and children, according to hospital records. There are at least 1.3 million Palestinians living in Rafah, more than half fled fighting in other parts of Gaza, including Hamad. I'm from northern parts of Gaza. I live in the north and I have been displaced six times now. This is going to be my seventh if I evacuated Rafah. He now lives in a refugee camp in Rafah. He says what's happening there is somehow more than a humanitarian crisis. There's not enough food

and close to no clean water. 90% of Gaza's health system has collapsed. Diseases are on the rise, particularly malaria. In Rafah now, we have more than 600,000 children in tents. It's a city of tents. It's a city of children. Hamad said that people are ravenous for life, even just normal life. And for a brief moment earlier this week, people in Rafah were actually celebrating. Hamas announced it had agreed to terms of a ceasefire proposed by Egypt and Qatar. The moment I heard that they're kind of reaching a deal, I was super happy. I kind of celebrated. I personally have brought sweets, like desserts. But then in a one one night shift, you know, it was, it is hilarious, ridiculous. It's just like a dream.

Israel's government did not accept the ceasefire proposal, but sent a diplomatic delegation to Egypt to continue negotiations. Consider this. Israel says its incursion in Rafah is a precise counterterrorism operation, but possible further military action, along with the closed border crossing, could exacerbate a humanitarian catastrophe. From NPR, I'm Juana Summers. It's Consider This from NPR. One of the questions hanging over Israel's operation in Rafah is this.

Where is President Biden's red line? There's the line that his national security spokesman John Kirby used again. We don't want to see major ground operations in Rafah that put these people at greater risk. And again. We've been very clear that we don't support a major ground operation in Rafah. And again. And again. That was all at a press briefing on Monday before Israel's incursion in Rafah. After its forces took over the border crossing, Kirby said it did not constitute a major ground invasion. The Israelis have said this operation they conducted last night was of

limited duration and size and scale and scope, limited purpose. What I've said is we've heard that and we're watching, we're monitoring. There was one notable development in Biden's relationship with Israel. NPR has confirmed reporting in Axios that the White House paused an arms shipment to Israel. A senior administration official speaking on condition of anonymity told NPR it was due to concerns that the bombs could be used in Rafah. Whether or not Israel's operation in Rafah currently constitutes a major ground offensive, the evacuation is worsening a desperate situation for people living there. NPR international correspondent Ea Batraoui has been following the story, and she joins me now from Dubai. Hi. Hey. So, Aya, we know that Rafah is where more than half of Gaza's population has been sheltering and that it's where Israel launched a ground operation on Monday.

The military says that at this stage, troops are not advancing towards the main city and that they're focused on the eastern part of Rafah. But with Israeli tanks now in parts of Rafah, what has the impact been there? Well, Rafah has a really small area bordering Egypt, but it's become home to more than 1.4 million displaced people, half of whom are children. So this military offensive has jolted and terrified people there. They're really concerned that this operation is just beginning and will expand. Have a listen to Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman explaining Israel's military goals in Rafah.

This is the beginning of our mission to take out the last four Hamas brigades in Rafah. You should be in no doubt about that whatsoever. And you spoke today with aid workers in Rafah. Let's have a listening to your reporting with NPR producer Anas Baba in Gaza about what's happening on the ground there. And I'll warn listeners here that this report includes the sound of gunfire as well as graphic scenes of violence. Since the October 7th attack on Israel, people in Gaza have had to pick up and move again and again and again. I'm in Shope. I'm a terrorist. I'm a shipper. and Gaza have had to pick up and move again and again and again. The beach road, to the schools, to Al-Shifa Hospital, to Al-Shawa, to Rafah. Fatma Balah rattles off the places she's been forced to flee. We've seen nothing but suffering, says the elderly woman who walks with a cane.

On Monday, she was among the more than 100,000 people in eastern Rafah Israel told to leave. Children piled onto donkey carts and in cars stacked high with mattresses. But most people had to walk through streets overflowing with sewage and garbage as they dragged the luggage and pushed the wounded in wheelchairs. Israel sent messages like this to get people moving. Israel also published a grid-like map with the numbered blocks of where people should leave on social media and in flyers dropped from the sky. For your safety, the Israeli military orders you to evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian area in El Mawassi, the message says.

But it warns people not to head back too far north, where Israeli forces have shot people trying to reach Gaza City. Less than 24 hours later, Israeli tanks rolled into Rafah. In one viral video, a tank is seen rolling over an I love Gaza sign near the Rafah crossing with Egypt. The military says troops killed Hamas gunmen in that area and found tunnel shafts. The operation, however, also shut down the Rafah border, the main artery for fuel and aid in anyone entering or leaving Gaza. Jens Larke, spokesman for the UN Humanitarian Office. If no fuel comes in for a prolonged period of time, it would be a very effective way of putting the humanitarian operation in its grave.

Hisham Mahanna is in Rafah with the International Committee of the Red Cross. He says severely wounded and chronically ill people are trapped and the health system has collapsed. This is why a significant military operation in Rafah can be disastrous and will lead to absolute carnage. The UN estimates that tens of thousands fled the city on Tuesday. Some headed to the scorching, sandy area of Al-Mawassi, others to central Gaza.

Both areas have been bombed. Dr. James Smith, an emergency doctor in Rafah, says not everyone can leave the city, particularly those who are ill or wounded. But people who stay will struggle to find treatment. The European Gaza Hospital, which is to the northeast of Rafah, is completely overwhelmed already. Several of the smaller hospitals in Rafah have already started to preemptively evacuate patients because they're fearful of what the Israeli military might do in or around those health facilities. Rafah's main hospital was closed.

It's in the red zone where people were told to leave. Doctors Without Borders emergency coordinator in Gaza, Sylvain Grue, says another hospital in Rafah is already moving its incubators and equipment to Nasser Hospital in nearby Khan Yunis, which they're trying to salvage after an Israeli raid destroyed it. As for Khan Yunis? The city has been completely destroyed. It looks like World War II. And I've never seen this level of damage, even in places like Mosul or Aleppo. Although the city is more devastated than any he's seen in Iraq and Syria, he says, This offensive is moving very, very quickly. Time is not on our side.

Just as people were leaving Rafah this week, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 13 members of the al-Dirbi family sheltering in a home in an area not under evacuation orders. The body bags are baking in the heat under the sun. Rafah's key morgue isn't accessible. It's part of the main hospital in the red zone. Amal al-Dirbi, a matriarch in the family, names off the men, women, and children lying in those body bags or still under the rubble. They were innocent kids.

Just kids, she says. At the site of the airstrike, rescue workers comb through the rubble using only shovels. Civil defense worker Mohamed Al-Homs is helping, but he says, should I console myself or others? He says only yesterday, his uncle, his uncle's wife, and their three children were killed in an Israeli airstrike. But he adds, there's no time to grieve. That was NPR's Aya Batrawi with reporting from Anas, Baba, and Rafa. This episode was produced by Jordan Marie Smith, Lena Muhammad, and Connor Donovan. It was edited by

Courtney Darning and James Heider. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigan. And one more thing before we go. Consider This is now also a newsletter.

Just like on this podcast, we help you break down a major story of the day, but you'll also get to know our producers and hosts. And we'll share moments of joy from the All Things Considered team. You can sign up at npr.org slash consider this newsletter. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers.