Almost 450,000 people have fled Rafah, UN says
By David Gritten
Almost 450,000 Palestinians have fled from Rafah over the past week, the UN says, as Israeli tanks reportedly push deeper into the southern Gaza city.
On Tuesday morning, Unrwa posted several photos showing empty streets in Rafah, external which were packed with tents and makeshift shelters before the start of the Israeli operation on Monday.
Palestinians meanwhile told Reuters news agency that Israeli tanks were advancing deeper into residential areas in south-eastern Rafah and had crossed the main north-south road to the nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt, which Israeli troops took control of on Tuesday.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that the US still believed “it would be a mistake to launch a major military operation into the heart of Rafah that would put huge numbers of civilians at risk without a clear strategic gain”.
