Fate Of Palestinians In Rafah In Balance While Israel Plots Response To Missile Attack

As Israel weighs up plans to respond to Iran's drone and missile attack, the fate of nearly two million Gazans sheltering in the border town of Rafah hangs in the balance.

- Ruth Michaelson Emma Graham-Hartrrison

Israel has said for weeks it is going to launch a ground operation into the last corner of the territory that has not seen fierce ground fighting, despite intense opposition from its closest allies.

The Israeli military had planned to start dropping leaflets calling for an evacuation on Monday evening, CNN reported, but called them off after the Iranian attack. The war cabinet is now focused on weighing up options for retaliation but the government has insisted the operation will still go ahead.

On Monday evening, the minister of defence, Yoav Gallant, held a briefing on plans to prepare for the operation in Rafah. The emphasis, his government said in a statement, was on the evacuation of civilians and delivery of aid.

Large groups of displaced people, worried about the possible arrival of Israeli forces and tired of living in overcrowded shelters, have tried to head north in recent days. But Israeli troops opened fire on one group on Sunday, killing five.

Maha Hussaini, a human rights activist with the organisation EuroMed who lived in Gaza City before the war, had joined columns of people heading north with her family.

"I'd been looking for a shelter to go to from Rafah for the past two or three weeks as Israel is threatening a military attack there," she said. "When the Israeli army invades a place, the attacks are indiscriminate."

On hearing that some Palestinians had been able to cross back into Gaza City, they rushed to leave. "We didn't mind the famine, the indiscriminate intense attacks or the bombardment of entire neighbourhoods. We just wanted to return to our homes."