(6 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah, Gaza Strip – 6 May 2024
1. Various of luggage loaded onto cars, as people prepare to leave
2. Vehicle moving
3. Child getting into crammed car
4. Car loaded with people’s belongings
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad Kahlout, displaced from Jabaliya:
"I am displaced from the north, from Jabaliya refugee camp. We were displaced to Rafah and the Jews are once again displacing us. We were displaced to Deir al-Balah before that, and this is the third or even fourth time so far that we are displaced from one area to another. And we do not know where we are going this time. They evacuated al-Shuka, but where do they tell us to go? No one knows until now where we will go or what will happen to the all the people. We are getting lost (going under), someone should see what is happening to us and save us."
6. Various of families carrying their belongings and evacuating
7. Woman preparing luggage to evacuate, UPSOUND (Arabic): "Everyone put some clothes in"
8. Woman preparing belongings, UPSOUND (Arabic): "What do we even carry with us?"
9. Child standing next to belongings, UPSOUND of woman saying (Arabic): "Oh Allah (the Arabic word for God), oh Allah, oh Allah"
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Masoda Abu Loli, woman from Rafah:
"People informed us in the morning that they received recorded messages saying that we have to go, ‘leave, evacuate the area because the Jews want to enter it.’ And we are here preparing our belongings, we have prepared ourselves and our belongings. Where do we go? I swear, we do not know where to go. At the beginning of the war, we were displaced to Shaboura and stayed there for two to three months. We got tired of it and returned to our homes again. We couldn’t wait to settle down and feel reassured inside our homes. Now, they want to deport us again. God knows whether or not we will return, if we will find our homes still standing, destroyed or stolen. God knows what will happen to our homes. God knows whether or we will stay alive or die, or what will happen to us."
11. Various of luggage loaded into vehicles and donkey carts as people evacuate, others standing in the street
12. Various of vehicles and donkey carts loaded with items leaving
STORYLINE:
The Israeli army ordered some 100,000 Palestinians on Monday to begin evacuating from the southern city of Rafah in Gaza, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion there could be imminent and further complicating efforts to broker a cease-fire.
The looming operation in Rafah — where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering and a high number of deaths is feared — has raised global alarm and Israeli’s closest allies have warned against it.
People leaving Rafah packed their belongings then loaded them onto vehicles and donkey carts to start their trip out of the area.
Many were filled with concern and had no idea where they should go next.
"This is the third or even fourth time so far that we are displaced from one area to another. And we do not know where we are going this time," said Mohammad Kahlout, who is displaced from Jabaliya refugee camp.
Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after some seven months of war, and has repeatedly said the invasion is necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group, which unleashed the current conflict with an attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
In Rafah, people received flyers Monday morning in Arabic detailing which neighborhood blocks needed to leave and said that aid services would be provided in other cities.
AP video shot by Mohammad Jahjouh
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