(6 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rafah, Gaza Strip – 6 May 2024
1. Various of people showing and reading Arabic-language leaflets dropped over Rafah asking people to evacuate
2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Sahar Abu Nahel, woman displaced from Gaza City:
"Where am I going to go? I don’t have money or anything. I am seriously tired, me and the children who are with me. Where am I going to go? Where? (Covers her face with her hands) Life is difficult and we were humiliated by the people of Rafah (meaning they did not help). Honestly, we haven’t seen anything (positive) from them, but where are we going to go with the children? My husband is held by the Jews and my son-in-law is missing. Where are we going to go? We have no income. Maybe its more honorable for us to die. We are being humiliated."
3. Various of people loading their belongings onto truck to evacuate
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Manhal Tartouri, who is now living in Rafah after he was displaced from Khan Younis:
"We are a people today who only have God (to help us). We have no shelter, no food, no water, none of that. We were promised by the Israeli army and the international community that Rafah will be protected and that is why we came to Rafah, but regrettably they informed us of the evacuation or else, we will face something that no one wishes to face."
5. Various of people loading their items onto truck, woman inside truck waiting to evacuate
6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad Jendia, man displaced from Gaza:
"There is no area created by God in Gaza that is safe. They made us leave Gaza because Rafah is safe and it turned out not to be safe. Now they are asking us to leave. Nowhere is safe when it comes to the Jews."
7. Various of people packing up their belongings to evacuate, families preparing to move
8. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Ziad Dada, who said he was displaced from Gaza City to Rafah:
"We read it (the leaflet). We don’t know where to go. We were displaced from Gaza (City) and now we don’t know where to go. They dropped leaflets and we don’t know where to go. We have children, my wife, mother and the family and we all don’t know where to go."
9. Various of people reading Arabic-language leaflets dropped over Rafah asking people to evacuate
STORYLINE:
The Israeli army on Monday ordered tens of thousands of people in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to begin evacuating, signaling that a long-promised ground invasion could be imminent.
The announcement complicated last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the director of the CIA, to broker a cease-fire.
Hamas and Qatar, a key mediator, have warned that an invasion of Rafah could derail the talks.
Israel has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said they need to carry out a ground invasion to defeat the Islamic militant group.
But the news of the evacuation leaves displaced people like Sahar Abu Nahel in distress as she asks herself where to go next.
"Where are we going to go? We have no income. Maybe its more honorable for us to die. We are being humiliated," she said in tears.
In Rafah, people received flyers Monday morning in Arabic detailing which neighborhood blocks needed to leave and where humanitarian zones had expanded to.
The flyers said that aid services would spread from Deir al Balah in the north to the center of Khan Younis city in the middle of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians in Rafah said people gathered to discuss their options after receiving the flyers.
AP video shot by Ismael Abu Dayyah
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e75f564bef3e4d09a8e29baf859eb68e
