The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced today (Friday) that more than 600,000 people have fled the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip since the start of the military attack on the city.

UNRWA said in a brief statement on its account on the (X) platform that the residents of the Gaza Strip are still subjected to “forced displacement.”

The statement added that 630,000 people have fled the city of Rafah since the start of the military attack on the city on May 6.

According to the statement, many people have taken refuge in the city of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, which has now become unbearably overcrowded and suffering from miserable conditions, stressing the necessity of a ceasefire now.

On May 7, the Israeli army announced the imposition of “operational” control over the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, located in the southern Gaza Strip on the border with Egypt, after launching a “delicate counter-terrorism operation” in the eastern region of Rafah.

The city of Rafah and its suburbs are considered the last refuge for more than 1.4 million Palestinians after their displacement from the northern and central Gaza Strip in light of the ongoing violent war between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel for more than seven months.

In addition, the Ministry of Health in Gaza announced today that the Palestinian death toll has risen to 35,303 people as a result of Israel’s raids on the Strip since the seventh of last October.
The ministry said in a statement, a copy of which was received by Xinhua News Agency, that the Israeli army committed 4 "massacres" against families in the Gaza Strip, killing 31 people and injuring 56 people with various injuries.
Thus, the death toll rose to 35,303 and those injured to 79,261 people since October 7, according to the statement.
For its part, the Hebrew Public Radio reported that a reservist fighter with the rank of advanced assistant from the army was killed in an operational accident that occurred yesterday morning in the vicinity of Sderot in southern Israel.
The radio reported that the incident was caused by an explosion of combat equipment in a military area near the Hetz Shahor memorial.