Satellite imagery shows Palestinians fleeing Rafah’s tent cities as threat of major attack looms

Palestinians are fleeing Rafah’s tent cities in large numbers as the threat of a potential major Israeli assault in the southern Gaza city looms, new satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows.

CNN has identified several camps sheltering Gaza’s vast refugee population – including the main camp in central Rafah that housed thousands of tents – which have significantly decreased in size between Tuesday and Wednesday. Although some camps in Rafah did see a decrease in population earlier in the week, the majority of camps identified by CNN saw their greatest declines since Tuesday.

Some of the tent camps had been in United Nations schools, others in open fields, or along roadways for months. Now, a significant number have vanished, but many remain in the camps despite orders from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to leave.

At least 110,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since Monday, after the IDF issued an evacuation order, according to the UN’s agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA).

Rafah has become the central focus of Israel’s war in Gaza, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the extreme wing of his coalition to launch a full-scale ground operation in the city to destroy Hamas, while the more moderate wing has urged him to prioritize securing a ceasefire-for-hostages deal .

Israel launched a military assault on Gaza on October 7 after the militant group Hamas, which governs Gaza, killed at least 1,200 people in Israel and abducted more than 250 others.

Israel’s offensive has since pulverized patches of the Gaza Strip and drastically diminished critical supplies, exposing the entire population of more than 2.2 million people to the risk of famine . Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed 34,904 Palestinians and injured another 78,514 people, according to the Ministry of Health there.

International pressure is growing for Israel not to move in on the densely populated city bordering Egypt. During nearly seven months of war, more than 1 million Palestinians have taken refuge in Rafah. Hamas is also believed to have regrouped in the area, after Israel’s destruction of much of the strip’s north.

A full-scale Israeli ground attack on Rafah could lead to “potential mass atrocities,” the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Jan Egeland, warned on Monday.

On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden sent shockwaves through the US and Israel when he warned that the US would halt some shipments of American weapons should Netanyahu order a major invasion of the city.

But Netanyahy responded defiantly saying in a speech “if we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that, if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails.”

Gazans began fleeing Rafah on Monday, after Israel’s military issued a call for residents in the east of Rafah to “evacuate immediately” toward Al Mawasi and other areas north of Rafah. Many people have fled further north than Al-Mawasi, heading for areas in central Gaza that have more infrastructure.

The IDF began conducting ground operations on Tuesday, after seizing the Gaza-side of the Rafah border crossing. Those operations are ongoing, but are largely focused in the easternmost sections of Rafah – just over a mile away from the closest camp CNN identified.

This story has been updated with new information.

Planet Labs 的最新卫星图像显示，随着以色列可能对加沙南部城市拉法发动大规模进攻的威胁日益逼近，大量巴勒斯坦人正在逃离拉法的帐篷城。

CNN发现，包括位于拉法市中心、容纳数千顶帐篷的主要难民营在内的多个收容加沙庞大难民群体的营地，在周二至周三期间规模显著缩小。尽管拉法的一些营地在本周早些时候人口也有所减少，但CNN发现的大多数营地的人口降幅最大是在周二之后。

一些帐篷营地设在联合国学校里，另一些则设在空地上或路边，已经持续了数月之久。如今，相当一部分营地已经消失，但仍有许多人无视以色列国防军的撤离命令，继续留在营地中。

据联合国近东巴勒斯坦难民署（近东救济工程处）称，自周一以色列国防军发布撤离令以来，至少有 11 万巴勒斯坦人逃离拉法。

拉法已成为以色列在加沙战争中的中心，以色列总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡面临着来自其执政联盟中极端派越来越大的压力，要求他在该市发动全面地面行动以摧毁哈马斯，而较为温和的派则敦促他优先考虑达成以人质换取停火的协议。

10月7日，以色列对加沙发动军事进攻。此前，统治加沙的武装组织哈马斯在以色列境内杀害了至少1200人，并绑架了250多人。

以色列的攻势已将加沙地带大片地区夷为平地，并大幅削减了关键物资供应，使超过220万加沙民众面临饥荒风险。据加沙卫生部统计，以色列在加沙的袭击已造成34904名巴勒斯坦人死亡，另有78514人受伤。

国际社会对以色列施加的压力越来越大，要求其不要进军与埃及接壤的人口稠密城市拉法。在近七个月的战争中，超过一百万巴勒斯坦人涌入拉法避难。据信，在以色列摧毁加沙地带北部大片地区后，哈马斯也在该地区重新集结。

挪威难民理事会（NRC）主席扬·埃格兰周一警告说，以色列对拉法发动全面地面攻击可能导致“潜在的大规模暴行”。

周三，美国总统乔·拜登警告称，如果内塔尼亚胡下令大规模入侵该市，美国将停止向该市运送部分美国武器，此言震惊了美国和以色列。

但内塔尼亚希在一次演讲中强硬回应道：“如果我们需要孤军奋战，我们就孤军奋战。我说过，如有必要，我们将拼死一搏。”

周一，以色列军方呼吁拉法东部居民“立即撤离”至马瓦西及拉法以北其他地区后，加沙民众开始逃离拉法。许多人逃往比马瓦西更北的地方，前往加沙中部基础设施更完善的地区。

以色列国防军周二占领拉法边境口岸加沙一侧后，开始进行地面作战。这些行动仍在进行中，但主要集中在拉法最东端的区域——距离CNN确认的最近的难民营仅一英里多一点。

本文已更新，添加了新的信息。