Rafah is a ghost town filled with rubble 2 months after Israel invaded to root out Hamas

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Two months ago, ago Israeli troops occupied Rafah, the city housed most of Gaza's more than 2 million residents. Today it is a ghost town covered in dust.

Abandoned apartment buildings hit by bullets have blown out walls and shattered windows. Bedrooms and kitchens are visible from streets littered with piles of rubble towering over passing Israeli military vehicles. many few civilians remain.

Israel says it has nearly defeated Hamas forces in Rafah, an area identified earlier this year as the last stronghold of the militant group in Gaza.

The Israeli military invited journalists to Rafah on Wednesday, the first time international media visited Gaza's southernmost city since it was invaded on May 6. Israel has barred international journalists from entering Gaza independently since the October 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war.

Before capturing Rafah, Israel said the four remaining Hamas battalions had withdrawn there, an area of ​​about 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) that borders Egypt. Israel says hundreds of militants have been killed in its offensive in Rafah. Dozens of women and children have also died in Israeli airstrikes and ground operations.

The army says it was necessary to operate with such intensity because Hamas has turned civilian areas into treacherous traps. Eight soldiers were killed last month in a single explosion.

Some of these tunnels are blocked by traps, said the main spokesman of the army, Adm. Daniel Hagari, during Wednesday's tour as he stood on a shaft leading underground. Hamas built everything in a civilian neighborhood between houses, between mosques, between the population, in order to create its ecosystem of terror.

An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians flocked to Rafah after fleeing fighting elsewhere in Gaza. The UN estimates that around 50,000 remain in Rafah, which had a pre-war population of around 275,000.

Most have moved to a nearby humanitarian zone declared by Israel the conditions are severe. Many are crammed into squalid tent camps along the beach with little access to clean water, food, bathing and medical care.

Efforts to bring aid to southern Gaza have stalled. Israel's incursion into Rafah closed one of the two main crossings into southern Gaza. The UN says little aid can get in through the other main crossing, Kerem Shalom, because the road is too dangerous and convoys are vulnerable to attacks by armed groups looking for smuggled cigarettes.

On Wednesday, a line of trucks on the Gaza side of Kerem Shalom was visible, but the trucks were barely moving, a sign that Israel's promise to keep the road safe in order to facilitate the delivery of aid inside Gaza has fallen flat.

UN officials say some commercial trucks have braved the road to Rafah, but not without hired armed guards riding their convoys.

Israel says it is close to disbanding the group as an organized military force in Rafah. In a reflection of this belief, soldiers brought journalists in open-air military vehicles on the road leading to the heart of the city.

Along the way, the debris strewn on the side of the road made clear the dangers of sending aid: corpses of trucks lying baking in the hot sun; dashboards covered with fences intended to protect drivers; aid pallets lying empty.

The longer aid deliveries are delayed, humanitarian groups say, the closer Gaza gets to running out of fuel, which is needed for hospitals, water desalination plants and vehicles.

Hospitals are again short of fuel, risking disruption of critical services, said Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the World Health Organization's regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “The injured are dying as ambulance services are facing delays due to lack of fuel.

As the humanitarian situation worsens, Israel continues its offensive. The war in Rafah continues.

After reporters heard gunshots nearby on Wednesday, soldiers told the group they would not be visiting the beach as planned.

The group left the city soon after, clouds of dust kicked up by the vehicles temporarily obscuring the extent of destruction behind them.

–

Associated Press reporter Julia Frankel contributed from Jerusalem.