STORY: :: An Israeli strike on Rafah leaves rubble and debris in its wake
:: May 8, 2024
:: Rafah, Gaza
:: Reda al-Najili, Local resident
"We were sitting there normally in an area which is outside the zone of operations that Israel had declared. We are in a safe area according to the army's own map, an area without operations. We were sitting when suddenly the explosion happened, our neighbor's house was gone, and our house was all damaged internally. In the house there were only civilians, in the whole area there are only civilians, there are no militants. We were just sitting there, women died. Those who were injured were all children. And that's what happened. May God ease this darkness."
"My message to the world is, please look at what's happening to us. We are people who just want to live, we don't want any problems. We have withstood more than we should, get us out, let this war be over."
Hours later, residents started clearing the road and searched for their belongings among the rubble.
Israeli forces on Tuesday (May 7) seized the main border crossing between Gaza and Egypt in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than one million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter during Israel's seven-month-old offensive.
This cut off a vital route for aid into the tiny enclave, where hundreds of thousands of people are homeless and hungry.
