Population density in Rafah at 17,500 individuals per square km
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According to the statistics bureau, the population in Gaza City and north Gaza is estimated at 511,000, and in Khan Younis to the south and center of the Strip it is estimated at 685,000.
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Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, Gaza on April 29, 2024. (AP)
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported Thursday that the number of residents in Rafah until April 22 is expected to be over 1.1 million people, crammed in an area of 63.1 square kilometers.
According to the Bureau, before the Israeli aggression began, Rafah had a population density of 4,360 people per square kilometer, whereas now it has reached 17,500 individuals per square kilometer.
"This represents a humanitarian and environmental catastrophe, and puts immense pressure on scarce services and the ability to obtain the basic necessities of life under the aggression.”
According to the Statistics Bureau, the population in Gaza City and north Gaza is estimated at 511,000, whereas in Khan Younis to the south and center of the Strip, the number is estimated at 685,000, "taking into account the instability caused by displacement.”
The statement explained that the Strip has been subjected to severe aggression and systematic genocide by Israeli forces, which has led to a flooding of citizens from the north and center of the Strip to the south, particularly to Rafah, which is now packed with internally displaced Palestinians.
Rafah is currently undergoing fierce attacks from the occupation and a looming threat of invasion, the statement continued.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that an invasion of the densely-populated Rafah city will take place regardless of whether an exchange deal with the Palestinian Resistance was reached or not.
"The idea that we will stop the war before all its goals have been achieved is irrelevant. We will enter Rafah and destroy Hamas battalions there, with or without an agreement [on hostages], to achieve absolute victory," he told families of the captives held in the Strip.
'Israel' has no 'int'l credit' to invade Rafah: Ex-Israeli General
Israeli captives will likely not survive if Israeli occupation forces (IOF) invade the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip, Rafah, Reserve General Israel Ziv told Israeli broadcaster Channel 12.
"Time has become crucial for the lives of the prisoners," the former commander of the Israeli military's Operations Directorate stated.
Moreover, Ziv stressed that a possible invasion of Rafah would not be quick and would "last for months," meaning that Israeli captives held by the Palestinian Resistance would be subject to harsher circumstances imposed on them by their own military.
He was quoted by Maariv as saying that an attack on Rafah serves no strategic value, joining a growing amount of voices warning against the offensive and its consequences.
Talking to 103 radio station, Ziv said that the problem lies in not entering Rafah in a single sequence of fighting – as part of the entire ongoing war – and carrying out a special operation after the fighting ceased [ceasefire], with full international awareness of the presence of many displaced people there.
According to him, as the world has its eyes on Rafah, while the occupation army itself admits to the massive displaced population in the city, "if there are 100 civilian casualties, Israel will be judged legally, as if they were 1,000 or even 100,000, in terms of severity."
