- According to the United Nations, almost half of the population of Gaza, i.e. more than one million Palestinians, have been displaced in southern Gaza during one month, which has created a humanitarian crisis.
- After the seven-month war in Gaza, the Israeli army launched a ground operation in Rafah on May 6. Israel insists that victory is impossible without capturing Rafah and eliminating the surviving Hamas battalions.
- Israel ordered Palestinians in Rafah to move to the sandy coastal areas or the destroyed city of Khan Yunis.
- Now the United Nations has warned that the massive displacement of people in such a short period of time and the reduction in aid delivery are having fatal consequences.
- "Children are dying from malnutrition and lack of water," Juliet Touma, director of communications for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), told BBC Arabic.
- On May 6, an Israeli army spokesman, Oykhe Adrai, directed Palestinians in eastern Rafah to move to a "humanitarian relief zone" that stretches from nearby al-Mawasi to the central town of Deir al-Balah, where he said he would send them to a field hospital, Tents, food and other supplies will be provided.
- The Israel Defense Forces then took control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt and launched a 'counter-terrorism operation' against Hamas operatives in eastern Rafah.
- Palestinians living in other areas of Rafah were forced to leave their temporary shelters as the army moved into the central areas.
