The mayor of Rafah on Radio-Canada: “Human suffering is enormous, enormous…” | Middle East, the eternal conflict

It is a disaster on all levels: humanitarian disaster, social disaster, health disaster, environmental disaster, economic disaster… And the world is watching us, without moving a fingercowardly Ahmad Al-Soufi, who gave a telephone interview to Radio-Canada from the center of Rafah.

Since May 6, Israeli forces have intensified their operations against his town, which is not far from the Egyptian border, calling on civilians to move towards the Al-Mawasi region, about ten kilometers away.

Israel affirms that the last battalions of Hamas are entrenched in Rafah and has said it has been determined for several months to carry out a large-scale ground assault there to destroy the Palestinian Islamist movement, in power in Gaza since 2007, which led on October 7, in southern Israel, a bloody attack that sparked the war.

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According to’United NationsUNof the 1.4 million people crowded into Rafah, only 80,000 have been able to flee the city over the last three days.

Most of the civilians in the south of the Gaza Strip are displaced people who were pushed there by seven months of fighting and bombings that reduced the north and then the center of the Gaza Strip to rubble. .

Those who decided to stay prefer to die on the spot rather than having to move againsaid the mayor of Rafah. Obviously, we encourage them to leave to escape the bombings, we prioritize the physical security of civilians, especially that of women and children.he adds.

But, according to him, the region designated as a “humanitarian zone” by Israel is desert And devoid of any basic infrastructure to shelter the displaced. Nothing has been put in place for reception civilians fleeing the fighting, he said.

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The Israeli army has also taken control of the only crossing point at Rafah which connects the Gaza Strip to the outside world, via Egypt.

All supplies have been cut off. […] We lack water, food, medicine, fuel… We lack everything!

L’United NationsUN said on Tuesday that it only had one day’s fuel reserves left for humanitarian operations in Gaza, and called for the crossings to be reopened.

Only Wednesday remained three days of fuel to hospitals in southern Gaza, which means they might stop working soonwarned the World Health Organization (WHO).

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The mayor of Rafah assures that the city’s hospitals are either non-operational either inaccessible due to roads cut or destroyed by Israeli bombing.

We are completely helpless, he said, almost out of breath. We no longer have the means to help people. We are even unable to remove the injured from under the rubble because we lack materials and machinery.

With the closure of the Rafah crossing point, it became impossible for Palestinians to evacuate the wounded to Egypt for treatment, he further explains.

All the injured, especially the seriously injured, are now condemned to die without treatment. We live in fear and terror in Rafah […] Human suffering is enormous, enormous…

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The mayor of Rafah calls for the humanity of the international community For assume responsibility and put an end to this massacre. This is a real catastrophe that concerns all of humanity.he said.

Mr. Al-Soufi, who was elected head of Rafah municipality in June 2020, assures that there is no longer safe places throughout the Gaza Strip. He also accuses the Israeli army of having completely shaved entire cities with bulldozers and tanks. He fears that the city of Rafah will end up suffering the same fate.

He calls on the international community to provide temporary housing for displaced peopleas well as field hospitals to treat the injured. There are more than 1,600 people with kidney disease in Rafah who need to undergo dialysis treatment twice a day, says Al-Soufi. There are patients who suffer from cancer, patients with heart problems…

The needs are obviously enormous, but the most urgent thing is to achieve a ceasefire. We must end the violence and open the passages to deliver water, food and medicine to the population.

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According to the mayor of Rafah, it is not with bombs that Israel will succeed in putting an end to Hamas. This is clearly a war against the Palestinian people and not against Hamas.he accuses.

The international community constantly repeats that Israel has the right to defend itself, but the Palestinians also have rights that are recognized by the United Nations, including the right to self-determination and the right to resist occupation.he adds.

We can clearly see that there are double standards in the worldhe laments, accusing Western countries of disinterest in the fate of the Palestinians.

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Since the Hamas attack, which left more than 1,170 dead on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, the army of the Jewish state has been relentlessly bombing the Gaza Strip, where 128 Israeli hostages are still being held.

The Israeli offensive has so far left 34,844 Palestinian dead, including a large number of women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

For Ahmad Al-Sufi, the only solution to resolve the conflict is to come to an agreement. Personally, I am against violence, he said. For me, all human lives are equal.

We, the Palestinians, are a peaceful people, he still assures. We have only one wish: to have the same rights as other people around the world.