The mood changed dramatically in Deir al-Balah when the Israeli army announced its intention to carry out an operation in the town of Rafah. “HASn the city center, there was extraordinary excitement, because the news announced the closure of the road between Deir al-Balah and Rafah. People were rushing to try to buy as many things as possible, thinking they were going to be completely isolated. They were stocking up. At 5 p.m. everything had to stop, and that led to an extremely powerful commercial agitation, for fear that there might be no more food.”
People expressed their desire to pass, and the Egyptians fired into the air to try to calm the unrest.
“HASBefore our departure, we witnessed fairly heavy bombings which were approaching the area where we were., says the French doctor. Raphaël Pitti must then leave his hospital in Deir al-Balah and take the southern route towards Rafah and the Egyptian border.
“When we arrived in Rafah, the border post remained closed for more than an hour. There were people who wanted to leave for Egypt. People expressed their desire to cross, and the Egyptians shot in the air. We thought we would have to go back after an hour, we were allowed to go to the other side. , Israeli tanks arrived and took up positions at the exit of Rafah.”
Humanitarian consequences
Raphaël Pitti is preparing to return to France, but he is worried about the population of Rafah: “More than a million and a half people are concentrated in a very small area. Bombing in this area will cause huge numbers of victims.” Some of these people followed the instructions given by the Israeli army to return towards the north and Khan Younes, designated as humanitarian zone by the army.
