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Satellite Images Shows 1.5 Million Palestinians Now Shelter in Rafah

Some 1.5 million Palestinians are estimated to be now living in Rafah (Reuters)
Some 1.5 million Palestinians are estimated to be now living in Rafah (Reuters)
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Satellite Images Shows 1.5 Million Palestinians Now Shelter in Rafah

Some 1.5 million Palestinians are estimated to be now living in Rafah (Reuters)
Some 1.5 million Palestinians are estimated to be now living in Rafah (Reuters)

Satellite images revealed on Saturday the growing number of Palestinians sheltering in the southern Gaza border town of Rafah since the past October 7 attack.

Two photos, taken by the US company Planet Labs on Jan. 14 and Feb. 4, reveal that lands covered with trees have turned into a city of tents hosting the internally displaced Palestinians.

Roughly 80% of Gaza’s people have been displaced, and the territory has plunged into a humanitarian crisis with shortages of food and medical services.

Rafah is normally home to 280,000 people. But its population has swelled to over 1.4 million as Palestinians flee fighting, destruction and hunger elsewhere in the territory, according to the UN.

More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, many after following Israeli evacuation orders that now cover two-thirds of the territory.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had asked the military to plan for the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people there ahead of a ground invasion.

Netanyahu did not provide details or a timeline, but the announcement set off panic and warnings from diplomats, AP said.

On Sunday, the bodies of 58 Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrikes arrived to Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, according to the Palestinian Shehab News agency.

In a related development, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was denied a mission Saturday to the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, which has been besieged and coming under Israeli fire for three weeks.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's director-general, said he was “deeply concerned about the safety of patients and health personnel due to the intensifying hostilities in the vicinity of the hospital.”

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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
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Italy Plans to Return Ambassador to Syria to Reflect New Diplomatic Developments, Minister Says

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)
Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks while meeting with members of the G7, on July 11, 2024, during the NATO summit in Washington. (AP)

Italy plans to send an ambassador back to Syria after a decade-long absence, the country’s foreign minister said, in a diplomatic move that could spark divisions among European Union allies.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, speaking in front of relevant parliamentary committees Thursday, announced Rome’s intention to re-establish diplomatic ties with Syria to prevent Russia from monopolizing diplomatic efforts in the Middle Eastern country.

Moscow is considered a key supporter of Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has remained in power despite widespread Western isolation and civilian casualties since the start of Syria’s civil war in March 2011.

Peaceful protests against the Assad government — part of the so-called “Arab Spring” popular uprisings that spread across some of the Middle East — were met by a brutal crackdown, and the uprising quickly spiraled into a full-blown civil war.

The conflict was further complicated by the intervention of foreign forces on all sides and a rising militancy, first by al-Qaida-linked groups and then the ISIS group until its defeat on the battlefield in 2019.

The war, which has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population of 23 million, is now largely frozen, despite ongoing low-level fighting.

The country is effectively carved up into areas controlled by the Damascus-based government of Assad, various opposition groups and Syrian Kurdish forces.

In the early days of the conflict, many Western and Arab countries cut off relations with Syria, including Italy, which has since managed Syria-related diplomacy through its embassy in Beirut.

However, since Assad has regained control over most of the territory, neighboring Arab countries have gradually restored relations, with the most symbolically significant move coming last year when Syria was re-admitted to the Arab League.

Tajani said Thursday the EU’s policy in Syria should be adapted to the “development of the situation,” adding that Italy has received support from Austria, Croatia, Greece, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Cyprus and Slovakia.

However, the US and allied countries in Europe have largely continued to hold firm in their stance against Assad’s government, due to concerns over human rights violations.