Photos: Palestinians desperate to flee Rafah as Israelis bear down

Palestinians pack their belongings as they prepare to flee Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 13, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Hamas militant group. Israel has ordered civilians out of the eastern half of Rafah, forcing tens of thousands of people to seek shelter outside the city, previously the last refuge of more than a million who fled other parts of the enclave during the war.

Nearly 360,000 people have fled from Rafah so far, said the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, which warned that “no place is safe” in the largely devastated territory. Above, a family is seen on a tricycle loaded with belongings and other items as they flee bound for Khan Yunis in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.

Palestinians, including the displaced, cram into Deir Al-Balah as people continue to flee Rafah due to an Israeli ground operation in the central Gaza Strip.

Palestinians ride on a vehicle as they flee Rafah.

Israeli forces pushed deep into the ruins of Gaza's northern edge on Monday to recapture an area where they claimed to have dismantled Hamas months ago, while in the south tanks and troops pushed across a highway into Rafah. Above, displaced Palestinians amongst makeshift tents at a temporary camp on the coastal strip near Deir al-Balah, central Gaza.

Some of the most intense fighting for weeks is raging in both the north and south. Israeli operations in Rafah, which borders Egypt, have closed a main crossing point for aid, which humanitarian groups say is worsening an already dire situation.

Hundreds of thousands of people are being forced to flee again after around half of Gaza's population took sanctuary there after being pushed south by fighting elsewhere.

Gaza's health authority on Monday appealed for international pressure to reopen access via the southern border to allow in aid and medical supplies.

"The wounded and sick suffer a slow death because there is no treatment and supplies and they cannot travel," it said. Above, a woman and boy walk with belongings past barbed-wire fences as they flee from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

In northern Gaza's Jabalia, a sprawling refugee camp built 75 years ago to house Palestinian refugees from what is now Israel, tanks pushed towards the heart of the district. Residents fled along rubble-strewn streets carrying bags of belongings.

A displaced Palestinian man drives a car damaged during Israel's military offensive as he flees Rafah.

Displaced Palestinian woman Mai Anseir stands with children at a school where they shelter as they prepare to flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza City.

Palestinian children eat flatbread atop a vehicle loaded with belongings as they prepare to flee Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip toward a safer area.