Rafah city 'unfit for habitation' as Israeli bombardment reduces it to rubble

Officials and residents describe harrowing scenes of near-total destruction in southern Gaza city

Displaced Palestinians flee an area of Khan Younis after the Israeli army issued an eviction order in July. AFP

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Rafah, once a bustling city in the southern Gaza Strip, is now marked by devastation with little left standing. Continuous Israeli air strikes, ground assaults and demolitions have forced tens of thousands of people to flee – and those who remain live in fear of what will happen next.

Many families have left everything behind, uncertain whether they’ll ever be able to return. Saher Abu Taha, 40, lived in his Rafah home with six family members for 15 years. He left the house in Rafah’s Saudi neighbourhood in May and relocated to nearby Al Mawasi.

“I left Rafah at the start of the invasion and went to Al Mawasi to stay close to my home, hoping to return quickly if the army withdraws,” Mr Abu Taha tells The National. But months have passed, with no sign of respite. “I’ve tried many times to check on my home, but it’s too dangerous. I fear for my life.”

For Mr Abu Taha, the uncertainty is agonising. He fears his home has been destroyed. “Based on images coming out of Rafah, most homes are destroyed, and I doubt mine is still standing,” he says, adding that he tries to analyse every video released by the Israeli army hoping his home has been spared. “Seeing these videos makes me wonder if I’ll ever know its fate.”

Videos circulated on X show the Israeli military and a privately hired demolition company destroying homes in Rafah. “This shows they don’t intend for us to come back,” Mr Abu Taha says. “Any home left standing is likely to be destroyed soon. Losing it so easily is something we can’t accept.”

In September, the Israeli army acknowledged the destruction of about 96,000 homes in Gaza, claiming they were booby-trapped. The tally included about 14,000 homes in Rafah.

The Israeli army often says it is attacking Hamas members and infrastructure, but about 60 per cent of buildings in Gaza – at least 151,265 structures – have been damaged or destroyed in the continuing war, according to a UN assessment last month.

“The Israeli war on Gaza has devastated most buildings and infrastructure in Rafah,” Taysir Muhaysin, spokesman for the Government Media Office in Gaza, tells The National.

“The destruction is relentless, with air and ground strikes coupled with continuous bulldozing operations that don’t pause.”

Systematic demolition

The Israeli army's attacks go beyond isolated strikes, Mr Muhaysin says. They systematically demolish entire residential blocks, levelling multiple homes in a single strike. “It’s a systematic approach, causing us to lose dozens of homes at once.”

Mr Muhaysin says the attack on Rafah has made it “a city unfit for habitation,” even if the Israeli army were to withdraw, “Rafah would need to be rebuilt from scratch to become liveable again,” he said, highlighting the near-total destruction of homes, schools, and vital infrastructure.

Not far away from Mr Abu Taha, lives Shawqi Abu Hani, 24, with his family of ten, in a makeshift tent in Al Mawasi in Khan Younis. They too fled Rafah’s Tel Al Sultan district in late May, fearing for their safety.

“Every day, we hear explosions, demolitions, blasts echoing through Rafah,” Mr Abu Hani tells The National. “The army doesn’t rest from destroying the city, making people lose their homes, which they built with years of hard work.”

Mr Abu Hani recounts how his family has made multiple attempts to return to their home to get some of their belongings, but it was too dangerous. “Every time we hear the army has pulled back, we try to check on our homes,” he said. “We made it a few times, but the army targeted us, injuring some in our group.” He believes his home is lost, given the scale of destruction around it.

“The destruction in Rafah is unreal,” Mr Abu Hani said. “Homes are flattened or on the verge of collapse, streets are ruined, and infrastructure doesn’t exist. The last time I saw Rafah two months ago, the devastation was immense. It must be even worse now, given that we still hear bombing from here in Khan Younis.”

Israeli forces have reduced much of the Gaza Strip to rubble. Their ground invasion into Rafah, once considered a relatively “safe” city, began in May 2024. The UN says that the war since October last year has also damaged or destroyed more than 92 per cent of Gaza’s main roads and more than 84 per cent of its health centres, making in one of the deadliest and most destructive conflicts in modern history.

The intense bombardment, according to Mr Muhaysin, appears to be part of a calculated strategy. “The massive destruction in Rafah follows a methodology to render the area uninhabitable,” he stated, pointing to Israel's apparent goal of creating a buffer zone around the Salah Al Din corridor, also known as the Philadelphi corridor, a strategic strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.

He says that Israel seeks to extend this buffer zone to at least five kilometres, which he argues would entail the destruction of thousands of homes and crucial infrastructure. It also aims to push residential areas far from the border, creating a physical barrier to control movement and access.

“It appears that the occupation seeks to reduce the residential area in Rafah, as in other areas of the Gaza Strip,” Mr Muhaysin noted. “What is happening is a forced displacement of residential areas, moving people farther from borders to control them more effectively.”