Rafah

Rafah

Rafah, a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip, is known by its Arabic name, رفح Rafaḥ [rafaħ]. Situated thirty kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Gaza City, it serves as the capital of the Rafah Governorate of the State of Palestine. Rafah has 171,889 residents in 2017.[4] As of February 2024, an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are thought to be taking refuge in Rafah as a result of Israel's heavy artillery and ground assaults in Gaza City and Khan Yunis during the Israel-Hamas conflict.[5]

Following the 1948 Palestine War, Egypt took control of the region and created camps for Palestinian refugees. The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) carried out the 1956 Rafah massacre during the Suez Crisis, killing 111 Palestinians, including 103 refugees in the Rafah refugee camp. In 1967, during the Six-Day Rafah was divided into an Egyptian and a Gazan section during Israel's 1982 withdrawal from the Sinai, dividing families and separating them with barbed wire.[7][8] Egypt and Israel[9][10][11] demolished the city's center in order to establish a sizable buffer zone.

The Rafah Border Crossing, the only point of entry between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, is located in Rafah. Yasar Arafat International Airport, Gaza's sole airport, was situated south of the city. The airport was in operation from 1998 until 2001 when the Israeli military (IDF) bombed and destroyed it.