“It Was Horrifying”: Palestinian Civilians Recall the Terror of Fleeing Rafah Under Fire After Israeli Threats

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Palestinian civilians fleeing a neighborhood in Rafah, southern Gaza, after a forced displacement threat from the Israeli military on Sunday, have recounted horrifying events as they were attacked and besieged by Israeli forces.

Israeli forces have encircled the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in Rafah, leaving 50,000 Palestinians trapped with little access to food and water. Israeli forces began encircling the area on Sunday morning, issuing a forced displacement threat for Palestinians in the area.

Men, women, children and elders were seen walking along a dirt road and carrying their belongings in their arms.

Gaza’s Civil Defense said there is an “imminent threat to the lives of over 50,000 citizens” in an area in the Tal al-Sultan, “who are now trapped by the occupation forces.”

“It’s displacement under fire,” said Mustafa Gaber, a local journalist who left Tal al-Sultan with his family. He said hundreds of people are fleeing as Israeli tank and drone fire echoes nearby. “There are wounded people among us. The situation is very difficult.”

Mohammed Abu Taha, another resident who fled, said many people were unable to evacuate because of the surprise incursion overnight. He said his sister and her family were sheltering in a school in an area of Rafah surrounded by Israeli forces.

“Now we are fleeing under fire for maybe the 10th time. When will we ever rest? When will there ever be peace in this city?” said Abu Khaled, a Rafah resident.

“The shells are falling among us and the bullets are (flying) above us,” said Amal Nassar, also displaced. “The elderly have been thrown into the streets. An old woman was telling her son, ‘Go and leave me to die.’ Where will we go?”

“Enough is enough. We are exhausted,” said a fleeing Ayda Abu Shaer.

“At around 8am, they began dropping expulsion leaflets,” Mais Hassouna, from the Saudi neighbourhood of Tal al-Sultan, told Middle East Eye (MEE).

She said Apache attack helicopters and quadcopters shot indiscriminately at people in the area, wounding some of her neighbours. “The night was terrifying in ways that are abnormal,” Hassouna said. “I felt like I wanted to swallow myself whole.”

The Rafah municipality said in a statement that Tal al-Sultan was “being subjected to genocide” with thousands of civilians, including children, women, and the elderly, trapped under intense Israeli bombardment.

It said that communications had been completely cut in the area, with the fate of residents unknown.

“Families are trapped among the ruins, with no water, no food, no medicine, amid a total collapse of healthcare services. The wounded are left to bleed to death, and children are dying of hunger and thirst under the siege and relentless bombardment.”

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said it lost contact with its crew members in Rafah. On Sunday morning, Red Crescent ambulances were on their way to treat wounded patients in Tal al-Sultan when Israeli forces surrounded their vehicles.

Israeli forces released one of the crew members after “severely beating him”, the Red Crescent said. More than a day later, the fate of the other emergency workers is still not known.

Nisreen Ashoor, from the Badr camp, said she saw the Israeli forces shoot dead two children.

“I saw it with my own eyes, it was horrifying,” she told MEE, adding that she wanted to help but feared that she and her fleeing family members would be shot too.

Ashoor said at least 50 Israeli tanks entered the area, and troops separated men and women during the expulsion.

Some people were stripped naked and left in the cold, she said. Her father was among the men taken away. She has no idea what happened to him.

“We haven’t eaten over our worry for our father,” Ashoor said.

The Israeli military claimed it’s rooting out Hamas military infrastructure, pursuing fighters, and expanding its “security zone” in southern Gaza. However, it alleged it would still allow people to evacuate via “organised routes”.

A mother said she found her son’s lifeless body lying on the ground after being shot and killed by Israeli forces in the neighborhood.

Her son was killed in the street in Rafah as they were running away from the tanks. She’s crying that even could not take her son’s body with her because of the heavy gunfire from the tanks. pic.twitter.com/Y7vAVaqU3u

— Mosab Abu Toha (@MosabAbuToha) March 23, 2025

Despite battling cancer, a man was reportedly shot three times by Israeli forces, abducted, and tortured for hours before being released during his forced displacement from Rafah.

A father recalled, “I was walking along the path Israeli forces created. I called all my sons, and they all answered, except for one. After a while, as I kept walking, I saw his body on the ground and couldn’t bring him back.”

"I found my son lying on the ground, killed"

An elderly Palestinian man recounted the tragic moment when he found his son shot and killed after the Israeli army dropped leaflets threatening thousands of civilians to flee the Saudi neighborhood in western Rafah, south of the Gaza… pic.twitter.com/TvZGerY46w

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) March 23, 2025