Al-Mawasi, Rafah

Last updated

Al-Mawasi
Municipality type D (Village council)
Arabic transcription(s)
 •  Arabic المواصي
An aerial view of Al-Mawasi area where displaced Palestinians live in tents, Gaza Strip.jpg
An aerial view of the Al-Mawasi area where Palestinians displaced by the Gaza war live in tents, January 2025
Palestine location map wide.png
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Al-Mawasi
Location of Al-Mawasi within Palestine
Coordinates: 31°19′44″N34°13′48″E / 31.32889°N 34.23000°E / 31.32889; 34.23000
State State of Palestine
Governorate Rafah
Government
 • Type Village council
Population
 (2023)
 • Total
9,000
 • Estimate 
(2025)
600,000 [1]

Al-Mawasi (Arabic : المواصي) is a fertile area for agriculture in the Gaza Strip. [2] It is along the coast and has many sand dunes. [3] Al-Mawasi is fourteen kilometers long and one kilometer wide, making up about 3% of the Gaza Strip. [4] [3] It is a Palestinian Bedouin town and prior to the 2005 unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it was a Palestinian enclave within the Israeli settlements of Gush Katif. Al-Mawasi had a population of 1,409 in the middle of 2006. [4] Prior to the Gaza war, al-Mawasi had a population of 9,000. It has a number of buildings with a maximum of 100 structures. [3]

Contents

Region

The region's name derived from a traditional form of Palestinian dune agriculture, mawāṣī (مواصي). Al-Mawasi is known as the "Basket of Food" because of its fertile soil, underground water, and agricultural conditions. [3]

History

Gaza war (2023-present)

Designation as safe zone

In December 2023, during the Gaza war, the Israel Defense Forces had designated Al-Mawasi as one of the only safe areas in the Gaza Strip. [5] Hundreds of thousands of people had fled there, and found only a barren strip of land with no basic resources such as food, water, or sanitation. [6] In February 2024, as the IDF announced plans to expand operations into Rafah where hundreds of thousands had come to as a last refuge, Israeli authorities called Al-Mawasi a "safer zone". [7] In an interview with Channel 4 News, Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levi, when pressed to confirm if civilians displaced northwards once more would be safe from further bombardment, stated that "it will not be safe" until Gaza was free from Hamas. [8]

By late-August 2024, the United Nations estimated there were between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometre in Al-Mawasi. [9] Food and water grew scarce as the area became increasingly overcrowded. [10]

Attacks

This section is an excerpt from Gaza Strip evacuations § Attacks.[ edit ]

Al-Mawasi has been attacked numerous times during the war. The UN Human Rights Office has stated that "despite Al Mawasi, Khan Younis being declared a 'humanitarian zone' by the Israeli military, it continues to conduct airstrikes and shelling into the area.". [11]

  • On 26 December 2023, Israel bombed Al-Mawasi, killing one woman and saying it would not refrain from bombing safe zones. [12]
  • On 4 January 2024, Israeli bombings focused on al-Mawasi, killing 14 people from two families, mostly children under ten. [13]
  • On 15 January 2024, three displaced people sheltering in a tent were reported killed by an Israeli airstrike. [14]
  • On 23 January, Israeli warplanes reportedly bombed tents for displaced people. [15]
  • On 6 February, a woman was killed by an Israeli sniper. [16]
  • Two people were injured by Israeli gunfire on 24 February. [17]
  • On 10 March, at least 16 people were reported hospitalized following heavy Israeli bombardment. [18]
  • On 11 March 2024, Israeli shelling killed at least 14 people. [19]
  • The Gaza Health Ministry reported an Israeli air raid had killed 12 people sheltering in a tent. [20]
  • On 27 March 2024, children sheltering in a tent were reportedly killed. [21] [22]
  • On 28 May 2024, two days after the Tel al-Sultan attack by Israel, in which 45 people were killed, Palestinian officials said Israel attacked al-Mawasi, killing 21 people including 12 women. [23] Israel denied attacking the area. The New York Times published a video of the aftermath of the attack on Al-Mawasi. [24]
  • In mid-June 2024, witnesses stated they were evacuating al-Mawasi due to "unrelenting attacks" by the Israeli army. [25]
  • A late-June 2024 attack reportedly killed at least 25 people and wounded 50. [26]
  • On 13 July 2024, an Israeli airstrike on a displacement camp killed 90 people and wounded 300. [27] [28]
  • On 16 July 2024, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 17 and wounded 26 in a tent area for displaced families in Al-Mawasi, according to the health ministry. [29]
  • On 28 July 2024, five people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Al-Mawasi, according to the Gaza Civil Defence. [30]
  • On 21 August 2024, four farmers working near al-Mawasi were reportedly killed by Israeli tanks. [31]
  • On 10 September 2024, 40 people were killed and over 60 are injured in an Israeli airstrike on a displacement camp. [32]
  • On 13 September 2024, 19 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes. [33]
  • On 4 December 2024, at least 20 people were killed in an Israeli attack. [34]
  • On 16 April 2025, at least 16 people were killed and 23 others were injured by an Israeli airstrike, according to the spokesman of Gaza's civil defence agency, Mahmud Bassal. [35]
  • On 25 April 2025, a family of five, including three children were killed by Israeli forces. [36]
  • On 18 May 2025, at least 36 people were killed and more than 100 were injured when Israeli forces targeted a tent camp for displaced people. [37]
  • On 1 June 2025, the Israel Defense Forces struck al-Mawasi, with the Kuwaiti Field Hospital reporting one dead Palestinian and 30 wounded Palestinians due to that strike. [38] The Israel Defense Forces, which regularly posts online operational updates, did not report this strike until questioned by the BBC, whereupon the Israel Defense Forces told the BBC that they had "wrongfully hit the Mawasi area" with artillery that "deviated" after "technical and operational errors". [38]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Operation 'Gideon's Chariots' comes to a close, with promised goals unfulfilled". The Times of Israel. 4 August 2025. ISSN   0040-7909 . Retrieved 5 August 2025.
  2. ↑ Roskin, Joel; Taxel, Itamar (1 September 2021). ""He who revives dead land": groundwater harvesting agroecosystems in sand along the southeastern Mediterranean coast since early medieval times" . Mediterranean Geoscience Reviews. 3 (3): 293–318. doi:10.1007/s42990-021-00058-5. ISSN   2661-8648.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Al-Mughrabi, Nidal (10 September 2024). "Gaza's Al-Mawasi: What is the 'humanitarian zone' struck by Israel's military?". Reuters .
  4. 1 2 "Al-Mawasi area". United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. 11 August 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
  5. ↑ Stack, Liam; Bayoumy, Lara (6 December 2023). "Gazans Find Scant Aid at Village Where They Were Advised to Relocate". The New York Times.
  6. ↑ Zhou, Li (6 December 2023). "An "apocalyptic" humanitarian situation in Gaza is only getting worse". Vox. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
  7. ↑ Berger, Miriam; Loveluck, Louisa (12 February 2024). "Panic mounts in Rafah over looming Israeli offensive after night strikes". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 12 February 2024. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  8. ↑ "Until Gaza is free from Hamas 'it will not be safe', says Israeli government spokesman". Channel 4 News. 12 February 2024. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  9. ↑ Burke, Jason (21 August 2024). "People in Gaza forced to stay in areas at risk of Israeli attack as 'safe zone' full". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  10. ↑ Frankel, Julia. "Israeli evacuation orders cram Palestinians into shrinking 'humanitarian zone' where food is scarce". Associated Press. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  11. ↑ "UN: Although 'humanitarian zone', Al-Mawasi being shelled". The New Arab. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  12. ↑ "'Focused and precise operations,' says Israel army chief". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  13. ↑ Mahmoud, Hani. "More death and destruction from overnight Israeli strikes". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  14. ↑ "Israeli army claims to kill 5 Palestinian fighters". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 15 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  15. ↑ "'My daughter beside me was burned', mother recounts Israeli attack on Khan Younis tent". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 24 January 2024. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  16. ↑ "Six Palestinians killed in Khan Younis area as fighting rages". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
  17. ↑ "Two injured in Khan Younis attack: Red Crescent". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 25 February 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
  18. ↑ Mahmoud, Hani. "Al-Mawasi, a 'safe zone', attacked for third time by Israel". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 10 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  19. ↑ "Israeli air strike in southern Gaza kills family of human rights worker". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  20. ↑ "Gaza health ministry says Israeli raid on tent kills 12". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  21. ↑ "Israeli military says continuing 'precise operations' against fighters in al-Shifa". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  22. ↑ "Israel bombs houses in Rafah, at least three killed: Report". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
  23. ↑ "At least 21 killed in Israeli attacks on tent camp near Gaza's Rafah". Al Jazeera . 28 May 2024.
  24. ↑ "Video: Strike Kills Displaced Gazans in Al-Mawasi, Officials Say". The New York Times. 28 May 2024. Video says "Al-Mawasi, Gaza, May 28" starting at the 0:02 mark.
  25. ↑ Abu Azzoum, Tareq. "Situation in al-Mawasi 'extremely dangerous'". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  26. ↑ Shurafa, Wafaa (21 June 2024). "Israeli strikes on tent camps near Rafah kill at least 25 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say". PBS. Associated Press. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  27. ↑ Salhani, Justin. "Why does Israel step up its attacks when Gaza ceasefire talks advance?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  28. ↑ Gadzo, Mersiha. "Israel's war on Gaza updates: Israeli strikes on al-Mawasi kill at least 90". Al Jazeera.
  29. ↑ Al-Mughrabi, Nidal (16 July 2024). "Israeli strikes across Gaza kill at least 57, Palestinian health officials say". Reuters. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  30. ↑ "Gaza Civil Defence Says 5 Killed In Israeli Strike On Displacement Camp". Barron's. Agence France Presse. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  31. ↑ "Israel kills dozens of displaced Palestinians in Gaza amid more evacuations". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  32. ↑ "At least 40 killed in Israeli attack on al-Mawasi tent camp, officials say". 10 September 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  33. ↑ Mccready, Alastair; Rasheed, Zaheena; Marsi, Federica; Gostoli, Ylenia; Uras, Umut; Najjar, Farah. "Israel's war on Gaza updates: Palestinian children, women among 19 killed". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  34. ↑ "At least 50 people killed in Israeli strikes on homes, camps in Gaza". Al Jazeera. 4 December 2024.
  35. ↑ "Dozens killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza's tent camps for displaced people". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 17 April 2025.
  36. ↑ "Israel kills Palestinian family of 5 in southern Gaza". Anadolu Agency. 25 April 2025.
  37. ↑ "Israel begins Gaza ground operation, kills 144 in relentless bombardment". Al Jazeera. 18 May 2025.
  38. 1 2 Thomas, Merlyn; Pengelly, Emma (6 June 2025). "Israeli army admits to Gaza strike after BBC Verify investigation". BBC Verify . Retrieved 10 June 2025.
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