The besieged Strip of Gaza reels under intensified Israeli aggression, with recent strikes targeting a vital water distribution point in Rafah, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
This assault underscores Israel’s systematic targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system and essential infrastructure, pushing an already displaced population to the brink.
The escalating destruction aligns with Israel’s plan to forcibly relocate Gaza’s entire population to a so-called “humanitarian city” in Rafah, fueling fears of ethnic cleansing.
Israel’s demolition campaign in Rafah has surged, with satellite imagery from Al Jazeera’s Sanad investigations unit and UNOSAT documenting the destruction of 12,800 buildings between April and July 2025, raising the total to 28,600 demolished structures.
This accelerated devastation, coinciding with Israel’s military incursion into Rafah in March 2025, has reduced much of the city — once home to 275,000 people — to rubble.
Entire neighborhoods have been leveled, facilitating Israel’s forced transfer agenda.
A recent Israeli bombing of a critical water distribution point in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighborhood has deprived thousands of displaced Palestinians of potable water.
The attack, part of a broader offensive, also destroyed six educational facilities, further crippling Gaza’s infrastructure.
Yet, 40 schools, one university, and eight medical centers remain intact, a pattern Sanad identifies as deliberate.
These spared facilities, already sheltering tens of thousands, appear earmarked for Israel’s plan to concentrate Gaza’s population in Rafah.
Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, revealed plans to relocate 600,000 Palestinians from al-Mawasi to Rafah within 60 days of a ceasefire, with the ultimate aim of transferring Gaza’s entire 2 million-plus population to a “humanitarian city.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, condemned this as a step toward “massive concentration camps” at Egypt’s border, robbing Palestinians of their homeland.
“This would de facto create massive concentration camps at the border with Egypt for the Palestinians, displaced over and over across generations,” he said.
Backed by the US-based Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the plan includes a “Humanitarian Transit Area” for deradicalization and relocation, with Katz promoting “voluntary emigration.”
Ori Goldberg called this “an overt crime against humanity.”
Analyst Daniel Levy described Rafah as a “staging post to ethnically cleanse” Palestinians, with aid distribution—controlled by the controversial foundation and guarded by Israeli troops—serving as a tool for demographic engineering.
Since May 2024, Israel’s two-phase operation has involved demolitions and infrastructure development to support this scheme.
Ceasefire talks in Doha have stalled, with Israel insisting on controlling the Morag Corridor to isolate Rafah and enable its displacement plan.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meeting US President Donald Trump, rejected any deal preserving Hamas’s governance.
“We are determined to ensure that Gaza will no longer constitute a threat to Israel,” he said.
Hamas responded positively to a 60-day ceasefire proposal involving hostage exchanges and aid, but Israel deemed their demands for military withdrawal “unacceptable.”
Gideon Levy warned that “the end game is an ethnic cleansing,” with Rafah’s spared facilities primed for this purpose.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reports 57,882 deaths and 138,095 injuries, with 1.9 million displaced.
The systematic targeting of Gaza’s healthcare system and infrastructure, including the water distribution point attack, signals Israel’s intent to render the Strip uninhabitable, herding its people into a confined southern enclave under the guise of humanitarian aid.