Al-Mawasi, Rafah
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Al-Mawasi (Template:Langx) is a fertile area for agriculture in the Gaza Strip.[1] It is along the coast and has many sand dunes.[2] Al-Mawasi is fourteen kilometers long and one kilometer wide, making up about 3% of the Gaza Strip.[3][2] 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.[3] 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.[2]
Region
Al-Mawasi is known as the "Basket of Food" because of its fertile soil, underground water, and agricultural conditions.[2]
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.[4] 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.[5] 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".[6] 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.[7]
By late-August 2024, the United Nations estimated there were between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometre in Al-Mawasi.[8] Food and water grew scarce as the area became increasingly overcrowded.[9]
Attacks
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Template:Excerpt 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.[10] Israel denied attacking the area. The New York Times published a video of the aftermath of the attack on Al-Mawasi.[11] On 13 July 2024, 90 people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a displacement camp.[12] On 28 July 2024, five people were killed by an Israeli airstrike on Al-Mawasi, according to the Gaza Civil Defence.[13] On 21 August 2024, four farmers working near al-Mawasi were reportedly killed by Israeli tanks.[14] On 10 September 2024, 40 people were killed and over 60 are injured in an Israeli airstrike on a displacement camp.[15] On 13 September 2024, 19 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes.[16] On 4 December, at least 20 people were killed in an Israeli attack.[17]
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.[18] On 25 April, a family of five, including three children were killed by Israeli forces.[19] On 18 May, at least 36 people were killed and more than 100 were injured when Israeli forces targeted a tent camp for displaced people.[20]
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.[21] 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".[21]
See also
References
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External links
- UNICEF Brings Critical Supplies to the Isolated Children of Al-Mawasi
- Al-Mawasi, Gaza Strip: Impossible Life in an Isolated Enclave B'Tselem publication
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