Destruction of homes leaves Palestinians unable to safely return to Rafah

“It’s extremely difficult to come back to the same place that used to be full of life,” explains MSF emergency coordinator Nadia Abo Mallouh, who used to work at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah. “We couldn’t even recognize the streets where the Emirati Hospital was. It’s sad seeing the hospital that used to bring life to earth totally empty—no signs of life, everything is destroyed.”

“Health services, humanitarian aid, and rebuilding of the city is needed for life to be able to come back to Rafah, but it’s still too dangerous for people to return in most areas,” says MSF emergency coordinator Pascale Coissard. “As we were visiting the former MSF Shaboura clinic in Rafah, we saw a child playing with a shell in the Al-Mawasi area. Although we cannot hear the bombs anymore, there are still dangers.”

Decimated infrastructure and unexploded ordnance mean years of rebuilding

People are trying to rebuild from the rubble. Rafah is destroyed, with homes, shops, streets, and health care facilities in ruins and electricity and water systems damaged. The area is also unsafe due to scattered unexploded artillery in the remains of buildings, which will take years to clean.

“Honestly, the sights [of Rafah] were horrifying; so much destruction,” said MSF watchman Hadi Abo-Eneen, who was displaced from Rafah in May 2024 and visited the area after the ceasefire. “I kept walking, hoping to find something from my house. It was completely destroyed. It was a huge shock, because this was my whole life: my home. My family’s, wife’s and children’s memories are there. My belongings, clothes, dishes, my wedding memories: everything.”

As a result of destroyed infrastructure, health care and other basic services will be difficult to provide. Many people are trying to return to Rafah but find their homes destroyed, and sometimes their neighborhoods are unrecognizable. It will take a long time before people can safely return to Rafah.

Why is Rafah important?

In May 2024, the southern city of Rafah had the largest concentration of displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, with an estimated 1.5 million people living in tents and makeshift shelters. The inhumane living conditions raised the risk of disease outbreaks, malnutrition, and the psychological impact of being forcibly displaced multiple times. 

The looming threat of a ground invasion of Rafah by Israeli forces materialized on May 6, 2024. These Israeli military operations led to the emptying of Rafah, mass destruction of the city, and the closure of the Rafah border crossing, which severely hindered the delivery of humanitarian aid into the entire Strip. Rafah was also the home to many MSF colleagues, who were forced to flee to other parts of the Gaza Strip.

MSF teams working in Rafah had been providing basic health care and mental health support at the Shaboura clinic, as well as supporting pediatric and maternity care at the Ministry of Health’s Emirati Hospital, but were forced to close activities and evacuate the area after continuous bombings and evacuations orders from Israeli forces. 

Today Palestinians continue surviving in makeshift tents, mainly in the coastal area of Al-Mawasi, without proper shelter or access to food and water and with limited access to health care. At the same time, Palestinians in the north of Gaza are facing similar conditions after Israeli forces’ brutal siege that began in October 2024, which left the area completely destroyed.