A man sits in the rubble of his destroyed home in Rafah as Palestinians return to the southern Gaza Strip city for the first time in months after Israeli forces withdrew to the border on January 20. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
RAFA, Gaza Strip — Israeli airstrikes have pounded the Gaza Strip for nearly 16 months, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying tens of thousands of structures.
A ceasefire agreement that began last Sunday temporarily halted the war between Israel and Hamas, but the tiny territory, home to about 2 million Palestinians, is now in ruins.
Israeli forces withdrew from the center of the Gaza Strip as part of the deal.
This week, NPR was able to get a glimpse of one of those cities for the first time in eight months. Rafah is where more than one million displaced Palestinians and most international aid workers took refuge during the first half of the war. Rafah’s border with Egypt served as Gaza’s lifeline for food, medicine, and fuel for several months.
But like other cities in Gaza, it was never safe. The entire family was killed while taking refuge in Rafah.
A man assesses the damage to his home in Rafah on January 20. After more than 15 months of war, Palestinians returning during a ceasefire have found only rubble and debris from Israeli airstrikes. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
Scenes of destruction across the city of Rafah in southern Gaza on January 20, after more than a year of Israeli airstrikes and shelling against the Palestinian enclave. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
Houses in Rafah and cities across Gaza, where large numbers of people were evacuated during the first half of the war, have been reduced to piles of rubble. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
A view of Rafah’s Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital, which was destroyed after Israeli forces withdrew from the city center during the ceasefire. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
When Israeli ground forces entered the city in pursuit of Hamas in May, people were again forced to flee. The Israeli military said it had discovered Hamas tunnels and weapons in Rafah, where it killed Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, three months ago.
During the eight-month Israeli military invasion, the city was destroyed by Israeli controlled destruction, bulldozers, and massive airstrikes. Approximately 16,000 buildings were completely destroyed, 80% of Rafah’s agricultural land was destroyed, and the power grid, landline telephones, and wells were all destroyed. According to the latest municipal statistics, sewage pumping stations have been destroyed or seriously damaged.
Here’s a selection of photos that show what the city looked like before Israeli ground forces invaded it in May 2024, when NPR was last there, and what they’ve become of it.
Rafah’s skyline and buildings can be seen in this image from February 14, 2024. Three months later, Israeli forces invaded the city in pursuit of Hamas, leaving the city in ruins and most buildings destroyed. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
The morgue inside the main Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, photographed on April 21, 2024, was opened at the beginning of the war until Israeli ground forces invaded and access to the hospital was blocked. For several months, the dead were constantly accepted. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
A woman carries a child killed in an Israeli airstrike at the morgue of Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital main hospital in Rafah on May 6, 2024. The hospital was later destroyed after Israel launched a ground invasion of the city in pursuit of Hamas. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
Crowd scene in Rafah, February 6, 2024. At the time, the city of Rafah sheltered more than 1 million displaced Palestinians during the first half of the war, before residents were forced to evacuate again and set up temporary tents elsewhere in Gaza. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
A February 18, 2024 photo of the morgue at Abu Yousef Al-Najjar Hospital in Gaza before it was destroyed in the war. Anas Baba/NPR Hide Caption
toggle caption
Anas Baba/NPR
