Rafah

{{Hiero|rpwḥw{{cite book |last1=Gauthier |first1=Henri |title=Dictionnaire des Noms Géographiques Contenus dans les Textes Hiéroglyphiques |volume=3 |date=1926 |page=118 |url=https://archive.org/details/Gauthier1926/page/n61/mode/2up}}|r:Z1-p-w-bH:mDAt-xAst|align=left|era=nk}}

Over the ages the city has been known as {{Transliteration|egy|Rpwḥw}} by the ancient Egyptians, {{lang|akk|𒊏𒉿𒄭}} {{transliteration|akk|Rapiḫi}} or {{lang|akk|𒊏𒉿𒄷}} {{transliteration|akk|Rapiḫu}} by the Assyrians,{{cite book |last=Parpola |first=Simo |date=1970 |title=Neo-Assyrian Toponyms |url=https://archive.org/details/neoassyriantopon0000parp |location=Kevaeler |publisher=Butzon & Bercker |page=291 |isbn=}} רפיח Rāphiyaḥ by the ancient Israelites, {{lang|grc|Ῥαφία}} {{transliteration|grc|Rhaphíā}}[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0233%3Abook%3D5%3Achapter%3D86%3Asection%3D7 Polybius, Histories, 5.86.7] by the Greeks, Raphia by the Romans, and Rafh by the Arab Caliphate.

In English, Rafah ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|ɑː|f|ə}} (US) or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|r|æ|f|ə}} (UK)), derived from the modern Arabic, is most common, but Rafiah {{IPAc-en|r|ə|ˈ|f|iː|ə}} (from the modern Hebrew) is also used.{{cite web |url=http://www.geographic.org/geographic_names/name.php?uni=-1153519&fid=2245&c=gaza_strip |title=Rafīah: Gaza Strip; name, map, geographic coordinates |publisher=Geographic.org |access-date=11 August 2014}}{{citation|last=Zaki|first=Chehab|year=2007|title=Inside Hamas: The Untold Story of Militants, Martyrs and Spies|publisher=I.B.Tauris|page=180|isbn=978-1-84511-389-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWEg6Tfai_oC&q=rafiah&pg=PA180|access-date=2 September 2015}} The form Raphiah {{IPAc-en|r|ə|ˈ|f|aɪ|ə}} (from the ancient Hebrew) is used as well, especially in historical contexts such as the Battle of Raphiah.

The Ottoman–British agreement of 1 October 1906 established a boundary between Ottoman-ruled Palestine and British-ruled Egypt, from Taba to Rafah. After World War I, Palestine was also under British control, but the Egypt-Palestine Boundary was maintained to control movement of the local Bedouin. During the mid-1930s, the British enhanced the border control and Rafah evolved as a small boundary town that functioned as a trade and services centre for the semi-settled Beduin population.{{Cite book |last=Kliot |first=Nurit |url=https://www.durham.ac.uk/media/durham-university/research-/research-centres/ibru-centre-for-borders-research/maps-and-databases/publications-database/boundary-amp-territory-briefings/btb_1-8.pdf |title=The Evolution of the Egypt-Israel Boundary: From Colonial Foundations to Peaceful Borders |publisher=International Boundaries Research Unit, Department of Geography, University of Durham |year=1995 |isbn=1-897643-17-9 |editor-last=Schofield |editor-first=Clive |series=Boundary and Territory Briefing |volume=1 |pages=3, 9, 18 |access-date=27 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210805141333/https://www.durham.ac.uk/media/durham-university/research-/research-centres/ibru-centre-for-borders-research/maps-and-databases/publications-database/boundary-amp-territory-briefings/btb_1-8.pdf |archive-date=5 August 2021 |url-status=live |via=www.durham.ac.uk |issue=8}} During World War II, it became an important British base.

Following the Armistice Agreement of 24 February 1949, Rafah was located in Egypt-occupied Gaza and consequently, a Gaza–Egypt border did no longer exist. Rafah could grow without any consideration being taken of the old 1906 international boundary. In the 1967 Six-Day War, Israel conquered the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt and all of the city was now under Israeli occupation.

In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty that returned the Sinai, which borders the Gaza Strip, to Egyptian control. In the Peace Treaty, the re-created Gaza–Egypt border was drawn across the city of Rafah. Rafah was divided into an Egyptian and a Palestinian part, splitting up families, separated by barbed-wire barriers. Families were separated, property was divided and many houses and orchards were cut across and destroyed by the new boundary, bulldozed, allegedly for security reasons. Rafah became one of the three border points between Egypt and Israel.{{Cite news |last=Usher |first=Graham |date=22 September 2005 |title=Cinderella in Rafah |work=Al-Ahram Weekly Online |issue=761, 22–28 September 2005 |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/761/re1.htm |access-date=9 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051022004151/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2005/761/re1.htm |archive-date=22 October 2005 |via=Wayback Machine}}

In 1922, Rafah's population was 599, which increased to 1,423 in 1931,{{Cite book |last=Mills |first=E. |title=Census of Palestine 1931 |publisher=Greek Convent & Goldberg Presses |year=1931 |location=Jerusalem |pages=6}} increasing again to 1,635 in 1938,{{Cite book |url=https://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VillageStatistics1938orig.pdf |title=Village Statistics |year=1938 |pages=64}} and further increased to 2,220 in 1945. In 1982, the total population was approximately 10,800.[http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Rafah_1500/index.html Welcome to Rafah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219042214/http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Rafah_1500/index.html |date=19 February 2010 }} Palestine Remembered.

In the 1997 Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) census, Rafah and its adjacent camp had a combined population of 91,181, Tall as-Sultan was listed with a further 17,141.{{cite web|url=http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/_PCBS/census/phc_97/raf_t1.aspx|title=Palestinian Population by Locality, Sex and Age Groups in Years|access-date=15 February 2018|archive-date=4 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304123037/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/_PCBS/census/phc_97/raf_t1.aspx|url-status=dead}} Refugees made up 80.3% of the entire population.[http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/phc_97/raf_t6.aspx Palestinian Population by Locality and Refugee Status] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118200339/https://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/phc_97/raf_t6.aspx |date=18 November 2008 }}. Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS). In the 1997 census, Rafah's (together with Rafah camp) gender distribution was 50.5% male and 49.5% female.[http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/phc_97/raf_t1.aspx Palestinian Population by Locality, Sex and Age Groups in Years] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080614231554/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/phc_97/raf_t1.aspx |date=14 June 2008 }} Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

In the 2006 PCBS estimate, Rafah city had a population of 71,003,{{cite web|url=http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/populati/pop16.aspx|title=PCBS] [Palestinian Central Bureau of Statisctics (PCBS) Projected Mid-Year Population for Rafah Governorate by Locality 2004–2006|access-date=15 February 2018|archive-date=20 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520000342/http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_pcbs/populati/pop16.aspx|url-status=dead}} Rafah camp and Tall as-Sultan form separate localities for census purposes, having populations of 59,983 and 24,418, respectively.

File:Gaza Strip map2.svg

Rafah has a history stretching back thousands of years. It was first recorded in an inscription of Egyptian Pharaoh Seti I, from 1303 BCE as Rph, and as the first stop on Pharaoh Shoshenq I's campaign to the Levant in 925 BCE. In 720 BCE it was the site of the Assyrian king Sargon II's victory over the Egyptians.[http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/mad/discussion/127discuss.html Raphia – (Rafah)] Studium Biblicum Franciscanum – Jerusalem.

In 217 BCE, the Battle of Raphia was fought between the victorious Ptolemy IV and Antiochus III. It is said to be one of the largest battles ever fought in the Levant, with over a hundred thousand soldiers and hundreds of elephants.

Antiochus III, willing to make peace with Ptolemy V, had his daughter Cleopatra I marry Ptolemy V. Their marriage took place in 193 BC in Raphia.Polybius 18.51.10 and 28.20.9; Livy 33.40.3 and 35.13.4; Appian, Syriaca 3.13 and 5.18

The town was conquered by Alexander Yannai and held by the Hasmoneans until it was rebuilt in the time of Pompey and Gabinius; the latter seems to have done the actual work of restoration for the era of the town dates from 57 BCE. Rafah is mentioned in Strabo (16, 2, 31), the Antonine Itinerary, and is depicted on the Map of Madaba.

During the Byzantine period, it was a diocese,Joseph Bingham, Origines Ecclesiasticae; Or the Antiquities of the Christian Church and Other Works: In Nine Volumes, Volume 3(Straker, 1843) [https://archive.org/details/originesecclesia02bing/page/61 p 61]. and Byzantine ceramics and coins have been found there.Dauphin, 1998, p. 953 It was represented at the Council of Ephesus 431 CE by Bishop Romanus, but today remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic ChurchTadrous Y. Malaty, Introduction to the Coptic Orthodox Church OrthodoxEbooks,1993) [https://books.google.com/books?id=TrhLRZmCqX8C&q=Raphia&pg=PA13 page 13]. but a small Greek Orthodox presence exists.

Rafah was one of the towns captured by the Rashidun army under general 'Amr ibn al-'As in 635 CE, and subsequently was an important trading city during the Early Muslim period.al-Biladhuri quoted in le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/xix/mode/1up xix]. Al-Biladhuri lists the cities captured by Amr ibn al-'As as Ghazzah (Gaza), Sebastiya (Sebastia), Nabulus, Amwas (Imwas), Kaisariyya (Caesarea), Yibna, Ludd (Lydda), Rafh (Rafah), Bayt Jibrin, and Yaffa (Jaffa). Cited in le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/28/mode/1up 28] Under the Umayyads and Abbasids, Rafah was the southernmost border of Jund Filastin ("District of Palestine"). According to Arab geographer al-Ya'qubi, it was the last town in the Province of Syria and on the road from Ramla to Egypt.le Strange, 1890, p. [https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft#page/517/mode/1up 517]

In 1226, Arab geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi writes of Rafah's former importance in the early Arab period, saying it was "of old a flourishing town, with a market, and a mosque, and hostelries". However, he goes on to say that in its current state, Rafah was in ruins, but was an Ayyubid postal station on the road to Egypt after nearby Deir al-Balah.

Rafah appeared in the 1596 Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Gaza of the Liwa of Gazza. It had a population of 15 households, all Muslim, who paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, occasional revenues, goats and/or bee hives.Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 150 In 1799, the French Army of the Orient, led by Napoleon, passed through Rafah during the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.Dwyer, 2007, p. 415 Rafah was the boundary between the provinces of Egypt and Syria. In 1832, the area came under Egyptian occupation of Muhammad Ali, which lasted until 1840.

French explorer Victor Guérin, who visited Rafah in May 1863, noted two pillars of granite which the locals called Bab el Medinet, meaning "The Gate of the town".Guérin, 1869, pp. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog02gu#page/233/mode/1up 233]-35 In 1881, Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria wrote: "Fragments of gray granite pillars, still standing, are here to be met with about the road, the fields, and the sand, and we saw one lying on the ground half buried... The pillars are the remains of an ancient temple, Raphia, and are of special importance in the eyes of the Arabs, who call them Rafah, as they mark the boundary between Egypt and Syria."Ludwig Salvator, Archduke of Austria, 1881, p. [https://archive.org/stream/caravanroutebetw00ludwrich#page/54/mode/1up 54]

File:Rafah 1931.jpg

On 9 January 1917, British forces captured Rafah, and subsequently used it as a staging post for their first attempt to capture Gaza. The presence of British military bases in Rafah served an economic draw which led to an influx of internal migration to the city. In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandatory authorities, Rafah had a population of 599 inhabitants, all of which Muslim.Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n10/mode/1up 8] Nine years later, the Mandatory authorities conducted the 1931 census of Palestine, by which time Rafah's population had increased to 1,423 residents living in 228 houses, all of which were still Muslim.Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 6]

In the Village Statistics, 1945, a joint survey conducted by the Mandatory government's Government Office of Statistics and Department of Lands for the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, Rafah had an all-Muslim population of 2,220 people with 40,579 dunams of land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. [http://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VSpages/VS1945_p32.jpg 32]Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Gaza/Page-046.jpg 46] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906133455/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20I/Gaza/Page-046.jpg |date=6 September 2018 }} Of these, 275 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 24,173 dunams were used for growing cereals, while 16,131 dunams were un-cultivable land.Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Gaza/Page-088.jpg 88] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303173355/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Gaza/Page-088.jpg |date=3 March 2016 }}Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Gaza/Page-138.jpg 138] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204544/http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Gaza/Page-138.jpg |date=3 March 2016 }}

File:Gaza airport 03.jpg near Rafah which was destroyed by Israel during the Second Intifada.]]

After the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Egypt governed the area (see Palestinian Protectorate) and refugee camps were established. During the Suez Crisis, 111 Palestinians, including 103 refugees, were killed by troops of the Israel Defence Force in the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah, during the 1956 Rafah massacre. The United Nations was unable to determine the circumstances surrounding the deaths.{{cite web|url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/6558F61D3DB6BD4505256593006B06BE |title=A/3212/Add.1 of 15 December 1956 |access-date=24 August 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104160006/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/6558F61D3DB6BD4505256593006B06BE |archive-date=4 November 2013 }}{{cite web|url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/place.php?plid=210|title=Rafah (articles/books/maps/cartoons/photographs/video or audio clips)|website=cosmos.ucc.ie|access-date=15 February 2018|archive-date=12 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012103645/http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/place.php?plid=210|url-status=dead}}

During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli forces captured Rafah as part of their invasion of the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip. The population was about 55,000, of whom only 11,000 lived in Rafah itself. On Friday, 9 June 1967, the Israeli military bulldozed & blew up 144 houses in Rafah refugee camp, killing 23 Palestinians.Cattan, Henry (1969) Palestine, The Arabs & Israel. The Search for Justice. Longman SBN 582 78000 4 p. 111

In the summer of 1971, the IDF, under General Ariel Sharon (then head of the IDF southern command), destroyed approximately 500 houses in the refugee camps of Rafah in order to create patrol roads for Israeli forces. These demolitions displaced nearly 4,000 people.[http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/858c88eb973847f4802564b5003d1083!OpenDocument UN Doc] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070212181417/http://domino.un.org/unispal.nsf/9a798adbf322aff38525617b006d88d7/858c88eb973847f4802564b5003d1083%21OpenDocument |date=12 February 2007 }} A/8389 of 5 October 1971 (h) The continued transfer of the population of the occupied territories to other areas within the occupied territories. Such transfers of population have occurred in the case of several villages that were systematically destroyed in 1967: the population of these villages was either expelled or forced to live elsewhere in the occupied territories. The same practice has been followed in occupied Jerusalem. According to a report in the Jerusalem Post of 17 May 1971, Mr. Teddy Kollek, Israeli Mayor of Jerusalem, stated that 4,000 Arabs had been evacuated from Jerusalem. Likewise, in the case of Gaza, according to reports appearing in several newspapers and in letters addressed by Governments, several thousands of persons were displaced from the three major refugee camps in Gaza. Official Israeli sources have stated that these transfers of population were necessitated by new security measures, such as the construction of wider roads inside the camps in order to facilitate patrolling and the maintenance of law and order in the camps. Most of the persons whose refugee accommodation was destroyed to permit the construction of these roads were forced to leave for the West Bank and El Arish, while a few were said to have sought refuge with other families inside Gaza. The Special Committee considers that the transfers were unwarranted and that even if the construction of new roads was considered indispensable for the maintenance of law and order, the arbitrary transfer of population was unnecessary, unjustified and in breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel established the Brazil and Canada housing projects to accommodate displaced Palestinians and to provide better conditions in the hopes of integrating the refugees into the general population and its standard of living;{{cite web |url=http://www.shaml.org/publications/monos/mono4.htm |title=Publications |access-date=16 April 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060914074542/http://www.shaml.org/publications/monos/mono4.htm |archive-date=14 September 2006 }} Brazil is immediately south of Rafah, while Canada was just across the border in Sinai. Both were named because UN peacekeeping troops from those respective countries had maintained barracks in those locations. After the 1978 Camp David Accords mandated the repatriation of Canada project refugees to the Gaza Strip, the Tel al-Sultan project, northwest of Rafah, was built to accommodate them.Human Rights Watch. [http://hrw.org/reports/2004/rafah1004/5.htm Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip]. October 2004.

File:15 - Children (3158621521).jpg during the Gaza War (2008–2009)]]

During the early months of First Intifada on 25 April 1989 Rafah resident Khaled Musa Armilat, aged 22, was shot dead by Israeli soldiers in Khan Yunis. In a letter to a Member of Knesset, March 1990, Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin stated that the dead man's brother had been interrogated and stated that he had been killed by Border Police but four months later he blamed the army. Rabin added the matter was being investigated by the Israeli Police.Talmor, Ronny (translated by Ralph Mandel) (1990) The Use of Firearms – By the Security Forces in the Occupied Territories. B'Tselem. [https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files2/publication/199007_use_of_firearms_eng.doc download] p. 75 MK Yair Tsaban to defence ministers Yitzhak Rabin & Yitzhak Shamir, p.80 Rabin's reply

Three and a half weeks after Armilat's killing, 19 May, five civilians including a 50-year-old woman and a 13-year-old boy, were killed in Rafah by Israeli soldiers using plastic bullets. Two of the 12 other casualties later died of their wounds.B'Tselem information sheet update, June 1989. p.4. [https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/sites/default/files2/update_june_1.1989.pdf pdf]

In May 2004, the Israeli Government led by, then Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon approved another mass demolition of homes in Rafah. Therefore, he obtained the nickname "the bulldozer".[https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/rafah1004/5.htm Razing Rafah], Map 2: Rafah Features. HRW, October 2004

In September 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip but Rafah remained divided, with part of it on the Egyptian side of the border under Egyptian rule. It has been claimed that it was in order to cope with the division of the town, that smugglers have made tunnels under the border, connecting the two parts and permitting the smuggling of goods and persons.[http://www.rafahtoday.org/about/rafah.htm About Rafah] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130141739/http://rafahtoday.org/about/rafah.htm |date=30 January 2009}} Rafah Today.

{{Main|Rafah offensive}}

File:IDF Rafah May 2024 (1).png

During the Israeli Defence Forces' (IDF) war on Gaza, civilians were told to flee to Rafah and forcibly displaced from their homes. Although the Israeli government declared the southern half of Gaza a safe zone, the IDF proceeded to bomb the region extensively, with a New York Times investigation estimating that 2,000-pound bombs were dropped at least 200 times as of 21 December 2023.{{Cite news |last1=Stein |first1=Robin |last2=Willis |first2=Haley |last3=Jhaveri |first3=Ishaan |last4=Miller |first4=Danielle |last5=Byrd |first5=Aaron |last6=Reneau |first6=Natalie |date=22 December 2023 |title=A Times Investigation Tracked Israel's Use of One of Its Most Destructive Bombs in South Gaza |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/21/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-bomb-investigation.html |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331}}

File:An aerial view of Al-Mawasi area where displaced Palestinians live in tents, Gaza Strip.jpg area where displaced Palestinians live in tents, January 2025]]

By February 2024, roughly two-thirds of Gaza's population, or 1.4 million people, had been forcibly displaced from other parts of the territory into Rafah, with the IDF declaring its intent to enter the city. Critics have warned about the potential for mass civilian casualties in the event of a ground invasion, with the UN secretary general António Guterres arguing that "Such an action would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences."{{Cite web |title=UN chief warns of 'age of chaos' as Security Council divided on Gaza |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/7/un-chief-warns-of-age-of-chaos-as-security-council-stays-divided-on-gaza |access-date=9 February 2024 |website=Al Jazeera}} On 9 February, Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the IDF to create an evacuation plan to remove civilians before launching an offensive against Rafah which is the last major population center in the Gaza Strip still under Hamas control and the elimination of Hamas was considered to be impossible as long as the four Hamas battalions in Rafah are intact.{{cite news |last1=Tal |first1=Amir |last2=Krever |first2=Mick |date=9 February 2024 |title=Netanyahu directs Israeli military to draw up plan to evacuate more than one million people from Rafah as offensive looms |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/09/middleeast/israel-rafah-evacuation-gaza-intl/index.html |access-date=9 February 2024 |work=CNN}} Prior to the start of the ground invasion, Israel began to intensify its strikes on Rafah from the air. More than 44 people were killed in airstrikes on Rafah on 11 February, with many likely still under the rubble. Netanyahu continued to push for a ground invasion, claiming that "We're going to do it....Victory is within reach".{{Cite web |date=10 February 2024 |title=Gaza mediators and others warn Israel of disaster if it launches a ground invasion on crowded Rafah |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/gaza-mediators-and-others-warn-israel-of-disaster-if-it-launches-a-ground-invasion-on-crowded-rafah-1.6763825 |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=CTVNews |language=en}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Netanyahu ahead of Rafah ground invasion: 'Victory is within reach' |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/netanyahu-this-week-interview/story?id=107130717 |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=ABC News |language=en}}{{Cite web |title='We're going to do it': Israeli PM set on invasion of Rafah |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/11/israel-working-on-rafah-invasion-in-gaza-despite-international-alarm |access-date=11 February 2024 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}

On 11 February, The Wall Street Journal reported that Egypt had warned Hamas to release hostages within two weeks or face an IDF invasion of Rafah.{{cite news |title=Egypt tells Hamas it has two weeks to reach hostage deal before IDF moves into Rafah – WSJ |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/egypt-tells-hamas-it-has-two-weeks-to-reach-hostage-deal-before-idf-moves-into-rafah-wsj/ |access-date=11 February 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Peled |first1=Anat |last2=Abdel-Baqui |first2=Omar |last3=Said |first3=Summer |title=Invasion of Gaza Border City Looms as Biden Calls Israel's Offensive 'Over the Top' |url=https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/threat-of-israeli-offensive-hangs-over-packed-gaza-border-city-as-u-s-warns-of-disaster-53c801b4 |access-date=11 February 2024 |work=WSJ}} A joint operation in Rafah by the IDF, Shin Bet, and Israel Police recovered two hostages (Fernando Simon Marman and Louis Har) kidnapped by Hamas from Nir Yitzhak.{{cite news |title=Israel rescues two hostages in Rafah amid deadly strikes |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68271340 |access-date=12 February 2024 |date=12 February 2024}} During this operation, heavy bombardment by the IDF occurred in the area that includes many refugee camps killing 112 people with several bodies still under the rubble.{{Cite web |date=11 February 2024 |title=Israeli strikes hit Rafah after Biden warns Netanyahu to have 'credible' plan to protect civilians |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/israeli-strikes-hit-rafah-after-biden-warns-netanyahu-to-have-credible-plan-to-protect-civilians-1.6764414 |access-date=12 February 2024 |website=CTVNews |language=en}}

In previous operations, Israel destroyed building on the border with Egypt, arguing it as a military need to cut Hamas from possible supply roads. On 3 April, following the end of the ceasefire, the IDF advanced into Rafah as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the city.{{cite web |author1=Nidal Al-Mughrabi |author2=Mahmoud Issa |date=3 April 2025 |title=Hundreds of thousands flee as Israel seizes Rafah in new Gaza 'security zone' |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hundreds-thousands-flee-israel-seizes-rafah-new-gaza-security-zone-2025-04-03/ |access-date=4 April 2025 |work=Reuters}} It soon started massive operations to raze most of Rafah itself, flattening mosques, schools, greenhouses and even greenery. By mid May 2025, The New York Times reported with satellite images and on-the-ground videos proofs that most of the city housing and buildings have been purposely razed by Israeli bulldozers or controlled destructions. Side-by-side satellite imagery of the Shaboura neighborhood show it with all its pre-war buildings, then in its early-2025 states with widespread destruction, and in May 3rd, 2025, with nearly all its buildings razed to the ground. The same is visible for most of the city.

File:Border between Israel and Egypt visible from space.jpg

Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the sole crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Formerly operated by Israeli military forces, control of the crossing was transferred to the Palestinian Authority in September 2005 as part of the larger Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. A European Union commission began monitoring the crossing in November 2005 amid Israeli security concerns, and in April 2006, Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Presidential Guard assumed responsibility for the site on the Palestinian Authority side.Mitch Potter, Something that works: the Rafah crossing, The Toronto Star, 21 May 2006. On the Egyptian side, the responsibility is assumed by the 750 Border Guards as per the agreement signed by Egypt and Israel in November 2005.

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot semi-arid (BSh).{{Cite web |url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/478554/ |title=Climate: Rafiah – Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table |publisher=Climate-Data.org |access-date=21 February 2014 }}{{Cite web |url=http://en.climate-data.org/location/3958/ |title=Climate: Rafah – Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table |publisher=Climate-Data.org |access-date=21 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223185030/http://en.climate-data.org/location/3958/ |archive-date=23 February 2014 }}

{{Weather box

|metric first=yes

|single line=yes

|location=Rafiah, Gaza Strip

|Jan high C=17.4

|Feb high C=18.1

|Mar high C=20.5

|Apr high C=23

|May high C=25.8

|Jun high C=28.3

|Jul high C=29.6

|Aug high C=30.5

|Sep high C=29.1

|Oct high C=27.6

|Nov high C=23.8

|Dec high C=19.4

|Jan mean C=12.9

|Feb mean C=13.6

|Mar mean C=15.6

|Apr mean C=18.1

|May mean C=20.9

|Jun mean C=23.6

|Jul mean C=25.2

|Aug mean C=26

|Sep mean C=24.7

|Oct mean C=22.6

|Nov mean C=18.7

|Dec mean C=14.8

|Jan low C=8.4

|Feb low C=9.1

|Mar low C=10.8

|Apr low C=13.3

|May low C=16.1

|Jun low C=19

|Jul low C=20.9

|Aug low C=21.6

|Sep low C=20.3

|Oct low C=17.6

|Nov low C=13.7

|Dec low C=10.2

|Jan precipitation mm=48

|Feb precipitation mm=36

|Mar precipitation mm=27

|Apr precipitation mm=6

|May precipitation mm=4

|Jun precipitation mm=0

|Jul precipitation mm=0

|Aug precipitation mm=0

|Sep precipitation mm=0

|Oct precipitation mm=8

|Nov precipitation mm=39

|Dec precipitation mm=53

|source 1= Climate-Data.org (altitude: 45 m)

}}

{{Weather box

|metric first=yes

|single line=yes

|collapsed=yes

|location=Rafah, North Sinai

|Jan high C=17.2

|Feb high C=18

|Mar high C=20.3

|Apr high C=22.9

|May high C=25.8

|Jun high C=28.2

|Jul high C=29.6

|Aug high C=30.5

|Sep high C=29

|Oct high C=27.4

|Nov high C=23.7

|Dec high C=19.3

|Jan mean C=12.7

|Feb mean C=13.5

|Mar mean C=15.4

|Apr mean C=18

|May mean C=20.8

|Jun mean C=23.5

|Jul mean C=25.2

|Aug mean C=25.9

|Sep mean C=24.5

|Oct mean C=22.4

|Nov mean C=18.6

|Dec mean C=14.7

|Jan low C=8.2

|Feb low C=9

|Mar low C=10.6

|Apr low C=13.2

|May low C=15.9

|Jun low C=18.8

|Jul low C=20.8

|Aug low C=21.4

|Sep low C=20

|Oct low C=17.4

|Nov low C=13.5

|Dec low C=10.1

|Jan precipitation mm=49

|Feb precipitation mm=37

|Mar precipitation mm=28

|Apr precipitation mm=6

|May precipitation mm=4

|Jun precipitation mm=0

|Jul precipitation mm=0

|Aug precipitation mm=0

|Sep precipitation mm=0

|Oct precipitation mm=8

|Nov precipitation mm=39

|Dec precipitation mm=54

|source 1= Climate-Data.org (altitude: 78 m)

}}

{{Portal|Palestine}}

• Rafah Governorate
• Rafah, Egypt
• Israel–Gaza barrier
• Gaza–Egypt border
• Erez Crossing
• Philadelphi Corridor

{{reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book|title=The Caravan Route between Egypt and Syria|first=Ludwig Salvator|last=Archduke of Austria|url=https://archive.org/details/caravanroutebetw00ludwrich|author-link=Archduke Ludwig Salvator of Austria|year=1881|publisher=Chatto & Windus|location=London}}
• {{cite book | editor =Barron, J. B. | title =Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 | url =https://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 | publisher =Government of Palestine | year =1923 }}
• {{cite book | last = Dauphin | first = C. | author-link = Claudine Dauphin | title = La Palestine byzantine, Peuplement et Populations | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FC1mAAAAMAAJ | volume = III : Catalogue | series = BAR International Series 726 | year = 1998 | publisher = Archeopress | location = Oxford | language = fr | isbn = 0-86054-905-4 }}
• {{cite book|last=Dwyer|first=Philip|title=Napoleon -The Path To Power 1769–1799 |year=2007|publisher= Bloomsbury |isbn =978-0-7475-7490-3}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics, April, 1945|url=http://web.nli.org.il/sites/nli/Hebrew/library/Pages/BookReader.aspx?pid=856390|author=Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics|year=1945}}
• {{cite book|last=Guérin|first=V.|author-link=Victor Guérin|title=Description Géographique Historique et Archéologique de la Palestine|url=https://archive.org/details/descriptiongog02gu|volume=1: Judee, pt. 2|year=1869|publisher=L'Imprimerie Nationale|location=Paris|language=fr}}
• {{cite book|title=Village Statistics of 1945: A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine|url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|first=S.|last=Hadawi|author-link=Sami Hadawi|year=1970|publisher=Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center|archive-date=8 December 2018|access-date=22 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181208215837/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Articles/General-2/Story3150.html|url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book |last1=Hütteroth |first1=W.-D. |author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth |first2=K. |last2=Abdulfattah |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah |title=Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wqULAAAAIAAJ |year=1977 |publisher=Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft |isbn=3-920405-41-2 }}
• {{cite book | editor = Mills, E. | title = Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas | url = https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas | publisher = Government of Palestine | location = Jerusalem | year = 1932 }}
• {{cite book|title=Polybius 18.51.10 and 28.20.9; Livy 33.40.3 and 35.13.4; Appian, Syriaca 3.13 and 5.18}}
• {{cite book|title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500|url=https://archive.org/details/palestineundermo00lestuoft|first=G.|last=Strange, le|author-link=Guy Le Strange|year=1890|publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund}}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/gaza/rafah.html United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East]
• [http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Rafah_1500/index.html Welcome To The City of Rafah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219042214/http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Rafah_1500/index.html |date=19 February 2010 }}
• [http://www.rafahtoday.org/ Rafah Today, pictures by Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060502092756/http://www.weaponsurvey.com/tunnels.htm Rafah Smuggling Tunnels]
• [http://rafahpundits.com/ Rafah Pundits: Rafah Focused Blog]
• [http://a-mother-from-gaza.blogspot.com/ Raising Yousuf] – Blog by Laila el-Hadad who is a reporter for Aljazeera living in Gaza
• [http://rafahtoday.org/news/todaymain.htm Reports from Rafah]
• [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/06/17/1437207 Interview with Hip Hop Artist Michael Franti] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114212336/http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04%2F06%2F17%2F1437207 |date=14 November 2007 }} – Reporting from Rafah.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050929001313/http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/Rafah_insetA.pdf Part A] [https://web.archive.org/web/20050929001235/http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/docs/UN/OCHA/Rafah_insetB.pdf Part B] Satellite photos comparing 2001 to 2004.
• [https://www.hrw.org/campaigns/gaza Razing Rafah: Mass Home Demolitions in the Gaza Strip] – Human Rights Watch
• [http://orscp.org/ The Olympia-Rafah Sister City Project] – The organization started by people in the communities of Rafah, Gaza, and Olympia, WA
• [http://madisonrafah.org/ The Madison-Rafah Sister City Project] – A sistering project connecting the communities of Rafah, Gaza, and Madison, WI

{{Cities in the Gaza Strip}}

{{Rafah Governorate}}

{{Palestinian refugee camps}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Cities in the Gaza Strip

Category:History of Palestine (region)

Category:Divided cities

Category:Municipalities of Palestine