Almost half a million people who have nowhere to go left Rafah in southern Gaza ahead of Israel's long-awaited offensive, but the Israeli army has continued to strike all areas of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli warplanes attacked a building in the Nueseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing several people, including women and children, while survivors had to be dug out of the rubble.
In another nearby attack, the Israeli Defense Forces said they struck a “Hamas war room” at a UN school. Israel said it killed more than 10 fighters, though CBS News could not independently verify that claim.
The carnage comes as aid agencies say hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have fled Rafah since Israel began shelling areas there last week. One of those who fled is Mustafa al-Gazzar, 81, now displaced and living in a temporary camp.
“I live in extreme fear,” he told CBS News.
All crossings out of Gaza are now blocked, leaving 20 American doctors trapped inside.
“It's been very difficult, leaving my wife and my two children and the family around. It was something I had to do,” Dr. Mohammed Abdelfattah of California told CBS News. “I felt that the efforts at home were going nowhere, they were falling on deaf ears.”
Abdelfattah was originally scheduled to leave Gaza on Monday, but is now stuck at the Strip's European Hospital in Al-Fukhari, near Khan Yunis. He said the impending operation in Gaza has created fear among local residents.
“Residents have told me several times that there is no safe place in Gaza. They have seen over the last six or seven months, hospitals have been targeted, mosques, churches, bakeries,” he said. “We are currently in a green zone, a 'safe zone', but the population knows that there is no safe zone in Gaza.”
Abdelfattah said many of the patients in the ICU are young children with “severe burns and blast injuries that will almost lead to guaranteed death here, and that's what I've seen because of the lack of resources, the lack of supplies.”
“All this is intentional,” he added. “This is not a natural disaster. This is an intentional disaster that is being inflicted on these people with the support of my government.”
President Biden has become increasingly critical of how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted the war and Gaza, reaching stop shipments of some weapons in Israel due to concerns about IDF plans in Rafah. But Abdelfattah told CBS News that's not enough.
“There are American weapons being dropped on the people of Gaza every hour, and our American government, President Biden, has the power to stop all of this with just one phone call,” he said.
Abdelfattah said several people have told him, “The only thing that is giving us hope right now is student protests that are happening all over the country at home.”
Meanwhile, Israel celebrated the nation's 76th anniversary on Tuesday. But amid the moderate commemorations, thousands of Israeli settlers marched into Gaza, block aid to enter and demand the right to build settlements within Palestinian territory.
Aid agencies warn that more than a million Palestinians now face catastrophic levels of hunger. A floating dock that Mr. Biden ordered construction to help boost the distribution of aid could be up and running soon, allowing more food and supplies to enter the territory.
Imtiaz Tyab
