What do we know about the historical city of Rafah in southern Gaza?

According to the report of the international group Tasnim news agency, during the past days, the threats of the Zionist regime for a ground attack on Rafah, in the southernmost point of Gaza, which houses nearly one and a half million Palestinians, including the residents of this area and refugees who have been displaced from different areas of Gaza, has become one of the main developments related to the Gaza war.

The possible ground attack on Rafah has had many reactions in the region and the world, and international organizations and different countries have warned about its dire consequences and demanded immediate action to deal with it. In the meantime, since Rafah is the closest point to the Palestinian-Egyptian border, Israel’s threat to attack this area aroused the most concern of Egyptians and even threatened Israel’s Cairo to suspend the Camp David Agreement (Egypt-regime compromise agreement Zionist.

At the same time as these threats, the Zionists have brutally intensified their air attacks against Rafah, in the latest case of which hundreds of people were martyred and injured in the invasion of Rafah this morning.

Geographical and historical location of Rafah

In this regard, we are going to look at Let’s have the geographical and historical location and importance of the city of Rafah. Rafah is located in the southernmost point of the Gaza Strip on the border of Palestine and Egypt and at a distance of 5.5 miles from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Rafah is 33 km from Gaza city and 13 km from Khan Yunis, 16 km from Sheikh Zuwayd village in Sinai, Egypt and 45 km from Al Arish city in Egypt. It is located and is considered one of the largest cities in the Gaza Strip on the borders of Egypt. The area of ​​this city reaches 55 square kilometers. The only border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip is located in the city of Rafah, and this crossing has played the main role in delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and transporting patients from this area to outside of Gaza for treatment.

Economy of Rafah

Economic activities in Rafah are based on 3 main sectors: commercial activity, agricultural activity, industrial activity and fishing.

Historical roots of the city Rafah

The name of the city of Rafah goes back to the ancient period. This city was founded 5 thousand years ago, and the ancient Egyptians called this city “Robihu”, the Assyrians called it “Rafihu” and the Romans and Greeks called it “Rafia”. But the name of Rafah was chosen by the Arabs for this city.

After the compromise agreement between Egypt and the Zionist regime in 1979 under the name of the “Camp David” agreement, Rafah of the Sinai Peninsula was separated from Rafah of Gaza, and the area of ​​the area that The area that remained in Gaza was almost 3 times the area of ​​the area that was in Egypt.

Rafah population before the Gaza war

The origins of the residents of Rafah often go back to Khan Yunis, the Negev desert, and the Sinai desert. But a large number of Palestinian refugees came to Rafah after the tragic Nakbat incident in 1948, and most of them belonged to the Gaza region.

In the 1997 population census of Rafah, the number of residents was 91,931. tons, and in the next census conducted by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics in 2007, the population of this area was announced as 120,774 people. The total population of Rafah province in 2021 was 260 thousand 117 people.

The population of Rifa after the Gaza war

But after the beginning of the destructive war of the Zionist regime against Gaza in October 2023 and while more than 4 months have passed since this war, the United Nations announced that with the arrival of Palestinian refugees from all over Gaza to Rafah This area has become one of the most populated places in the world. Currently, there are about 1.4 million displaced people in Rafah, some of whom have been displaced 6 times due to the attacks of the Zionist regime. Therefore, the population of Rafah has increased 5 times after the war and these displaced people live in very miserable conditions. /p>

In which areas have refugees taken shelter

Satellite images show that almost all empty lands It has turned from a settlement located in the northwest of Rafah province into a refugee shelter.

Relevant sources warn that in the event of a military attack by the occupying army on Rafah, in the shadow of the terrible humanitarian crisis that exists in this area and the whole of Gaza. , the bloodbath will start in Rafah, and in addition to the fact that Egypt’s national security will be endangered, this action will spread the war in a catastrophic way in the entire region.

end of message/