Deadly strikes
\nwere reported early Saturday in the overcrowded Gaza border town of Rafah —
\ndubbed a “pressure cooker of despair” by the UN — as international mediators
\nreadied a new push to seal a tentative truce deal between Israel and Hamas.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have fled south to Rafah
\nsince the outbreak of the war, with the former city of 200,000 now housing
\nmore than half of Gaza’s two million-plus population, a WHO representative
\nsaid Friday.<\/p>\n
The United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA said it was deeply concerned
\nabout the escalation of hostilities in nearby Khan Yunis, which have pushed
\nmore and more people south in recent days.<\/p>\n
“Most are living in makeshift structures, tents or out in the open,” OCHA
\nspokesman Jens Laerke said during a briefing in Geneva.<\/p>\n
“Rafah is a pressure cooker of despair, and we fear for what comes next.”<\/p>\n
An AFP journalist in the city heard powerful explosions shortly after
\nmidnight on Saturday, with the Hamas-run health ministry later reporting 14
\npeople killed in two strikes there.<\/p>\n