Misery deepens in Gaza’s Rafah as Israeli troops press operation

By WAFAA SHURAFA, JOSEPH KRAUSS and SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Aid workers are struggling to distribute dwindling food and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by what Israel says is a limited operation in Rafah. The two main crossings near the southern Gaza city have been closed for over a week. The U.N. says 360,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah over the past week, out of 1.3 million who were sheltering there before the operation began, most of whom had already fled fighting elsewhere. Israel has portrayed Rafah as the last stronghold of the militant group, even as Hamas has regrouped in some of the most devastated parts of Gaza that Israel had previously claimed to have cleared.