As the Israeli bombing of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip continues, the US State Department said on Tuesday that Washington does not want to see a major operation in Rafah, adding, “We have not seen that yet.”

The State Department also indicated that Washington believes that more efforts can be made to remove American citizens from Gaza.

She continued, “We noticed that 50 trucks entered Gaza on May 12, and this is much less than what is required.”

In addition, the US State Department said that Washington is very concerned about reports that a United Nations vehicle was targeted in Gaza, killing an aid worker and wounding another.

The killing of an international employee

Earlier today, the United Nations confirmed that it had informed the Israeli authorities of the movement of the vehicle carrying UN employees, which was exposed to gunfire in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, on Monday, leading to the death of an Indian employee.

Yesterday, Monday, the United Nations announced that one of its security personnel was killed in an attack on a vehicle in Gaza, and UN spokesman Rolando Gomez said during a press conference that the dead employee was an Indian citizen.

According to Gomez, a second employee from the same department was in the vehicle at the time of the attack and was injured, noting that they were on their way to the European Hospital in Rafah when their vehicle was hit.

The bombing continues

This comes as battles continue between Hamas and the Israeli army in several areas of the Gaza Strip, and are accompanied by violent Israeli bombing of the Strip, which prompted new waves of Palestinians to flee on Tuesday.

The fighting returned strongly to Gaza City and the Jabalia camp in the north of the Gaza Strip and the Nuseirat camp in its center, after the Israeli army announced the dismantling of Hamas in these areas.

The city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip is witnessing clashes and Israeli bombing that forced 450,000 people to flee from it, according to the United Nations, which says that “there is no safe place” in Gaza.

A horrific escalation

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres described the military escalation in Rafah as “horrific.”

The population of the city of Rafah before May 6, the date the Israeli forces entered it, was 1.4 million, the majority of whom were displaced from other areas.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) did not specify where the newly displaced people from Rafah went, but it indicated that “families continue to migrate in search of safety.”

About half a million were displaced

It is noteworthy that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced that approximately 450,000 people were forcibly displaced from Rafah since the first Israeli evacuation order was issued on May 6.

Many UN agencies have warned of the danger facing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who do not find any safe place in the entire Strip, while the devastating war continues for its seventh month.

In turn, the United States has repeatedly warned against invading Rafah, stressing that Israel is making a grave mistake. It also threatened to suspend further arms shipments if Israeli forces invaded the densely populated city after stopping a bomb shipment last week.