Rafah
Sign in to saveRafah ( ) is a largely destroyed and depopulated city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, that served as the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza City and Khan Yunis, about 70% of Gaza's population, were displaced to Rafah, as of February 2024. By April 2025, most of the city was destroyed by means of systematic razing by the Israeli military and the remains fell under Israeli control.
AI overview
Rafah is a city in southern Gaza that was once home to around 170,000 people but has been largely destroyed during the recent Gaza war. It gained significance as over a million Palestinians were displaced there from other parts of Gaza, making it a major population center, though by April 2025 most of the city had been systematically razed by the Israeli military.
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Key facts
Article
24 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- History
- Late Bronze Age
- Iron Age
- Classical Age
- Hellenistic period
- Roman period
- Medieval Age
- Byzantine period
- Early Muslim to Mamluk periods
- Ottoman and Egyptian period
- British period
- 1948–1967
- After 1967
- Gaza war
- 2025 razing and destruction
- Development
- Demographics
- Rafah Border Crossing
- Climate
- See also
- References
- Bibliography
- External links
Rafah ( ) is a largely destroyed and depopulated city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine, that served as the capital of the Rafah Governorate. It is located south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889. Due to the Gaza war, about 1.4 million people from Gaza City and Khan Yunis, about 70% of Gaza's population, were displaced to Rafah, as of February 2024. By April 2025, most of the city was destroyed by means of systematic razing by the Israeli military and the remains fell under Israeli control.
After the 1948 Palestine war, Egypt governed the area and refugee camps for displaced Palestinians who fled or were expelled from what became Israel were established. During the Suez Crisis in 1956, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) killed 111 Palestinians, including 103 refugees in the Rafah refugee camp, during the 1956 Rafah massacre. During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli forces re-occupied the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip after capturing them from Egypt. In the same year, IDF troops bulldozed and demolished 144 houses in the Rafah refugee camp, killing 23 Palestinians.