Al-Mawasi, Rafah

Al-Mawasi (Arabic: المواصي) is a fertile area for agriculture in the Gaza Strip. It is along the coast and has many sand dunes. Al-Mawasi is fourteen kilometers long and one kilometer wide, making up about 3% of the Gaza Strip. It is a Palestinian Bedouin town and prior to the 2005 unilateral Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip, it was a Palestinian enclave within the Israeli settlements of Gush Katif. Al-Mawasi had a population of 1,409 in the middle of 2006. Prior to the Gaza war, al-Mawasi had a population of 9,000. It has a number of buildings with a maximum of 100 structures.

The region's name derived from a traditional form of Palestinian dune agriculture, mawāṣī (مواصي). Al-Mawasi is known as the "Basket of Food" because of its fertile soil, underground water, and agricultural conditions.

In December 2023, during the Gaza war, the Israel Defense Forces had designated Al-Mawasi as one of the only safe areas in the Gaza Strip. Hundreds of thousands of people had fled there, and found only a barren strip of land with no basic resources such as food, water, or sanitation. In February 2024, as the IDF announced plans to expand operations into Rafah where hundreds of thousands had come to as a last refuge, Israeli authorities called Al-Mawasi a "safer zone". In an interview with Channel 4 News, Israeli spokesperson Eylon Levi, when pressed to confirm if civilians displaced northwards once more would be safe from further bombardment, stated that "it will not be safe" until Gaza was free from Hamas.

By late-August 2024, the United Nations estimated there were between 30,000 and 34,000 people per square kilometre in Al-Mawasi. Food and water grew scarce as the area became increasingly overcrowded.

Israel declared Al-Mawasi a "safe zone". Internally displaced persons who fled to Al-Mawasi reported no water, electricity, or buildings to shelter. The UN and relief groups do not recognize Al-Mawasi or provide services there. Al-Mawasi has been attacked numerous times during the war. The UN Human Rights Office has stated that "despite Al Mawasi, Khan Younis being declared a 'humanitarian zone' by the Israeli military, it continues to conduct airstrikes and shelling into the area.".

On 26 December 2023, Israel bombed Al-Mawasi, killing one woman and saying it would not refrain from bombing safe zones. Israeli bombings on 4 January 2024 focused on al-Mawasi, killing 14 people from two families, mostly children under ten.

On 14 January 2024, UNOCHA reported that the displaced in al-Mawasi camp were in need of humanitarian supplies. On 15 January 2024, three displaced people sheltering in a tent were reported killed by an Israeli airstrike. On 22 January, the Gaza Health Ministry stated Israeli soldiers had raided the al-Khair hospital in al-Mawasi and arrested medical staff. On 23 January, Israeli warplanes reportedly bombed tents for displaced people.

On 3 February 2024, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported it finished setting up the fifth shelter camp in Al-Mawasi, able to house up to seventy families. On 6 February, a woman was killed by an Israeli sniper. Two people were injured by Israeli gunfire on 24 February. On 10 March, at least 16 people were reported hospitalized following heavy Israeli bombardment.