Rafah

Rafah
City
Arabic transcription(s)
• Arabic	رَفَح
Aerial view of Rafah in 2012
Location of Rafah in the Gaza Strip
Rafah Location of Rafah
Coordinates: 31°16′21″N 34°15′31″E / 31.27250°N 34.25861°E / 31.27250; 34.25861
Palestine grid	77/78
State	State of Palestine[1]
Governorate	Rafah[1]
Government
• Type	City
• Head of Municipality	Anwar al-Shaer (2019)[2]
Area [3]
• Total	64,000 dunams (64 km2 or 25 sq mi)
Population  (2017 Census)[4]
• Total	171,899
• Density	2,700/km2 (7,000/sq mi)

Rafah (Arabic: رفح Rafaḥ [rafaħ]) is a city in the southern Gaza Strip, Palestine. It is the capital of the Rafah Governorate of the State of Palestine, located 30 kilometers (19 mi) south-west of Gaza City. In 2017, Rafah had a population of 171,889.^[4] As a result of massive bombardment and ground assaults in Gaza City and Khan Yunis by Israel during the Israel–Hamas war, about 1.4 million Palestinians are believed to be sheltering in Rafah as of February 2024.^[5]

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, 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 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.^[6]

When Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1982, Rafah was split into a Gazan part and an Egyptian part, dividing families, separated by barbed-wire barriers.^[7][8] The core of the city was destroyed by Israel,^[9][10][11] as well as Egypt,^[12][13] in order to create a large buffer zone.

Rafah is the site of the Rafah Border Crossing, the sole crossing point between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. Gaza's only airport, Yasser Arafat International Airport, was located just south of the city. The airport operated from 1998 to 2001, until it was bombed and bulldozed by the Israeli military (IDF).^[14][15]