Medics stuck in Rafah after being forced to leave safe house

Seventeen medical personnel working for the US medical non-profit FAJR Scientific were forced to evacuate their safe house in Rafah, the organisation's chief executive officer told Al Jazeera.

Mosab Nasser said the group had arrived in Gaza for a two-week mission on 29 April.

"We were operating the first week of our mission with no problems and then the military operation started in eastern Rafah. But then it started trickling farther west where our safe house was," he said.

Nasser said the group had received orders to leave their safe house, adding that the Israeli offensive on Rafah is not restricted to the east of the city.

"What we have experienced is completely otherwise. In fact, bombs were falling in the neighbourhood where we were, within a distance of less than 500 metres from the supposedly safe house, which put our physicians and surgeons at risk," Nasser said.

The group are now trapped in Rafah as Israeli forces have closed the border crossing.