Mayor says Rafah 'extremely dangerous', warns people not rush to return

Rafah will remain an "extremely dangerous area" without Israeli forces’ complete withdrawal, and people should "not rush to return" to the city, Al Jazeera reported the city's mayor, Ahmed al-Soufi, saying. 

Israeli forces have withdrawn from Rafah’s city centre as part of the ceasefire agreement but they remain stationed along the Philadelphi Corridor – the strip of land bordering Egypt – and have continued their attacks, the mayor said.

“Access to the southern half of the city near the border axis is unavailable,” al-Soufi said, adding that particularly the central and southern areas should be avoided.

“Although the northwestern, northern, and eastern areas are relatively safer due to their distance from the axis, they are still vulnerable” to Israeli firepower.

The Israeli military has marked the area within 700 meters of the border as a "red zone" and warned civilians to avoid it.