Displaced people had to once again flee the eastern neighborhoods of Gaza's southernmost city Rafah to seek shelter elsewhere on Monday, as the Israeli army ordered local residents to evacuate to a so-called "humanitarian zone" in southwestern Gaza's Al Mawasi in preparation for a planned ground assault in eastern Rafah.
On the early morning of Monday, eastern Rafah's roads were filled with cars and horse carts and walking people.
In tent camps, many were busy packing up their belongings from water to mattress and loading them onto vehicles. Many camps which had been overcrowded become empty.
Facing an unknown fate, many were overwhelmed with despair.
"We are going to Al-Mawasi. I think it's just unfortunate. Even if I could get to Al-Mawasi, I'm penniless and couldn't afford a tent there. I don't know what to say," said Mohammad Muammar, a displaced person.
"The Israeli army said that we have to leave because this place is dangerous. In accordance with the requirements of the Israeli army, we are now trying to find a safe place, but there is no safe place in the Gaza Strip. I'm currently taking down my tent and getting ready to move, but I don't know where to go," said Salman Kara, a displaced person.
"We will be homeless again, and now I have nothing but the clothes I am wearing. Many places in Rafah have been bombed. My six children and I have nowhere to go. I have no idea where we should go," said Sahar Nasr, another displaced person.
Israel's military said on Monday night that it was carrying out large-scale airstrikes in Rafah, hours after Hamas announced acceptance of an Egyptian-Qatari proposal regarding a ceasefire in the strip.
In the meantime, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the proposal is far from meeting Israel's "core demands", and that the government will send a delegation to Cairo to exhaust every possibility of reaching an agreement acceptable to Israel.
Also, a Qatari delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday for indirect negotiations on the Gaza truce between Israel and Hamas through mediators, according to a spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry.
Displaced people flee Rafah amid looming Israeli offensive
Displaced people flee Rafah amid looming Israeli offensive
Displaced people flee Rafah amid looming Israeli offensive
Displaced people flee Rafah amid looming Israeli offensive
The endangered Tibetan antelopes have started their annual mass migration after the first batch of 47 female Tibetan antelopes passed through the Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve in northwest China's Qinghai Province on May 7.
To protect the rare species that are under top-class state protection, the management team of Hoh Xil in the province's Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has set up the Wudaoliang protection station along the migration route. As of noon on Sunday, over 700 Tibetan antelopes had been spotted passing through the station.
The Tibetan antelope, known as the "fairies of the plateau", undertakes a migration from May to July each year. Female antelopes from the Sanjiangyuan region of Qinghai, parts of Qiangtang Terrane in Tibet, and the Arjin Mountains in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, would travel to the Zhuonai Lake in Hoh Xil to give birth before returning to their original habitats with their newborns.
"For Tibetan antelopes, we divide them into six species groups according to their geographical distribution. For example, Qinghai and Xinjiang have one group each. For Xizang (Tibet), there are three species groups in the east, central and west of the Qiangtang Terrane. And there is also one group in southern Qiangtang Terrane, which don't migrate," said Lian Xinming, researcher at the Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
With an average altitude of over 4,600 meters, the Hoh Xil Nature Reserve is known as a "no-life zone" due to its thin air and low oxygen levels.
However, it is an important habitat for Tibetan antelopes, which can reach top speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour while running. Lian explained the reasons behind the antelopes' remarkable speed.
"I think one of the reasons why they run so fast is that they've got underfur. The warmth of its underfur is one of the characteristics of its ability to adapt to alpine cold and high altitudes. The diameter of its fur can be as thin as about one-seventh of our human hair on the temples. Secondly, its has been found in physiology that the hemoglobin of Tibetan antelope has a blood oxygen capacity that is more than 30 percent higher than that of other plain animals, which proves that the same number of red blood cells has stronger ability to carry oxygen. That should enable the Tibetan antelope to reach 70 or 80 kilometers per hour in a short time," Lian said.
After years of conservation efforts, the Tibetan antelope population in the Hoh Xil region has increased from less than 20,000 in the late 1980s to currently over 70,000.
Tibetan antelopes on migration journey to Hoh Xil Nature Reserve
