Al Mezan, a Palestinian advocacy group, says Israeli forces are continuing to demolish private and public property in Rafah, six weeks since the ceasefire came into effect, and preventing residents of the southern city from returning to their homes, Al Jazeera reports.

Israeli forces “have not kept within the designated areas outlined in the ceasefire agreement and continue to maintain positions deep inside Rafah — more than one kilometer inside the city centre, extending to the eastern garage area, the Palestinian-Egyptian border to the south, and the eastern perimeter fence”, it said.

Israeli forces have also declared some 60 percent of the city’s area a “restricted and highly dangerous zone”, it said.

“These areas remain highly dangerous, where any movement is met with artillery fire, sniper attacks, and aerial bombardment.”

Nearly half of the 111 people killed and 916 wounded by Israeli forces since the ceasefire were in Rafah as residents attempted to check on their homes and farmland, the group said.

Some 200,000 of the city’s 300,000 residents are still unable to return, it added.