The Israeli army confirmed on Friday that its troops entered the center of Rafahintensifying its almost eight-month war against the Palestinian Hamas movement, despite international calls to stop the ground offensive in this southern city. Loop.
Concern for the safety of Palestinian civilians crowded into Rafah did not deter Israel from continuing the operation it launched there on May 7 with the aim of eliminating the last Hamas battalions.
US President Joe Biden – who threatened to reconsider his support for his ally Israel in the event of a large-scale offensive in this city bordering Egypt – will speak this Friday on the situation in the Middle East, the White House said.
The Israeli army announced that its “commandos operate in the center of Rafah”, where “They destroyed a weapons depot” of Hamas. He also reported the deaths of two soldiers in Gaza, bringing its military deaths to 292 since Israel launched its ground offensive in late October.
Before the Israeli operation in Rafah began, the UN estimated that 1.4 million people were taking refuge in the city. One million have fled since then, according to the UN Palestinian Refugee Agency (UNRWA).
Witnesses reported Israeli shelling near Rafah and in Nuseirat, in the center of the Palestinian territory. In the center of the territory, 11 people died in night bombings in Deir al Balah and in the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to medical sources.
The army stated that “eliminated several terrorists operating nearby” of his troops in that area.
Humanitarian crisis
The ground deployment in Rafah allowed Israel to take control of the Philadelphia corridor, a 14-kilometer strip along the border between Gaza and Egypt. Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari accused Hamas of using that corridor to transport weapons into the Gaza Strip using tunnels.
Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi denied the existence of these tunnels under the border and accused Israel of seeking justifications for its offensive in Rafah.
Egypt and Israel blame each other for blocking the Rafah border crossing, crucial for the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and closed since the army took control of the Palestinian side in early May.
The UN has frequently warned of the risk of famine in Gaza, under Israeli siege, almost since the conflict began in October.
“It has been 24 days since the Israeli occupation took control of the Rafah crossing and closed the Kerem Shalom crossing, aggravating the humanitarian crisis and preventing 22,000 wounded and sick from leaving Gaza for treatment, and aid from entering,” lamented on Friday the press office of the authorities of Gaza, a territory ruled by Hamas since 2007.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that “the help that comes in [en Gaza] “It does not reach the population” and recalled that Israel’s legal obligation to provide aid “it doesn’t stop at the border.”
UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini called on Israel to “cease your campaign” against the agency, in an article published in the New York Times.
Israel accused UNRWA employees of being involved in the October 7 attack by Hamas, which sparked the war, causing several countries to stop funding it.
On the day of the attack, Hamas commandos killed 1,189 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli data.
The militants also kidnapped 252 people. Israel claims that 121 remain kidnapped in Gaza, of which 37 have died.
Israel promised “annihilate” to Hamas and launched an offensive that has so far left 36,284 dead in Gaza, according to the balance sheet of the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian territory.
With indirect negotiations for a ceasefire at a standstill, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh indicated Friday that ““The resistance (…) informed the mediators once again that their demands are not negotiable.”
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Source: Gestion
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