CAIRO: As tanks moved deeper into northwest Rafah close to the Egyptian border, Israeli forces killed at least 27 Palestinians on Friday in tank and aerial assaults on the northern and center regions of the Gaza Strip, according to doctors.
Even as a parallel confrontation involving Hamas’ allies Hezbollah raged on the Lebanon-Israel border, the Israelis and Hamas fighters in the enclave continued their ceaseless fighting.
Meanwhile, a few Palestinians who had been uprooted by Israel’s attack on Gaza claimed they were afraid tall waves would overwhelm their makeshift camp by the sea.
According to Palestinian health officials, six more people were murdered in an attack on a house in Gaza City, while eight people were killed and several injured in an Israeli tank shelling in the Nuseirat refugee camp in the center of Gaza.
Tanks move deeper into Rafah’s northwest, close to the Egyptian border.
A car attack in the northern village of Beit Hanoun by Israeli forces left multiple Palestinians dead and injured, according to medical reports. The proportion of combatants to civilians among the dead was unclear.
Tanks in the Israeli army’s southern city of Rafah, where it has been stationed since May, moved further northwest, supported by aircraft, according to locals.
According to locals and Hamas media, Israeli soldiers demolished multiple residences in the eastern parts of the city, where they also reported intense fire and explosions.
The Hamas armed wing released a statement saying, “Our fighters are engaged in fierce gun battles against Israeli forces, who advanced into Tanour neighbourhood in Rafah.”
According to the Israeli military, units stationed in Rafah have killed hundreds of Palestinian combatants in recent weeks, discovered tunnels and explosives, and demolished infrastructure.
An international effort to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has focused on Israel’s desire to maintain control of the southern border line between Rafah and Egypt.
Months have passed since the United States, Qatar, and Egypt—the mediators—tried to broker a peace between Israel and Hamas without success.
The demands of Israel to maintain forces in the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt, as well as the details of an exchange of Israeli detainees for Palestinians detained by Israel, have proven to be particularly challenging.
encroaching ocean
Many of the Palestinians who had been displaced in the southern Gazan region of Al-Mawasi were worried about the threat posed by strong waves. A few tents near the shore were swamped last week.
“It’s enough, it’s enough. Shaban, 47, an electrical engineer who was relocated from Gaza City, said, “We were forced by the occupation (Israel) to the shore, where we assumed it was safe. Last week the sea overflowed and washed away several tents, and it may happen again, where would we go?
According to Israeli estimates, Hamas invaded Israel on October 7th, sparking the most recent war in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which has claimed 1,200 lives.
According to the local health ministry, Israel’s following attack on Gaza resulted in the deaths of over 41,000 Palestinians, forced the displacement of almost the entire population of 2.3 million, created a starvation crisis, and led to accusations of genocide at the World Court, which Israel disputes.
Israel claims that Hamas is a threat to its existence and that it wants to destroy it.
