CAIRO: Palestinian locals reported that Israeli tanks and jets pounded parts of Rafah on Thursday. This came after President Joe Biden threatened to withhold arms from Israel should its forces launch a significant invasion of the southern Gaza city.
According to a senior Israeli official, Israel will carry out its operation in Rafah and other areas of the Gaza Strip as scheduled following the conclusion of the most recent round of indirect discussions to resolve hostilities in Cairo.
The insider also stated that the Israeli team was on its way back from the Egyptian capital and that Israel had communicated to mediators its concerns regarding a proposal for a prisoners’ release agreement made by Hamas.
Israeli tanks gathered on the eastern edge of the city were targeted by anti-tank rockets and mortars fired by fighters from the Palestinian organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
Residents and medical professionals in Rafah reported that an Israeli attack by a mosque in the neighborhood of eastern Brazil killed at least three persons and injured more.
Residents on the eastern outskirts of the city reported that drones were hovering above residences in multiple locations, some very near to rooftops, and that a helicopter had opened fire.
Israel says it needs to destroy Hamas fighters for its own protection because they are sheltering in Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Gazans have fled to escape bombardment elsewhere in the coastal territory.
Mohammad Abder-Rahman, one of the displaced, expressed his fear that the Israeli bombing was a sign of an impending assault of the city.
Two Egyptian security officials said that while there was some progress in the ceasefire negotiations in the country’s capital, no agreement was achieved.
With Israel held responsible for the current state of non-agreement, the Hamas team departed for Doha for discussions.
While vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel has stated that it is amenable to a ceasefire but has rejected requests for the bombing to stop.
Biden offered his strongest warning to yet against a complete ground assault, claiming that Israel had not come up with a viable plan to protect people in Rafah.
“I’m not supplying the weapons if they go into Rafah, as I made clear,” Biden stated in a Wednesday interview with CNN.
According to the Gaza health ministry, Israel’s attack on Gaza has resulted in around 35,000 Palestinian deaths and almost 80,000 injuries, the majority of which are civilians.
The United Nations reports that 80,000 Palestinians have been forced to evacuate the city this week as a result of Israeli tanks seizing control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a crucial humanitarian route.
“These families are bearing an intolerable burden. The UN organization for Palestinian refugees stated in a post on X that “nowhere is safe.”
According to Israeli public radio, Israel’s UN envoy Gilad Erdan stated that the US decision to halt some arms transfers to Israel will seriously hinder the nation’s capacity to neutralize Hamas authority.
However, highlighting the severity of the standoff, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant informed Israel’s “enemies and friends” that it will take all necessary measures to accomplish its objectives in Gaza.
Residents stated that as Israel continued its tank and aircraft attacks throughout Gaza, tanks moved forward in the northern Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City, forcing hundreds of people to escape.
Starting with a series of intelligence-based aerial strikes on about 25 targets, the Israeli military stated it was securing Zeitoun.
The central Gazan neighborhood of Deir Al-Balah was teeming with those who had recently fled Rafah. Two persons, including a lady, were murdered, according to Palestinian doctors, when a drone launched a missile into a gathering of people in that area.
negotiations for a ceasefire
Delegations from Qatar, Egypt, the US, Israel, and Hamas had been meeting in Cairo since Tuesday. After traveling back and forth between Cairo and Jerusalem, CIA Director William Burns met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.
The Hamas delegation has left Cairo, according to Izzat El-Risheq, a member of the organization’s political office in Qatar, after reiterating its support for the ceasefire proposal put up by the mediators. The plan calls for the release of some Palestinians detained by Israel as well as Israeli inmates detained in Gaza.
The Gaza health ministry stated on Thursday that the closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt has hindered the entry of medical supplies, food trucks, and fuel needed to run hospitals as well as the evacuation of the sick and injured.
Because of the bombardment, the only kidney dialysis facility in the Rafah region had to close.
A surgeon from Jordan who volunteers at the Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, Ali Abu Khurma, stated, “There used to be medical aid coming in, and now there is no medical aid.”
“The medical industry as a whole has collapsed.”
