Israeli forces killed at least 50 Palestinians in aerial and ground bombardments across the Gaza Strip and fought hand-to-hand with Hamas-led fighters in the southern town of Rafah, officials say of health and the armed wing of Hamas.
Israeli tanks advanced into southeastern Rafah, headed toward the western neighborhood of Yibna and continued operating in three eastern suburbs of the city, residents said Thursday.
“The occupation (Israeli forces) is trying to move further west. They are on the edge of Yibna, which is densely populated. They haven’t invaded it yet,” one resident told the Reuters news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“We hear explosions and see black smoke rising from areas invaded by the army. It was another very difficult night,” he said.
Simultaneous Israeli attacks on Gaza’s northern and southern borders this month sparked a new exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes and cut off key aid routes, increasing the risk of famine .
The international community, including Israel’s closest ally, the United States, has warned against launching a ground attack on Rafah without a credible plan to protect civilians. It has been widely criticized for its operations in the city, including from the United States, but Israel says it must intervene there against several battalions of Hamas fighters.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the main humanitarian agency operating in Gaza, estimated Monday that more than 800,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel began targeting the city in early May.
Suze van Meegan, emergency response manager for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Gaza, said many civilians were still stuck there.
“The city of Rafah is now made up of three completely different worlds: the east is an archetypal war zone, the center is a ghost town, and the west is a crowded mass of people living in deplorable conditions,” he said. -she declared in a press release.
“Despair and hunger will spread”
At the same time, Israeli forces intensified their ground offensive in the Jabalia refugee camp, north of Gaza, where the army razed several residential areas. It also hit the neighboring town of Beit Hanoon. Israel declared the end of its major operations in these areas a few months ago, but says it had to return to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.
At least 12 Palestinians were killed in an airstrike on a store belonging to the Ministry of Social Affairs east of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, reported .
Gaza’s civil defense agency said two pre-dawn airstrikes killed 26 people, including 15 children, in Gaza City.
Civil Defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal said one strike hit a family home, killing 16 people, in the al-Daraj neighborhood, and another killed 10 people inside from the grounds of a mosque.
Another Israeli attack on a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed eight more people.
A senior security official, Diaa Aldeen Al-Shurafa, was killed in an Israeli strike while visiting residential areas of Gaza City, the Gaza Interior Ministry said.
Israel has imposed severe restrictions on deliveries of water, food, medicine and fuel, forcing several hospitals in Gaza to close their doors.
On Thursday, the Health Ministry said there were “minutes” of fuel left to power generators at Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir el-Balah, adding that care for 1,300 patients would soon cease.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned that “if aid does not start flowing into Gaza in massive quantities, despair and hunger will spread,” the UN spokesperson told reporters. UN, Stéphane Dujarric.
He highlighted the closure of the Rafah crossing and the limited functionality of the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) crossing in southern Gaza as having “stifled the flow of vital supplies.” The UN previously said it could no longer distribute food in southern Gaza due to the danger.
Dujarric said hospitals in Gaza are lacking fuel and medicine due to the continued closure of the Rafah crossing. It has been closed since Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of this crucial transportation route on May 6.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said three soldiers were killed in fighting on Wednesday, bringing the number of people killed since ground operations in Gaza began on October 20 to 286 soldiers.
More than 35,800 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian health officials.
