Israel strikes Rafah despite US warning
Latest round of ceasefire talks in Cairo ends without a deal
Smoke rose from strikes on Gaza’s crowded southern city of Rafah yesterday after US President Joe Biden vowed to stop supplying artillery shells and other weapons to Israel if a full-scale offensive into the city goes ahead.
It was the starkest warning yet from the United States, Israel’s main military provider, over the civilian impact of its war against Hamas Palestinian militants.
An AFP correspondent and witnesses yesterday reported strikes on several parts of Rafah, where the United Nations said 1.4 million people were sheltering.
“The tanks and jets are striking,” Tarek Bahlul said on a deserted Rafah street. “Every minute you hear a rocket and you don’t know where it will land.”
Israel has already defied international objections by sending in tanks and conducting what it called “targeted raids” in eastern Rafah, the city it says is home to Hamas’s last remaining battalions.
Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official said that the latest round of indirect negotiations in Cairo to halt hostilities had ended with no deal and Israel would proceed with its operation in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip as planned.
Israel has submitted to mediators its reservations about a Hamas proposal for a hostage release deal and the Israeli delegation was returning from the Egyptian capital, the official added.
Israel has already defied international objections by sending in tanks and conducting what it called “targeted raids” in eastern Rafah, the city it says is home to Hamas’ last remaining battalions.
An Israeli air strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed four people yesterday, according to Lebanon’s civil defence, with security sources saying those killed were members of armed group Hezbollah.
The conflict between Hezbollah and Israel has rumbled on since October, parallel to the Gaza war, with an escalation this week as both sides intensified their bombardment, fuelling concern of a bigger war between the heavily-armed adversaries.
Israel used artillery, drones and warplanes against targets in southern Lebanon, including to strike Hezbollah and other armed groups. Fighters in Lebanon have launched rockets and their drones into northern Israel.
The Israeli military did not immediately reply to a request for comment on yesterday’s strikes.
Car scorched
Lebanon’s civil defence rescue force said it had pulled four bodies out of a car that had been scorched by an Israeli strike.
Two security sources told Reuters the four killed were members of Hezbollah.
The exchanges of fire have uprooted tens of thousands of people on both sides of the border. In northern Israel, the displacement has prompted calls for firmer military action against Hezbollah.
Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned that the next months “may be a hot summer,” saying either a diplomatic deal or military solution was needed to restore security.
The fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has been the most intense since they went to war in 2006.
Hezbollah has said it will cease fire when the Israeli offensive in Gaza stops, but that it is also ready to fight on if Israel continues to attack Lebanon.