Israeli invasion in Rafah expands as 300,000 are forced to flee
ISRAELI forces were in action across the Gaza Strip over the weekend battling what they said were Palestinian militants, including in parts of the devastated north that the military said it had cleared months ago.
A limited operation in the southern city of Rafah has expanded in recent days, forcing some 300,000 people to flee.
Palestinians reported heavy Israeli bombardment overnight into yesterday in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas in the northern Gaza Strip, which has suffered widespread devastation and been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. UN officials say there is a “full-blown famine” there.
Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck across the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have been battling Palestinian militants for over a week. They have called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.
“It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old Palestinian from Jabaliya. He said they could hear intense and constant bombing since midday on Saturday. “This is madness,” he added.
First responders with the Palestinian Civil Defence said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as Rafah, on the southern edge of Gaza. Israeli troops have been battling militants there since the army seized the nearby border crossing with Egypt last week.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said troops are fighting in all parts of Gaza, “in areas where we have not yet operated and in places where we have”.
He said that in addition to Jabaliya and Zeitoun, forces were also operating in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun, towns near Gaza’s northern border with Israel that were heavily bombed in the opening days of the war.
Five Israeli soldiers were killed in Zeitoun on Friday, and Palestinian militants fired a barrage of 14 rockets towards the Israeli city of Beersheba that night. Another rocket launched overnight damaged a home in the Israeli city of Ashkelon, the military said yesterday.
The United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, the main provider of aid in Gaza, said 300,000 people have fled Rafah since the operation began there. Most are heading to the heavily damaged nearby city of Khan Younis or Mawasi, a crowded tent camp on the coast where some 450,000 people are already living in squalid conditions.
Rafah was sheltering some
1.3 million Palestinians before the Israeli operation began, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere in the territory.
Israel says Hamas still holds about 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 after the October 7 attack.
Israel’s air, land and sea offensive has killed more than 34,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its figures.
Israel says it has killed more than 13,000 militants – without providing evidence.