Israeli shelling kills dozens across Gaza amid intense clashes

CAIRO:

Israeli forces pounded Rafah in southern Gaza on Friday, as well as other areas across the enclave, killing at least 38 Palestinians as troops engaged in close combat with Hamas militants, residents and the Israeli military said.

Residents said the Israelis appeared to be trying to complete their capture of Rafah, which borders Egypt and has been at the center of an Israeli offensive since early May.

The tanks were entering the western and northern parts of the city, having already occupied the east, south and center. Israeli forces fired from planes, tanks and ships off the coast, forcing a new wave of displacement from the city, which had sheltered more than a million displaced people, most of whom were forced to flee again.

Read: Gaza ceasefire uncertain, Israel vows to continue Rafah operation

Later on Friday, Palestinian health officials said at least 18 Palestinians were killed in Mawasi in western Rafah, in what Palestinians said was a tank shelling that hit a tent housing displaced families.

“Our teams have so far faced 18 martyrs and 35 injured due to the occupation targeting displaced tents in Mawasi #Rafah, west of the province,” the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said in a statement to X.

Palestinian health officials said at least 38 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli military raids on Friday.

The Israeli military said on Friday it was looking into the reported attacks in Mawasi and a separate incident in Gaza City.

“and that there was no one in the world more beautiful.”

It said its forces were carrying out “precise, intelligence-led” operations in the Rafah area, where troops were involved in fighting near the quarter and had identified tunnels used by militants.

The army also said that last week its forces had targeted a university it said served as a Hamas headquarters from which the militants fired on its soldiers and found weapons and barrel bombs. He does not name the university.

In the central Nusseirat district of the Gaza Strip, the army said, soldiers killed dozens of militants last week and found an arms cache containing mortar bombs and military equipment belonging to Hamas.

Also read: Gaza conflict has caused major environmental disaster, says UN

Some residents of Rafah said the pace of the Israeli incursion has quickened over the past two days. They said the sounds of explosions and gunfire, indicative of fierce fighting, were almost non-stop.

“Last night was one of the worst nights in western Rafah, drones, planes, tanks and navy ships bombarded the area. We feel that the occupation is trying to complete control of the city,” Hatem, 45, told which was communicated via text message. .

“They’re taking heavy hits from the resistance, which can slow them down.”

Areas of focus

More than eight months into the Gaza war, Israel’s advance is now focused on the last two areas its forces have yet to invade: Rafah on the southern tip of Gaza and the area around Deir al-Ballah in the center.

“The entire city of Rafah is an area of ​​Israeli military operations,” Ahmed Al Sofi, the mayor of Rafah, said in a statement carried by Hamas media on Friday.

“The city is living through a humanitarian disaster and people are dying in their tents because of Israeli shelling,” he added.

Sophie said that no medical facility was operating in the city and that the remaining residents and displaced families did not have the minimum daily requirements of food and water.

Palestinian and UN figures suggest fewer than 100,000 people may have remained in the western side of the city, which had seen more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents flee before the Israeli offensive began in early May.

The Israeli military has accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, a claim Hamas denies.

“Soldiers located inside a civilian residence large quantities of weapons hidden in closets, including grenades, explosives, launchers and anti-tank missiles, ammunition and weapons,” the military said in a statement late Thursday.

Hamas’ armed wing said Thursday that its fighters hit two Israeli tanks with anti-tank rockets at the Sabura camp in Rafah, killing soldiers who tried to flee through the alleys. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the Hamas claim.

In nearby Khan Younis, an Israeli airstrike on Friday killed three people, including a father and son, medics said.

At the same time, Israeli forces continued a new push into some suburbs of Gaza City in the north of the enclave, where they fought with Hamas fighters. Residents said army forces destroyed several houses in the heart of Gaza City on Thursday.

Later on Friday, an Israeli airstrike on municipal facilities in Gaza City killed five people, including four municipal employees, the region’s Civil Emergency Service said. He added that rescue teams were searching the ruins for more missing victims.

In the nearby Beach camp, an Israeli airstrike on a house killed at least seven people, medics said.

Israel’s ground and air campaign began when Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli estimates.

The attack left Gaza in ruins, killed more than 37,400 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left almost the entire population homeless and destitute.