Fighting rages in Gaza's Rafah after first aid delivery, martyrs' toll at 35,386
RAFAH, Palestine (AFP) - Heavy clashes and bombardment Saturday rocked Gaza's southern city of Rafah as the Israeli military announced the first humanitarian aid had entered the besieged territory via a US-built pier.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 35,386 people have been martyred in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants. The toll includes at least 83 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 79,366 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
The military said its air forces "struck over 70 targets" across the Gaza Strip over the past 24 hours while ground troops "continue precise operations" in eastern Rafah. More than 10 days into what the Israeli military called a "limited" operation in Rafah that sparked an exodus of Palestinians sheltering there, fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants has also flared again in Gaza's north.
AFP correspondents, witnesses and medics said there were intense battles overnight in the northern Jabalia refugee camp, after the Israeli army reported on Friday "perhaps the fiercest" violence in the town in more than seven months of war. Israeli forces "eliminated terrorists in a number of battles" in the Jabalia area and parts of central Gaza, the army said. The Israeli army said 310 pallets began moving ashore in "the first entry of humanitarian aid through the floating pier".
Rafah operation hampers aid
In the coming days, around 500 tonnes of aid are expected to be delivered to Gaza through the pier, according to US Central Command. But UN agencies and humanitarian aid groups have warned sea or air deliveries cannot replace far more efficient truck convoys into Gaza, where the United Nations has repeatedly warned of looming famine.
The European Union welcomed the first shipment from Cyprus to the Gaza pier, but called on Israel to "expand deliveries by land and to immediately open additional crossings". Out of 252 people taken hostage from Israel during the October 7 attack, 125 remain held in Gaza including 37 the army says are dead.
The army said troops in Gaza had recovered late Thursday the bodies of three hostages who had been "murdered" on October 7. Amid the aid shortages, the Israeli army said "dozens of Israeli civilians" set fire to a Gaza-bound aid truck in the occupied West Bank on Thursday night, in the second such attack in a week.
Israel has vowed to defeat remaining Hamas forces in Rafah, which it says is the last bastion of the Iran-backed group. The looming Israeli assault has prompted nearly 640,000 of the 1.4 million people who had been sheltering in Rafah to flee to other areas, the UN humanitarian office said.
