Israel troops push into central Rafah, martyrs’ toll at 36,284
RAFAH, Palestine (AFP) - The Israeli army said Friday its troops pushed into central Rafah, escalating its nearly eight-month war with Hamas despite international objections over any offensive in the southern Gaza city.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 36,284 people have been martyred in the territory during more than seven months of war. The toll includes at least 60 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 82,057 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
Israel first sent tanks and troops into Rafah from the city's east in early May, ignoring concerns over the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city on the Egyptian border.
Soldiers were operating "in central Rafah" where they uncovered rocket-launchers and tunnel shafts and dismantled a Hamas weapons storage facility, the army said in its latest statement. Witnesses reported seeing Israeli air strikes on the Rafah area as well as troop movements at the Al-Awda roundabout, Yibna camp and Kir intersection in central Rafah.
In central Gaza, the army said it was "intensifying operations" and had carried out air strikes that "eliminated several terrorists" operating near Israeli troops. It did not elaborate. Israel has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7. On Wednesday, it declared its forces had taken control of the 14-kilometre (8.5-mile) Philadelphi corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, where it alleges weapons were being smuggled.
Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict, has yet to officially comment on the Israeli takeover, which officials have previously said could violate the two countries' 1979 peace deal. Amid stalled diplomatic efforts towards a ceasefire, Hamas said it had informed mediators it would only agree a "comprehensive" truce agreement including a hostage-prisoner swap if Israel halts its "aggression".
Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas's Qatar-based political office, reiterated Friday that the group's core demands -- including a permanent ceasefire and full Israeli withdrawal -- "are non-negotiable". He accused Israel of "using negotiations as a cover to continue its aggression", saying Hamas "refuses to be a part of these manoeuvres". On Thursday, Israel said its forces had killed about 300 Palestinian militants in Rafah since launching its military operation in the city. A stream of civilians fled Rafah, taking their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.
Aid at sea
Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city. Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said. The United Nations has warned of looming famine in Gaza. The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza's 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory's main exit point.
However, Israel said at the weekend that aid deliveries had been stepped up, including through its Kerem Shalom crossing with Gaza. UN Palestinian refugee agency chief Philippe Lazzarini appealed Friday for Israel to "stop its campaign against UNRWA", in an opinion article published in the New York Times.
Cyprus, the European Union's easternmost member, said humanitarian aid shipped to Gaza was being kept at sea off the territory's coast, after a US-built pier was damaged in bad weather. Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis said Friday the pier would be "back on track" within days.
"Our goal... is to be able to help half a million people per month, and we think that this goal is achievable," he said. In an interview on French channel LCI, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed as "anti-Semitic slander" accusations Israel was deliberately targeting and starving Gazan civilians.
