Israel moves deeper into Rafah and battles regrouping Hamas in northern Gaza

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops pushed deeper into the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in devastated parts of the north. area, but militants have regrouped in the area.

Rafah’s offensive continues to escalate in the area seen as the last refuge for more than a million civilians in Gaza and the last stronghold of Hamas. About 300,000 people fled Rafah after Israel issued an evacuation order. war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated his opposition to a major military attack on Rafah, telling CBS that without withdrawing from Gaza and developing a post-war governance plan, Israel would “bear the burden of a protracted insurgency”.

The expanding Rafah operation has prompted warnings from neighboring Egypt, whose foreign ministry said it intends to formally join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, a move Israel has rejected. The statement noted that “Israeli attacks on Palestinian civilians continue to worsen in severity and scope.”

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement that “a full-scale attack on Rafah is not possible,” adding that he could not see how this could be consistent with international humanitarian law.

Gaza lost a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas forces to rebuild even in the worst-hit areas. Israel has yet to provide a detailed plan for Gaza’s post-war governance, saying only that it will maintain open security controls over the coastal enclave where some 2.3 million Palestinians live.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting until victory in a Memorial Day speech to honor those lost in the war.

Netanyahu has rejected a U.S.-proposed post-war plan that calls for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to run Gaza with support from Arab and Muslim countries. The plans depend on progress toward establishing a Palestinian state, which Netanyahu’s government opposes.

The attack on 7 October killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. The militants still hold about 100 prisoners and the remains of more than 30 people.

Israel’s air, land and sea offensive has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, Gaza’s health ministry said, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its data. Israel says it has killed more than 13,000 militants but has provided no evidence.

Palestinians reported heavy overnight Israeli bombardment of the city’s Jabaliya refugee camp and other areas of northern Gaza, which have suffered massive damage and have been largely isolated by Israeli forces for months. United Nations officials say a “total famine” is occurring there.

Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery struck the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have been fighting militants for more than a week. They called on tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.

“It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, 48, from Jabaliya. He said they could hear strong and sustained explosions starting at noon on Saturday. “This is crazy.”

First responders from the Palestinian Civil Defense Forces said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help in both areas, as well as in Rafah.

Major General Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military’s top spokesman, said troops were also conducting operations in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun. Early in the war, two towns in northern Gaza on the border with Israel were heavily bombed.

“The Hamas regime cannot be overthrown without preparing an alternative regime,” columnist Ben Caspet wrote in the Israeli daily Maariv, expressing the growing frustration of many Israelis during the war. . “The only people who were able to govern Gaza after the war were Gazans, with a lot of support and help from the outside.”

Before the Israeli operation began, Rafah provided shelter to some 1.3 million Palestinians, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere.

Israel has now withdrawn from the eastern third of Rafah, and Hagari said dozens of militants had been killed as “targeted operations continue”. The United Nations has warned that a planned full-scale invasion in Rafah would further weaken humanitarian operations and lead to a surge in civilian deaths.

Rafah borders Egypt and is close to major aid entry points, which have been affected. Israeli forces seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, forcing it to close. According to the state-owned Al Qahera News television channel, Egypt refused to coordinate with Israel in sending aid through the crossing because of “the unacceptable escalation by Israel.”

A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press that Cairo has protested to Israel, the United States and European governments, saying the offensive puts its decades-old peace treaty with Israel, a cornerstone of regional stability, at risk. High risk. The official was not authorized to brief the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

US President Joe Biden said he would not provide Israel with offensive weapons for Rafah. On Friday, his government said there was “reasonable” evidence that Israel violated international law that protects civilians – Washington’s strongest statement yet on the matter.

Israel denies the accusations, saying it seeks to avoid harming civilians. It blames Hamas for the high toll as the militants fight in densely populated residential areas. But the military rarely comments on individual attacks, which often result in the deaths of women and children.