Hadeel Radwan is a displaced mother of a newborn baby currently taking refuge in the western region of Thar Sultan. question.
She told AFP that other residents had been fleeing, but “I had a caesarean section and it was difficult for me to act quickly in a threatened situation.”
Other Palestinians told Reuters that Israeli tanks were driving deep into residential areas southeast of Rafah and across the main north-south road to the nearby Rafah crossing with Egypt, which Israeli forces took control of on Tuesday.
“This morning, tanks advanced west of Saladin Road and into the neighborhoods of Bassey and al-Jneineh,” one resident said. “They were on the streets in a construction zone and there were clashes,” they added.
Al-Jneineh was one of the eastern communities covered by Israel’s original evacuation order, while Brazil was included in an expanded evacuation zone announced Saturday.
Residents were told to go to the “expanded humanitarian zone”, which stretches from the coastal strip of Mawasi north to the central town of Deir al-Balah. But the United Nations says the area lacks basic infrastructure.
The IDF said in a statement on Tuesday that troops “eliminate multiple armed terrorist groups in close engagements on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing” and “eliminate a number of terrorists and recover weapons” in eastern Israel. . Rafa.
Hamas, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Israel, Britain and other countries, said its militants attacked an Israeli personnel carrier with anti-tank missiles in the Salam area of southern Israel, killing and injuring several Israeli soldiers. , and blew up a booby-trapped building on George Street across al-Jneineh.
The Israel Defense Forces said a soldier was seriously injured in fighting in southern Gaza.
Seven months into the Gaza war, Israel insists victory is impossible without capturing Rafah and wiping out Hamas’s last remaining battalion.
But the United Nations and Western powers have warned that a full-scale attack could lead to massive civilian casualties and a humanitarian disaster.
In addition to the mass displacement of Palestinians in the city, the United Nations has warned that supplies of fuel, food and other essential goods are running out as the Rafah crossing is closed and the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing to Israel is inaccessible. hostilities in the area.
