Children stand behind barbed wire fences along a hillside near a camp housing displaced Palestinians in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on April 30, 2024, amid the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territory between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
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RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces pushed deeper into the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday and battled Hamas in parts of the devastated northern section the army said it had been cleared months ago but where the fighters have regrouped.
Warnings continued against the growing assault on Rafah, considered the last refuge in Gaza for more than a million civilians as well as the last stronghold of Hamas. About 300,000 people have fled Rafah following evacuation orders from Israel, which says it must invade to dismantle Hamas and return dozens of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken reiterated his opposition to a major military offensive in Rafah, telling CBS that Israel would be “left holding the bag in an ongoing insurgency” without an exit from Gaza and a post-war governance plan.
The expanding Rafah operation has prompted warnings from neighboring Egypt, whose foreign ministry has said it intends to formally join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice claim that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, which Israel rejects. The statement cited “the worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians.”
Israeli soldiers stand next to military vehicles, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, near the Israel-Gaza border, in southern Israel, May 7, 2024.
Amir Cohen | Reuters
“A full-scale attack on Rafah cannot be carried out,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement, adding that he could not see how it could be reconciled with international humanitarian law.
Gaza has been left without a functioning government, leading to a breakdown in public order and allowing Hamas’ armed wing to re-establish itself even in the worst-hit areas. Israel has yet to offer a detailed plan for post-war governance in Gaza, saying only that it will maintain an open security control over the coastal enclave that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Memorial Day speech promised to continue fighting until victory in memory of those killed in the war.
Netanyahu rejected post-war plans proposed by the United States for the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, to rule Gaza with the support of Arab and Muslim countries. These plans they depend on progress towards the creation of a Palestinian state, which the Netanyahu government opposes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Jerusalem, February 18, 2024.
Ronen Zvulun | Reuters
The 7 Oct attack killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 250 hostages. Militants still hold about 100 prisoners and the remains of more than 30. Internationally brokered talks for a ceasefire and hostage release appear to be deadlocked.
Israel’s air, ground and sea assault has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its numbers. Israel says it has killed more than 13,000 fighters, without providing figures.
Heavy shelling in the north
Palestinians reported heavy Israeli shelling overnight in the Jabaliya urban refugee camp and other areas in northern Gaza, which has suffered widespread destruction and has been largely cut off from Israeli forces for months. UN officials say there is a “complete hunger” there.
Residents said Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded the camp and the Zeitoun area east of Gaza City, where troops have been battling militants for more than a week. They called tens of thousands of people to relocate to nearby areas.
Smoke rises after Israeli airstrikes in eastern Rafah, Gaza on May 7, 2024. The Israeli military said its forces seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
Abed Rahim Khatib | Anadolu | Getty Images
“It was a very difficult night,” said Abdel-Kareem Radwan, a 48-year-old from Jabaliya. He said they could hear heavy and continuous shelling since midday on Saturday. “This is madness.”
Palestinian Civil Defense first responders said they were unable to respond to multiple calls for help from both areas, as well as Rafah.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari, the top Israeli military spokesman, said forces were also operating in Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun. The two towns near Gaza’s northern border with Israel were heavily shelled in the early days of the war.
“The Hamas regime cannot be overthrown without preparing an alternative to this regime,” columnist Ben Kaspit wrote in the Israeli newspaper Maariv. growing frustration felt by many Israelis more than seven months after the war. “The only people who can rule Gaza after the war are the people of Gaza, with a lot of support and help from abroad.”
Civilians flee south
Displaced Palestinians, who fled Rafah after the Israeli army began evacuating civilians from the eastern areas of southern Gaza City in anticipation of a threatened offensive, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, travel by vehicle, in Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip May 6, 2024.
Ramadan Abed | Reuters
Rafah was home to about 1.3 million Palestinians before the Israeli operation began, most of whom had fled fighting elsewhere.
Israel has now evacuated the eastern third of Rafah and Hagari said dozens of militants were killed there as “targeted operations continued”. The United Nations has warned that a planned full-scale invasion of Rafah will happen further cripple humanitarian operations and cause an increase in civilian deaths.
Rafah borders Egypt near the main aid entry points, which have already been hit. Israeli troops have occupied the Gaza side of Rafa crossing, forcing it to close. Egypt refused to coordinate with Israel on providing aid through the crossing because of “unacceptable Israeli escalation,” state TV channel Al Qahera News reported.
Smoke billows after Israeli shelling of central Gaza City on March 18, 2024, amid ongoing fighting between Israel and the militant group Hamas.
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A senior Egyptian official told The Associated Press that Cairo has protested with Israel, the United States and European governments, saying the attack has put decades-old peace treaty with Israel — a cornerstone of regional stability — at high risk. The official was not authorized to brief the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
US President Joe Biden has said he will not provide Israel with offensive weapons for Rafah. On Friday, his government said it was “reasonable” evidence that Israel had violated international law protection of civilians — Washington’s strongest statement yet on the issue.
Israel rejects these claims, saying it is trying to avoid harming civilians. He blames Hamas for the high toll because the militants are fighting in densely populated areas. But the military rarely comments on individual strikes, which often kill women and children.