By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dan Williams
CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel made a new assault on central Gaza on Monday, bombed towns in the north of the Strip and said it intended to expand its military operation in Rafah, despite US warnings about the risk of mass casualties in the southern city. .
Gaza doctors said at least 23 people were killed in the latest fighting, and residents said fighting was intense in Jabalia, in the north of the Palestinian enclave.
Israeli tanks also carried out a limited incursion into the Wadi Al-Salqa and Al-Karara areas near Deir Al-Balah, a central Gaza town that Israeli forces have not entered during more than seven months of war, local residents said.
Fighting intensified as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held talks in Israel, in which the White House said it would call on Israeli forces to pursue Hamas militants in Gaza in a targeted manner rather than with an attack. on a large scale to Rafah.
But the Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galante signaled there would be no let-up in their operation, aimed at liberating Rafah from Hamas militants and rescuing hostages captured in the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 that triggered the war.
“We are committed to expanding the ground operation in Rafah until the end of the dismantling of Hamas and the recovery of the hostages,” he told Sullivan, according to a statement from Gallant’s office.
Israel describes Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Egypt, as Hamas’ last stronghold. Western powers are concerned about the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians sheltering there, despite Israeli assurances about humanitarian safeguards.
Israel told civilians to evacuate parts of the city on May 6 and began incursions by troops and tanks. The United Nations Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) estimates that 810,000 people have since fled, possibly more than half the wartime population of Rafah.
Israel’s plan for an all-out assault on Rafah has triggered one of the biggest rifts in generations with its main ally, and Washington has held back a shipment of weapons due to fears of major civilian casualties.
BATTLES IN THE HEART OF JABALIA
At least 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war in Gaza, according to the enclave’s health ministry, and aid agencies have also warned of widespread hunger and dire shortages of fuel and medical supplies.
About 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage in the Oct. 7 attack, according to Israeli records. Around 125 people are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza. Israel’s military says more than 280 soldiers have been killed in fighting since the first ground incursions into Gaza on October 20.
Fighting has been intense in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, for around 10 days. Battles are taking place in the center of the field and in narrow alleys where Israeli forces have not previously entered, residents said.
The armed wings of Hamas and the allied group Islamic Jihad said their fighters fired anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli forces operating in Gaza, including in Rafah.
Hamas’ armed wing said gunfights were taking place in the eastern suburbs of Rafah, where videos circulating on social media but not verified by Reuters showed tanks outside a building, in what would be new achievements for Israeli forces. .
Talks mediated by Egypt and Qatar failed to guarantee an end to the war.
Qatar’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said on Monday that he saw no political will to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza while military operations continued on the ground.
Israel says it wants to reach a deal that would allow the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians held in Israel, but has not committed to ending its offensive in Gaza.
Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, says Israel must commit to ending the war and rejects any post-war agreement that excludes the group.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from his own war cabinet to commit to an agreed vision for Gaza that would include stipulating who could govern the enclave after the conflict ends.
According to a poll broadcast on Sunday by Israel’s Channel 13 television, 41% of Israelis believe that Operation Rafah will bring what Netanyahu described as “total victory” closer, while 46% do not believe so.
(Edited by Timothy Heritage)
