Already during the night, the Israeli media reported that, according to footage from social networks, they are Israeli tanks on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, which is one of the main entry points for humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
According to Haaretz, the Israeli army confirmed this information this morning. Suspension of border crossing operationsand thus the interruption of humanitarian aid supplies, in addition to the Palestinian authorities, three sources from humanitarian organizations confirmed to Reuters.
In the area of the city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of people from other parts of the Gaza Strip have found refuge, continued at night according to AFP Israeli air and artillery strikes. Palestinian authorities are talking about a number of deadone of the local hospitals reported 11 victims.
Israeli troops are operating in some areas east of Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the army announced this morning.
“The IDF (abbreviation for the Israeli army – editor’s note) has begun a well-defined anti-terrorist operation in the eastern Rafah area,” the military said in a statement. It included ground operations as well as air strikes. The army says it has killed around 20 militants and destroyed three tunnel shafts.
On Monday, the Israeli army called for the evacuation of people from the Rafah area. The army is apparently preparing for a ground operation in the agglomeration, where 1.2 million people live in a small area.
Israeli government officials say that without a ground invasion in Rafah, the objective of the Israeli offensive cannot be achieved, namely the destruction of the remaining military infrastructure of the Palestinian Hamas movement. The United States and other allies are warning Israel against the offensive. Ceasefire negotiations, mediated mainly by Egypt and Qatar, have not yet led to a result, although on Monday evening Hamas agreed to a proposal drawn up by Cairo. Israel is studying the plan, but statements from its officials to the media on Monday evening were skeptical.
The Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip began last October in response to a terrorist attack by the Palestinian movement Hamas and its allies, in which 1,200 people died in Israeli territory. According to Palestinian authorities, over 34,700 people have died in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
