On Sunday, Israeli tanks further penetrated Rafah, reaching the outskirts of Muwasi’s designated humanitarian zone in the north-western section of the city located in southern Gaza. Local residents reported intense encounters with militants and alleged that the progressing Israeli invasion instigated some inhabitants to evacuate towards Khan Yunis, Gaza’s second largest city.
Israel maintains that thousands of Hamas combatants fled from Rafah to the Muwasi displacement camp to dodge the Israeli assault. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) proclaimed they were perpetuating their ‘intelligence-led, precision operations’ within the Rafah region, having discovered arms depots as well as tunnel entrances and successfully neutralised Palestinian gunsters.
Israel predicts that the conflict in Rafah against the final Hamas forces will persist for several more weeks, to be succeeded by a series of smaller-scale operations whenever the militant faction attempts to revalidate its military dominance.
Concurrently, medical professionals in Gaza reported that an Israeli air strike Sunday morning in the Sabra district of Gaza City resulted in the deaths of eight individuals.
Meanwhile, controversy erupted when the Israeli military publicly apologised in response to a social media video, depicting a wounded Palestinian suspect tied to the front of an IDF jeep during a raid in the city of Jenin, located in the West Bank. The IDF admitted to contravening protocol and pledged to investigate the incident.
Israel verified that Raed Saad, the fourth-ranking official in the military branch of Hamas, was the intended objective of an extensive attack on Saturday in Gaza City’s Shati camp that claimed over 40 lives. However, there has been no confirmation of Saad’s death.
According to reports from the Gaza health ministry, run by Hamas, since the commencement of the war on October 7th, there have been 37,600 Palestinian fatalities. Israel declared that on that day alone, 1,200 individuals were killed and 253 were taken hostage in an unexpected attack by Hamas. The Israeli authorities report 120 individuals remain captives of Hamas, although the number of survivors is unknown.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday addressed a contentious video clip from the preceding week in which he condemned Washington for stopping arms shipments to Israel, labelling such an event as “unthinkable”.
At the recent weekly cabinet meet, Mr Netanyahu noted a significant decrease in arms supply from the US over the past months. He stated that only few items were received while most of the armaments were withheld. This was revealed at the same time as defence minister Yoav Gallant was conversing with US officials on his second trip to Washington since the outbreak of the Gaza war. The expected focal point of their discussion was the shortage of weaponry and prospective military clash with Lebanon. American officials reportedly guaranteed Israel full military aid needed for a potential conflict with Hizbullah, as disclosed by CNN.
However, Politico highlighted that officials of the administration are anxious that Mr Netanyahu may utilise his forthcoming address to Congress to express disapproval of President Joe Biden’s perceived lack of support for the Gaza Strip campaign against Hamas. One high-ranking US official reportedly described Mr Netanyahu’s video as unhelpful and potentially exacerbating the situation in his upcoming address to Congress. Another top-level American official confessed to uncertainty regarding the content of Mr Netanhyahu’s speech to Congress.
Given the escalating tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, Canadian troops were allocated to plan for the evacuation of its citizens from Lebanon. Also, this past weekend, Kuwait instructed its citizens residing in Lebanon to depart immediately.
Contradicting claims in a British Daily Telegraph article, Lebanon’s labour and transport minister Mostafa Bayram, denied allegations on Sunday that Israel could strike Beirut’s Rafiq Hariri international airport. Whistleblowers in Lebanon had warned that Hizbullah was stockpiling large amounts of Iranian artillery including ballistic missiles, rockets, anti-tank guided missiles and explosives at the site.