Israeli tanks have moved further into the western region of Rafah, causing one of the most severe nights of attacks from the air, land, and sea, provoking numerous families to abandon their homes and tents under the cover of darkness, according to residents on Thursday. Locals reported that Israeli forces proceeded towards Al-Mawasi in Rafah, near the coastline, a location stated as a humanitarian zone in all alerts and charts shared by the Israeli army since the commencement of its Rafah campaign in May.
However, the Israeli military refuted launching any assaults inside the Al-Mawasi humanitarian region in a statement. It claimed their attack was designed to exterminate Hamas’ final intact battle units situated in Rafah, a city which once provided refuge to more than a million individuals before the latest incursion initiated. The majority of these individuals have relocated northwards towards Khan Younis and Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza Strip.
As documented in a statement from the Israeli military, they were persisting with “intelligence-based, targeted operations” on Rafah, indicating that forces had identified weaponry and engaged and neutralised Palestinian gunmen in proximate combat within the preceding day. Over the past 24 hours, the military disclosed striking 45 targets across the Gaza Strip, including military infrastructure, militant groups, rocket launchers and tunnel openings.
Israel has dismissed the notion of peace until Hamas is eliminated, leaving a large part of Gaza in a state of destruction. However, Hamas has shown resilience, with militants reemerging to combat in regions where Israeli forces had earlier claimed victory and subsequently withdrawn. The organisation received the recent US ceasefire proposal positively, albeit with some revisions, restating their viewpoint that any agreement must ensure a cessation of hostilities, a condition Israel continues to resist.
Despite categorising Hamas’s reactions to the new US peace proposal as utter rejection, efforts to establish agreement endure, as signalled by intermediaries Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States. Since the temporary truce in November, numerous attempts to negotiate a ceasefire have stumbled, given Hamas’s insistence on a complete end to the war and comprehensive Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
Hamas ignited the conflict when its fighters launched a surprise attack from Israeli-besieged Gaza into southern Israel on October 7th last year. Interpol reports estimated around 1,200 fatalities from this assault, with over 250 individuals abducted back into Hamas-controlled territory.
The fallout of Israel’s subsequent incursion and aerial assault on Gaza has led to a reported death toll of no less than 37,000 individuals, as per the estimates of the region’s health department. It is believed that many more may be trapped beneath the wreckage, unseen and unaccounted for, a fear which grows with each passing day. The turmoil has caused most of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants to become refugees in their own land. – Reuters