Twenty-one dead after shells hit tent camp, Gaza officials sayIsrael says that, contrary to reports, it did not attack the campIsraeli tanks advance towards the center of Rafah for the first timeThe US reiterates its opposition to a major offensive in Rafah
Earlier, despite an appeal from the International Court of Justice, Israeli tanks advanced for the first time into the heart of Rafah after a night of heavy bombardment, while Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognized a Palestinian state, a move that further damaged Israel's international relations deepened. insulation.
The United States, Israel's closest ally, reiterated its opposition to a major Israeli ground offensive in Rafah but said it did not believe such an operation was underway.
Describing the U.S. vision for what would be a major offensive in Rafah, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters it would “involve large numbers of troops in columns and formations in some sort of coordinated maneuver against multiple targets on the ground.”
“That's a major ground operation,” Kirby said. “We didn't see that.”
Two days after an Israeli airstrike on another camp drew global condemnation, Gaza emergency services said Tuesday that four tank shells hit a group of tents in Al-Mawasi, a coastal strip that Israel has designated as an extended humanitarian zone and where it is targeting civilians. Rafah advised to go there. for safety.
At least 12 of those killed on Tuesday were women, according to medical officials in the militant-run Palestinian enclave of Hamas.
But the Israeli military later said in a statement: “Contrary to reports in recent hours, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) did not strike in the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi.”
Israel told about a million Palestinian civilians displaced by the nearly eight-month war to evacuate to Al-Mawasi when it launched its raid on Rafah in early May. About that many people have fled Rafah since then, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA reported on Tuesday.
In central Rafah, tanks and armored vehicles with machine guns were spotted near the Al-Awda Mosque, a city landmark, witnesses told Reuters on Tuesday. The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in the Rafah area, without commenting on the reported advance toward the city center.
Outrage
International unrest over Israel's three-week Rafah offensive has turned to outrage after an attack on Sunday caused a fire in a tent camp in a western district of the city, killing at least 45 people.
Israel said it targeted two senior Hamas operatives and had no intention of causing civilian casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the harm to civilians occurred when “something unfortunately went tragically wrong.”
World leaders expressed horror at the fire in a designated humanitarian zone of Rafah, where families uprooted by fighting elsewhere had sought shelter, and they urged last week the implementation of a World Court order to halt Israel's attack .
A girl watches as Palestinians travel on foot along with their belongings, fleeing Rafah due to an Israeli military operation, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, May 28, 2024. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled
After a UN Security Council meeting closed on Tuesday over the latest developments in Rafah, Algeria's UN Ambassador Amar Bendjama said the country would propose a draft council resolution to “stop the killings in Rafah”.
The Israeli military said it is investigating the possibility that ammunition stored near a complex targeted in Sunday's airstrike may have ignited and caused the fire.
The Biden administration said Tuesday it was closely monitoring the investigation into Sunday's airstrike. US Vice President Kamala Harris said: “The word tragic does not even begin to describe what happened on Sunday.
But Kirby said there was nothing in Sunday's or Tuesday's incidents that would prompt the United States to end its military aid to Israel.
Palestinians inspect their tents destroyed by the Israeli bombardment (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)
In a further blow to relief efforts, part of the US military's pier off the coast of Gaza broke off, likely due to bad weather, temporarily putting it out of use, two US officials said.
Saudi Arabia – which had been in talks to normalize relations with Israel before the Gaza war broke out – accused Israel on Tuesday of committing “genocide massacres” by targeting Palestinian tents in Rafah, saying Israel held responsible for his actions.
Egypt is again trying to revive talks with Qatar and the US on a ceasefire and the release of Hamas hostages, but efforts are being hampered by the Israeli attack on Rafah, the Cairo state affiliate said Al-Qahera News TV channel Tuesday. , citing a senior official.
A person familiar with the matter said Israel had handed its latest proposal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages to Qatar, and that Qatar would hand it over to Hamas on Tuesday.
Hamas has said talks are pointless unless Israel ends its offensive in Rafah.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, the Gaza Health Ministry says. Israel launched its air and ground war after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Israel says it wants to wipe out the last major intact formations of Hamas fighters hiding in Rafah and rescue hostages it says are being held in the area.