Israeli tanks roll into central Rafah and air attacks persist across the city despite global calls to end the carnage.
Israel continued its attack on Rafah, ignoring a draft UN Security Council resolution to “stop the killings” in the southern Gaza city.
Fresh air attacks were reported Wednesday morning in the southernmost city, hours after witnesses and a Palestinian security source said Israeli tanks had penetrated the heart of Rafah.
“People are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by Israeli drones,” said resident Abdel Khatib.
Israeli airstrikes targeted various parts of the city, including the area around Badr camp and the Zurob roundabout in the west of the city, according to the Palestinian Shehab news agency.
A complete shutdown of telecommunications and internet services throughout Rafah is also reported.
“The army now controls the Philadelphia corridor and is advancing deeper into the remaining part of the corridor – towards the western part of the city of Rafah. »
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Hani Mahmoud, reporting from Deir el-Balah, said Israel “continues to round up people from one place to another” amid the attacks.
Previously, while attacking targets in northern and central Gaza, the Israeli army had designated Rafah as a safe zone. This pushed more than half of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents to settle in the city.
Today, nearly a million people are believed to have left Rafah as the Israeli assault prepares. Israel’s allies have warned against an attack on the city, citing the risk of civilian casualties and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
“Those who were told to stay in the al-Mawasi evacuation zone to avoid being bombed find themselves on the move again, seeking refuge elsewhere. But there is no safe place in a war zone. Bombings are taking place everywhere, not only in Rafah, but also in Khan Younis and the rest of the Gaza Strip,” Mahmoud reported.
“The bombings extended to the area around the Kuwaiti hospital, which is completely out of service. All field hospitals in Rafah, except one, are also out of service,” he added.
US President Joe Biden has joined calls for Israel to refrain from launching a major military operation in Rafah. However, his administration insisted Tuesday that Israel had not yet crossed its red lines.
“We did not see them crash into Rafah,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
A Gaza civil defense official said an Israeli strike on a displaced persons camp west of Rafah killed at least 21 people on Tuesday.
The Israeli military has rejected allegations that it carried out Tuesday’s strike in a designated humanitarian area.
“The (Israeli army) did not strike in the Al-Mawasi humanitarian zone,” the army said in a statement, referring to an area that had been designated to house displaced people from Rafah.
“Stop killing”
A similar strike over the weekend that left 45 people dead sparked global outrage and prompted Algeria to convene an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday evening.
The North African state took advantage of the meeting to present a draft resolution calling for an end to the Israeli offensive in Rafah and an “immediate ceasefire”.
The draft refers to last week’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to immediately end its military attack on the city.
The Algerian ambassador to the UN, Amar Bendjama, declared after the meeting of the 15 members of the UN security body on Gaza that the aim of this decision was to “put an end to the killings in Rafah.” Algeria is a member of the council for 2024-25.
The council was scheduled to discuss the issue again Wednesday. Diplomats have suggested a vote could take place within days. However, the United States has vetoed three previous attempts to secure a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.
