Hamas fired a barrage of rockets from Gaza that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv for the first time in months on Sunday, in a show of resistance more than seven months after the offensive began Israel’s massive air, sea and land forces.
No casualties or damage were immediately reported. following what appears to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January. Since then, Palestinian militants have continued to sporadically fire rockets and mortar shells at communities along the Gaza border.
Hamas’s military wing claimed responsibility for the attack and rocket fire was heard in central Gaza. Israeli military says eight projectiles entered Israel after being launched from the Rafah area, south of Gaza City, where Israeli forces recently launched an incursion. The Israeli military said a number of projectiles were intercepted.
Earlier on Sunday, aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip from southern Israel thanks to a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing point with Egypt, after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian part of the crossing earlier this month. However, it was unclear whether humanitarian groups would be able to access aid due to ongoing fighting in the region.
Egypt refuses to reopen its side of Rafah crossing until control of the Gaza side has been returned to the Palestinians. It agreed to temporarily divert traffic through the Israeli Kerem Shalom crossing, Gaza’s main goods terminal, following a call between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
But this crossing point remained largely inaccessible due to fighting linked to the Israeli offensive in the neighboring town of Rafah. Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks in, but U.N. agencies say it is generally too dangerous to get aid back from the other side.
The war between Israel and Hamas, which is in its eighth month, killed nearly 36,000 Palestiniansaccording to local health authorities controlled by Hamas. About 80% of the 2.3 million residents have fled their homeshunger is widespread and UN officials say parts of the territory are in the grip of famine.
Hamas started the war with its October 7 attack on Israel, during which Palestinian activists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostages. Hamas still holds around a hundred hostages and the remains of around 30 others, most of the others having been released during a ceasefire last year.
Domestic pressure on Netanyahu
Mr. Netanyahu said thatIsrael was to retake Rafah in order to eliminate the last battalions of Hamas and achieve its goal of “total victory” over the militants, who have recently regrouped in other parts of the Gaza Strip where the army had already operated.
Mr. Netanyahu is under growing pressure from the Israeli public to reach a deal with Hamas to release the remaining hostages, which Hamas has refused to do without guaranteeing an end to the war and withdrawal. total Israeli troops. Mr. Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have ruled out the possibility.
Of the Clashes broke out between Israeli police and demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday, after thousands of people gathered to demonstrate against the government and demand the return of the hostages. Protesters demanded Mr Netanyahu’s resignation and new elections.
International pressure is also growing, as the war increasingly isolates Israel on the international stage.
Recognition of the Palestinian state
Last week, three European countries announced that they would recognize a Palestinian stateand the Attorney General of the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants against Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as against three Hamas leaders.
On Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah. The United Nations’ highest court also said Israel must allow war crimes investigators access to Gaza.
Israel is unlikely to comply with these injunctions and he strongly condemned the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants against its leaders. Israel says it goes out of its way to avoid harming civilians and blames their deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in dense residential areas.
Gaza’s health ministry said Sunday that the bodies of 81 people killed by Israeli strikes had been brought to local hospitals in the past 24 hours. This brings the total number of Palestinian deaths to at least 35,984. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and fighters in its tally.
The Israeli government has said 14,000 militants and 16,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, without providing evidence.