Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that, today, Friday, the Israeli occupation forces expanded their incursion into the city of Rafah (south) and Jabalia camp (north) in the Gaza Strip, while the occupation mechanisms continue to besiege shelter centers for displaced people in Beit Hanoun, north of the Strip.
This comes as intense Israeli bombardment continues in various parts of the Gaza Strip, leaving dozens of martyrs and injured.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent said that the occupation forces intensified their firing, coinciding with the expansion of their incursion into the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, and the occupation forces advancing to the entrance to Beit Hanoun continued to besiege shelter centers and prevent residents and displaced people from leaving.
The Israeli army’s operations in Jabalia continue for the sixth day in a row, while its raids target areas of the Jabalia camp since the early hours of dawn.
The reporter added that the continuous artillery shelling targets the Bir Al-Naja area, the Al-Qasasib neighborhood, the Al-Faluga area, and the vicinity of Kamal Adwan Hospital.
The Israeli army said that its forces are continuing their operations in Jabalia, north of Gaza, and that they have eliminated more than 150 militants.
The army statement added that it destroyed several missile launchers, and that dozens of them were found, some of which were long-range. However, the spokesman for the occupation army, Daniel Hagari, spoke of the presence of what he called “major operational pressure” in the Jabalia area.
In Rafah, the occupation is still launching raids on various areas of the city, south of the Gaza Strip, while Israeli artillery continues to bombard areas east and center of the city.
The occupation army indicated that the forces of the 162nd Division continued their fighting east of the city, and attacked military targets belonging to the Hamas movement, with support from the Air Force.
The Israeli army also said that its forces east of Rafah were able, through reconnaissance drones, to discover and destroy missile platforms that were ready to launch long-range missiles towards Israel.
The bombing does not stop
Meanwhile, Tel Aviv Tribune’s correspondent reported that there were martyrs and wounded as a result of an Israeli occupation raid that targeted Al-Jaouni School, which houses displaced people in the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, at dawn today.
The reporter added that civil defense teams are continuing their work to recover the bodies of the martyrs and transfer the wounded to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah to receive treatment.
In the south, an Tel Aviv Tribune correspondent said that 5 people were martyred when occupation aircraft targeted a house for the Kaware family, east of the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Yunis.
In turn, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced that the Israeli occupation committed 4 massacres in the last 24 hours, leaving 39 martyrs and 64 wounded.
Thus, the number of war victims since the seventh of last October rose to 35,272 martyrs and 79,205 injured.
Decisive battle
In a related context, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Rafah battle is a decisive battle.
While attending a military air show near an area close to the Gaza Strip today, Netanyahu said, “The battle in Rafah will decide many matters, not only the rest of their brigades, but also their tunnels for escape and other supplies.”
For his part, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant said that more forces will be sent to the ground operation in Rafah.
He added, in a speech from the border with Gaza, that the army destroyed a number of tunnels in the region, and that the resources of the Hamas movement were being closed successively, according to him.
Netanyahu and members of his government have been threatening for months to launch an attack on Rafah, considering it necessary to achieve the goal of “eliminating” the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), despite international warnings, including the American ones, which were warning of the consequences of this attack on the lives of civilians.
The United States shows its opposition to a “broad” Israeli military operation in Rafah, under the pretext of protecting civilians there, but it continues to support Tel Aviv in its devastating war on the Gaza Strip, even though the largest percentage of casualties are civilians, including Rafah itself.
Early this month, the Israeli occupation forces took control of the Rafah crossing, which connects the Gaza Strip with Egypt. According to the United Nations, about 630,000 people have fled Rafah since the beginning of the Israeli attack on the city.
