5/31/2024–|Last updated: 5/31/202406:32 PM (Mecca time)
The Israeli army announced today, Friday, that 5 of its soldiers were injured in the battles in the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours. Its forces also penetrated the center of Rafah in parallel with the announcement of the end of its military operation in the Jabalia camp in the northern Gaza Strip, which lasted 20 days, during which 10 soldiers were killed.
Medical services and civil defense crews recovered the bodies of dozens of martyrs from the neighborhoods of Jabalia Camp, the Beit Lahia Project, and Tal al-Zaatar, after the Israeli occupation forces withdrew this Friday morning from all areas in the northern Gaza Strip, leaving behind massive destruction to citizens’ homes and property, infrastructure, and public facilities.
Gaza Civil Defense spokesman, Mahmoud Basal, said that the occupation destroyed more than a thousand homes during its major military operation that it launched on the Jabalia camp, and also destroyed residential squares, water wells, and schools.
For its part, the Israeli army announced that the 98th Division withdrew from Jabalia after completing its military operations to conduct assessments regarding the next stage. It spoke of the destruction of 10-kilometre-long tunnels and the recovery of the bodies of prisoners from inside them. It also spoke of the destruction of weapons production sites and the killing of hundreds of Palestinian militants.
The occupation army said that its forces would remain in a combat position to organize their ranks and continue the fighting in Gaza later, adding that their forces faced fierce resistance and fought above and below the ground in Jabalia.
For its part, Israeli Army Radio said that 10 soldiers were killed during the operation carried out by the 98th Division in Jabalia over a period of 20 days.
During its incursion into the camp, the occupation forces were subjected to several ambushes, which resulted in the killing and wounding of many of its soldiers.
According to data published by the Israeli army on its website, the announced number of wounded soldiers since the beginning of the war on October 7 reached 3,662, up from 3,657 yesterday.
The occupation army indicated that 35 soldiers are in serious condition, 192 in moderate condition, and 30 in minor condition are currently receiving treatment, while – according to Israeli army data – 644 soldiers and officers have been killed since the beginning of the war on October 7, including 293 in ground battles in the Gaza Strip.
He penetrated into crowded areas in Rafah
In parallel with its withdrawal from the north, the Israeli army continued its incursion into Rafah, and announced on Friday that its forces were carrying out military operations in the center of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, ignoring international warnings and orders from the International Court of Justice to stop the attack immediately.
He said in a statement that the forces of the 162nd Division continue to fight accurately and based on intelligence information in the Rafah area.
He claimed that the Commando Brigade forces operating in the center of Rafah with the Givati Brigade found rocket platforms, tunnel openings, and weapons belonging to Hamas. He also claimed that his forces destroyed a weapons depot used by Hamas, and found in the combat area military equipment, long-range rocket shells, and numerous means of combat, including weapons and launchers. RPGs, explosive devices, protective vests, and ammunition, he said.
The American newspaper The Washington Post reported, based on satellite images, that the Israeli army began an incursion into the most densely populated areas in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.
The newspaper said that the Israeli military operation that began three weeks ago in Rafah radically changed the geography of the city.
She pointed out that the occupation army bulldozed vast areas of land and fields and demolished buildings in the eastern Gaza Strip, and destroyed dozens of buildings in an effort to dismantle Hamas and establish a line of control along the Egyptian border.
The Washington Post noted that Israel’s measures reflect its efforts in other parts of the Gaza Strip to create military buffer zones.
Israel began its ground operation in the city on May 6, which led to the mass exodus of about one million Palestinians outside the city, and to the disruption of United Nations humanitarian operations stationed in the region. However, US President Joe Biden said that Israel had not crossed the “red lines” of a comprehensive invasion of the city, which he urged it not to do.
5 massacres and humanitarian warnings
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip confirmed that the occupation committed five massacres in the Strip during the past 24 hours, during which dozens of martyrs and wounded fell, of whom 60 martyrs and 280 wounded arrived at the Strip’s hospitals.
It confirmed that the number of victims of the Israeli aggression had risen to 36,284 martyrs and 82,000 and 57 injured since last October 7.
The government media office in Gaza warned of the intensification of food, water and medicine crises, and the worsening of famine and thirst, holding the Israeli occupation and the American administration responsible for preventing the entry of aid.
He added, in a statement, that 98% of Gaza’s bakeries had stopped working, due to the lack of cooking gas, which the occupation prevents from bringing into the Strip.
The statement indicated that more than 700 water wells stopped working, due to targeting and preventing the entry of fuel. This increases the chances of deepening famine and thirst among civilians, especially children and women.
The statement said that with 24 days having passed since the occupation of the Rafah land crossing by the occupation army, and the closure of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the suffering and humanitarian catastrophe are worsening.