The incursion comes after Hamas said it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated cease-fire proposal. Israel insisted the deal did not meet its core demands.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Monday, May 6, 2024.
Pro-Palestinian protestors stand on Massachusetts Avenue near a student encampment on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after a 2:30pm deadline passed to leave the encampment, Monday May 6, 2024, in Cambridge, Mass. Israel’s military says its forces are in “operational control” of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, pressing their offensive into the southern city on Tuesday as cease-fire negotiations with Hamas remain precarious.
The war in Gaza has driven around 80% of the territory’s population of 2.3 million from their homes and caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, mosques and schools across several cities. The death toll in Gaza has soared to more than 34,500 people, “One million people cannot vanish into thin air. They need protection. They urgently need further humanitarian assistance,” she added, demanding that ”the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings must be reopened immediately.”. Berlin, however, has gradually shifted its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza. In recent weeks, Baerbock has repeatedly spoken out against a ground offensive in Rafah.
The ministry’s announcement comes hours after Israel began a ground assault on Rafah and ordered the evacuation of eastern areas of the city. The hospital does not fall within the Israeli-designated evacuation zone. “An assault on Rafah would be a strategic mistake, a political calamity, and a humanitarian nightmare,” he said. ”Make no mistake — a full-scale assault on Rafah would be a human catastrophe.”
The Israeli military said its air defenses intercepted one target around Yiftah, while another fell and “a fire broke out at the scene.” Two other objects fell in an open area, while the rest “fell and caused light damage,” the Israeli military said.Hezbollah has been supplied with Iranian bomb-carrying drones and has previously used them to attack Israel.
“Rafah is in the crosshairs,” said Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, at a regular briefing in Geneva. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SAYS ISRAELI STRIKE THAT KILLED 7 AID WORKERS IN MARCH WAS AN ‘UNLAWFUL ATTACK ON CIVILIANS’ Israel at the time of the strike said it had hit a “military compound” and killed a “significant terrorist operative” from the Jamaa Islamiya, or Islamic Group, a Lebanese Sunni political group with an armed wing that has sometimes joined forces with the Shiite Hezbollah militant group as it has clashes with Israeli forces on the border over the past seven months.
The move comes after hours of whiplash in the Israel-Hamas war, with the militant group on Monday saying it accepted an Egyptian-Qatari mediated cease-fire proposal. Israel, meanwhile, insisted the deal did not meet its core demands. The high-stakes diplomatic moves and military brinkmanship left a glimmer of hope alive — but only barely — for an accord that could bring at least a pause in the 7-month-old war that has devastated the Gaza Strip.
The first stage would last 42 days and would involve a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and the release of about 33 hostages held in the territory, including the remaining Israeli women — both civilians and soldiers — as well as children, older adults and people who are ill.
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