Israeli tanks backed by warplanes and drones advanced deeper into the western part of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah on Wednesday, killing eight people, according to Palestinian residents and medics.
Residents said tanks entered five neighborhoods after midnight. According to them, heavy shelling and gunfire hit the tents of displaced families in the Al-Mawasi area, further west of the coastal enclave.
After about eight months of war, there is no sign of a let-up in the fighting, and efforts by international mediators, backed by the United States, have so far failed to persuade Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire.
Israeli forces have devastated much of Gaza and seized most of Palestinian territory, but have not yet achieved their stated goal of wiping out Hamas and freeing Israeli hostages.
Hamas doctors and media said eight Palestinians were killed in Al-Mawasi and that many families fled north in panic. They did not identify the fatal victims and the Israeli military said it was analyzing the report.
According to residents, Israeli army forces blew up several houses in western Rafah, which was home to more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people before last month, when Israel began its ground offensive and forced most of the population to flee. drive north.
Some United Nations and Palestinian figures estimate that fewer than 100,000 people remained in Gaza.
“Another night of horror in Rafah. They opened fire from planes, drones and tanks in the western areas to cover their invasion,” said a Rafah resident, who asked not to be named.
“Bullets and shells fell in the Mawasi area, close to where people were sleeping, killing and injuring many,” he told Reuters via a messaging app.
Israel’s ground and air campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
The offensive left Gaza in ruins, killed more than 37,400 people, according to Palestinian health officials, and left much of the population homeless and without resources.
Source: CNN Brasil
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