Israel's attack on the southern Gaza city of Rafah expanded from airstrikes to ground operations, new satellite images obtained by CNN from Planet Labs showed.
The images, which bear a striking resemblance to the early stages of Israel's ground invasion of Gaza last year, show that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are active outside the border crossing area between Egypt and Gaza, which Israel took control on Monday (6).
The images, which range from May 5 to 7, suggest that some buildings have been demolished and show what appear to be staging areas for IDF vehicles. Some of the Israeli forces penetrated more than a mile into the Palestinian enclave from the Rafah crossing gate, the footage also revealed.
These ground operations follow a series of airstrikes in Rafah that completely destroyed several buildings in the past 24 hours and killed at least four people, according to a local hospital. Satellite images suggest these attacks are continuing, with one image showing smoke still rising from one coalition.
People can be seen running through the streets of Rafah after an attack on Wednesday in other images obtained by CNN . Several carried children in their arms, some apparently bleeding and unconscious, towards Al Kuwaiti hospital.
Images from CNN they also showed panicked children arriving in ambulances without their parents and an unresponsive child with a bandaged arm being carried on a stretcher. Two body bags were also visible outside the hospital.
Four people were killed and around two dozen injured by Israeli airstrikes in the Tal Al Sultan neighborhood of western Rafah on Wednesday, the hospital said.
A CNN contacted the Israeli army for comment.
Telltale signs
Rafah has become the central focus of Israel's war on Gaza, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces increasing pressure from the extreme wing of his coalition to launch a large-scale ground operation in the city to destroy Hamas, while the The more moderate wing called for obtaining a ceasefire agreement for hostages to be prioritized.
During nearly seven months of war, more than 1 million Palestinians fled to Rafah, where Hamas is believed to have regrouped following Israel's destruction of much of the north of the strip.
Gaza residents began fleeing the densely populated city on Monday after the Israeli army issued a call for people to leave immediately.
In satellite images, some areas in Rafah show the characteristic signs of having been bulldozed by bulldozers and other heavy machinery – vehicle tracks and large swathes of disturbed earth.
The new operations shown by the satellite images are reminiscent of the initial ground invasion of Gaza in October 2023, and elsewhere in the enclave since then: When the IDF moved into northern Gaza, it carried out a series of airstrikes shortly before sending ground troops.
Once IDF ground forces advanced, armored bulldozers worked in conjunction with tanks and other military vehicles to demolish and destroy buildings.
The IDF said in a statement on Wednesday that it was conducting a “precise anti-terrorism operation in specific areas of eastern Rafah” that included “targeted raids”. It also claimed to have “eliminated terrorists and discovered terrorist infrastructure as well as underground wells at several locations in the eastern Rafah area.”
Israeli forces released footage of its 401st Brigade combat team conducting “operational raids on suspicious buildings” near where it said its soldiers had been targeted by Hamas militants.
According to Israel, the operation “eliminated around 30 terrorists and destroyed large amounts of terrorist infrastructure in the region.”
CNN previously confirmed, through hospital sources in Rafah, that at least 35 people have died in the city since Monday night, including seven women and nine children.
More than 34,600 people have been killed in Gaza since October, according to Palestinian authorities in Gaza. Aid agencies have warned Israel against launching a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, saying “any ground operation would mean more suffering and death” for the 1.2 million displaced Palestinians sheltering in and around the city, The Door -spokesman for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Jens Laerke, told journalists in Geneva.
Northern Gaza is already facing “widespread famine” that is spreading rapidly across the Strip, the World Food Program warned over the weekend.
Source: CNN Brasil
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