After the negotiations for the release of hostages in Israel resumed on Thursday, the military carried on with ground strikes and artillery fire in the Gaza Strip, where close combat clashes erupted between the southern cities of Rafah and armed Hamas militants.
According to Reuters, local residents in Gaza, who chose to remain anonymous, reported that the Israeli military “is attempting further westward advance and has reached the edge of the densely populated Yibna area.”
One resident shared through a messaging app with Reuters: “We hear explosions and see black smoke rising from the areas where the military has entered. It’s yet another very difficult night.”
This month, Israel simultaneously attacked the northern and southern edges of Gaza, leading to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes.
The Gaza health department, under Hamas control, stated that Israel’s attacks in Gaza have resulted in over 35,000 fatalities, with thousands trapped under rubble.
Israel stated that they had no choice but to strike Rafah to root out the last remaining Hamas militants hiding there.
Israeli Chief Military Spokesperson Major General Daniel Hagari said in a statement: “Hamas in Rafah, Hamas holding our hostages in Rafah, that is why our forces are in Rafah.”
“We are protecting the civilians in Rafah so they do not serve as human shields for Hamas. We urge them to temporarily evacuate to humanitarian areas… So far, we have eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists, exposed numerous tunnels of terror, and destroyed a significant amount of infrastructure.”
Hagari announced during a press conference that the Israeli forces have eliminated around 180 Hamas militants in Rafah, emphasizing the precision of their operations.
The United Nations agency, the Near East Relief Engineering Office, estimated that over 800,000 people have fled Rafah since Israel targeted the city at the beginning of May.
Suze van Meegan, emergency response coordinator for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Gaza, mentioned that many civilians remain trapped in Rafah.
She stated in a release, “Rafah city is now divided into three entirely different worlds: the east, a typical war zone, the middle, a ghost town, and the west, densely crowded with people living in dire conditions.”
Furthermore, the Israeli military intensified its ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip in Jabalia, engaging in urban warfare with factions of Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement, attacking the nearby town of Beit Hanoun. This region was declared as a major operation area by Israel months ago, with the forces having to return to prevent Hamas from regrouping there.
In a statement, the Israeli military indicated that they had begun targeted attacks in Beit Hanoun to “eliminate terrorists, identify and destroy underground and above-ground terror infrastructure.”
It was reported that the Israeli forces killed Hussein Fiad, the Hamas commander of Beit Hanoun, in the underground facilities in Jabalia.
The military announced, “During the entire war, Fiad was responsible for launching a large number of anti-tank missiles into Israeli territory and firing numerous mortar shells toward Israeli communities near the northern Gaza Strip.”
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Interior Ministry announced that senior Hamas security official Diaa Aldeen Al-Shurafa was killed on Thursday morning in an Israeli airstrike in central Gaza.
The Israeli military mentioned that three soldiers died in combat on Wednesday, with a total of 286 soldiers killed since the invasion of Gaza.