On Tuesday, May 14, Israeli tanks ventured deep into residential areas in the eastern part of Rafah, a city located in the southern Gaza Strip bordering Egypt.
Despite repeated warnings from Israel’s international allies and aid organizations not to conduct a ground assault on Rafah, citing it as a gathering place for refugees, Israel claimed that four Hamas camps were hiding there, necessitating the operation to eliminate remaining Hamas combatants.
Palestinian residents reported to Reuters on Tuesday afternoon that they witnessed heavy smoke rising over the eastern part of Rafah and heard explosions from Israeli airstrikes targeting a group of buildings.
The Hamas armed wing, Qassam Brigades, claimed to have destroyed an Israeli armored vehicle with an Al-Yassin 105 missile in the Al-Salam area in the east, resulting in some soldiers killed and others injured.
The Israeli Defense Forces stated in an operational summary that they had eliminated “several armed terrorist groups” in close combat on the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing.
Recent days have seen escalated conflict in the northern regions of Gaza, with Israeli forces reentering areas previously claimed to have obliterated Hamas militants months ago.
In the eastern part of Gaza City, the Israeli Defense Forces reported destroying a Hamas armed group and a missile launch site targeting IDF troops.
Later on Tuesday in Jabalia in northern Gaza, intense gun battles continued, with the IDF claiming to have killed dozens of Hamas fighters and dismantled an explosives network.
The area was originally built as a massive refugee camp for displaced Palestinians 75 years ago.
In Zeitoun, north of Gaza City, the IDF uncovered several tunnel shafts and destroyed multiple rocket launchers. Israeli forces also used bulldozers to demolish extensive housing areas to create a new route for tanks to the eastern outskirts.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric de la Rivière, expressed shock on Tuesday over Israel’s intensified actions in Rafah and its surrounding areas, and Hamas indiscriminately launching rockets there.
He stated, “Civilians in Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza must be respected and protected at all times. There is no safe place left in Gaza.” Guterres reiterated the urgent need for a humanitarian ceasefire.
The UN noted that the conflict not only pushed most of Gaza’s population to the brink of famine but also destroyed medical facilities, with hospitals unable to operate fully due to fuel shortages.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz stressed the importance of convincing Egypt to reopen the Rafah border crossing to allow for the continued entry of international humanitarian aid supplies into Gaza.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry stated in a released statement that it was Israel’s control over the Rafah crossing and military actions in the area that hindered the delivery of aid supplies to Gaza.