Israeli tanks advanced farther into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday under intense air and ground fire, according to locals and Hamas media, as forces crossed a vital highway on the southern edges of Rafah. Tanks were attempting to move forward through Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight refugee camps. Locals alleged that clusters of buildings had been demolished by air attacks and that tank shells landed in the middle of the camp.
Numerous airstrikes on the camp overnight resulted in multiple fatalities and injuries, according to locals and medical personnel. Despite reports of casualties, medics stated that the intensity of the Israeli shelling has prevented them from sending teams to some of the devastated regions. Health officials in Palestine said that they had found 20 dead and several injured Palestinians from the airstrikes that occurred overnight on Jabalia.
Israel intensified air and ground bombardments on the eastern parts of Rafah, close to the Egyptian border. According to locals, Israeli tanks have blocked the Salahuddin Road, which splits the city in two, leaving the eastern portion of Rafah as a “ghost town”. Residents in Rafah’s southeast reported seeing Israeli forces and tanks amid intense combat.
The American ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, hinted a day earlier that Washington was still comfortable with the extent of the Rafah incursion. Lew alluded to US President Joe Biden’s revelation to CNN last week that an Israeli bomb shipment was placed on hold as a cautionary tale not to “go into Rafah”. Lew told Israel’s Channel 12 TV, “The president was clear in the interview he gave the other evening that what Israel has done so far hasn’t crossed over into the area where our disagreements lie,” without going into detail about what that area includes. “I’m hoping we don’t end up with real disagreement,” he added.
(With inputs from Reuters)
