Street battles, Israeli strikes rock Gaza's Rafah

AFP | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia  

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Street fighting and Israeli bombardment rocked Rafah in the Gaza Strip yesterday, residents and officials said, a day after Israeli tanks rolled into the centre of the city near the Egyptian border.

The Israeli army pushed on with its mission to defeat Hamas in the war raging since October 7, despite a global outcry that intensified after a deadly strike set ablaze a crowded camp on Sunday night.

The UN Security Council was set to meet for a second day of emergency talks after that strike ignited a fire that Gaza officials said killed 45 people and injured about 250.

UN chief Antonio Guterres was among the many leaders to voice revulsion at the bloodshed, demanding that "this horror must stop".

Israel's National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said Wednesday the war could go on until the year's end.

"We may have another seven months of fighting to consolidate our success and achieve what we have defined as the destruction of Hamas's power and military capabilities," Hanegbi said.

But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel needed a post-war plan "as quickly as possible".

"In the absence of a plan for the day after, there won't be a day after," he said. Fighting has again flared in Rafah, where an AFP reporter said an Israeli helicopter fired guns and missiles at targets in the city centre.

Hamas's military wing said it was firing rockets at Israeli troops.

AFPTV footage showed Palestinians with bloodied midriffs and bandaged limbs after being wounded in strikes near Khan Yunis, close to Rafah, being taken to the European Hospital on makeshift gurneys.

"The rockets fell directly on us. I was hurled three metres (yards)... I don't know how I managed to get up on my feet," said one who did not give his name.

The army said three soldiers were killed in Rafah on Tuesday, raising to 292 its death toll in the Gaza campaign since the ground offensive started on October 27.

The United States has been among the countries urging Israel to refrain from a fullscale offensive into Rafah, the last Gaza city to see ground fighting, because of the risk to civilians.

However, the White House said Tuesday that so far it had not seen Israel cross President Joe Biden's "red lines", with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying: "We have not seen them smash into Rafah.