Palestinian militants fire rockets into Israel, as Israeli tanks advance in Gaza
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A Palestinian man carrying his children passes by buildings that were destroyed in an Israeli strike, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 30, 2024.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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CAIRO/GAZA - The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on July 1, in an apparent show of force as Israeli tanks pressed their advance deeper into Gaza amid fierce fighting, said residents and officials.
The armed wing of Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed ally of Hamas, said its fighters fired rockets towards several Israeli settlements near the fence with Gaza in response to “the crimes of the Zionist enemy against our Palestinian people”.
The volley of around 20 rockets caused no casualties, according to the Israeli military. But it showed that the militants still possess rocket capabilities almost nine months into Israel’s offensive that it says is aimed at neutralising threats against it.
In some parts of Gaza, militants continue to stage attacks on Israeli forces in areas that the army had left months ago.
On July 1, Israeli tanks deepened their incursions into the Shejaia suburb
The Israeli military said it had killed a number of militants in combat in Shejaia on July 1, and found large amounts of weapons there.
Hamas said that in Rafah, its militants lured an Israeli force into a booby-trapped house in the east of the city and then blew it up, causing casualties.
Also in Rafah, the Israeli military said an air strike killed a militant who fired an anti-tank missile at its troops.
Israel has signalled that its operation in Rafah, meant to stamp out Hamas, will soon be concluded. After the intense phase of the war is over, its forces will focus on smaller-scale operations meant to stop Hamas reassembling, officials say.
The war began when Hamas-led fighters burst into southern Israel on Oct 7, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostages, including civilians and soldiers, back into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s air, ground and naval counter-offensive has so far killed nearly 38,000 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and has left the heavily built-up coastal enclave in ruins.
The ministry does not distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, but officials say most of the dead are civilians. Israel has lost 316 soldiers in Gaza and says that at least a third of the Palestinian dead are fighters.
Ceasefire efforts stalled
Arab mediators’ efforts to secure a ceasefire, backed by the United States, have stalled. Hamas says any deal must end the war and bring a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until Hamas, which has governed Gaza since 2007, is eradicated.
The Israeli authorities released 54 Palestinians it had detained during the war, Palestinian border officials said.
Among them was Dr Mohammad Abu Salmiyah
Israel said Hamas had been using the hospital for military purposes. The military has released the hospital’s closed-circuit television footage from Oct 7 showing gunmen and hostages on the premises, and has taken journalists into a tunnel found at the complex.
Hamas has repeatedly denied using hospitals for military purposes. Dr Salmiyah rejected the allegations on July 1 and said detainees had been abused during their detention, including being deprived of food and medicine and that some had died.
“I was subjected to severe torture, my little finger was broken, and I was beaten in the head until blood came out, more than once,” Dr Salmiyah told a press conference at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah.
Israel in May said it was investigating the deaths of Palestinians captured during the war as well as a military-run detention camp where released detainees and rights groups have alleged abuse of inmates.
The military did not immediately comment on Dr Salmiyah’s remarks. REUTERS
