Israeli forces step up bombardment across Gaza amid fierce fighting
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on a house in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on June 20.
PHOTO: REUTERS
CAIRO – Israeli forces pounded Rafah and other areas across the Gaza Strip on June 21 as exchanges of fire and threats over the Lebanon border raised fears of a wider war.
Residents said the Israelis appeared to be trying to complete their capture of Rafah, the city on the enclave’s southern edge that has been the focus of an Israeli assault since early May.
Tanks were forcing their way into the western and northern parts of the city, having already captured the east, south and centre. Israeli forces fired from planes, tanks and ships off the coast, forcing a new wave of displacement from the city, which has been sheltering more than a million displaced people, most of whom have been forced to flee again.
Palestinian health officials said at least 12 Palestinians were killed in separate Israeli military strikes on June 21.
The Israeli military said its forces were conducting “precise, intelligence-based” actions in Rafah, where troops were involved in close-quarters combat and had located tunnels used by militants. It also reported actions elsewhere in the enclave.
Some Rafah residents said the pace of the Israeli raid has accelerated in the past two days. They said sounds of explosions and gunfire indicating fierce fighting have been almost non-stop.
“Last night was one of the worst nights in western Rafah. Drones, planes, tanks and naval boats bombarded the area. We feel the occupation is trying to complete the control of the city,” 54-year-old Hatem said via text message.
“They are taking heavy strikes from the resistance fighters, which may be slowing them down.”
More than eight months into the war in Gaza, Israel’s advance is now focused on the last two areas its forces have yet to storm: Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge and the area surrounding Deir al-Balah in the centre.
“The entire city of Rafah is an area of Israeli military operations,” Mr Ahmed Al-Sofi, Mayor of Rafah, said in a statement carried by Hamas media.
“The city is living through a humanitarian catastrophe,
Mr Sofi said there was no medical facility functioning in the city, and that remaining residents and displaced families lacked food and water.
On June 16, Israel had said it would implement a daily “tactical pause of military activity” in a southern Gaza corridor to facilitate aid delivery.
But Dr Richard Peeperkorn of the World Health Organisation said: “We did not see an impact on the humanitarian supplies coming in.”
Palestinian and UN figures show that fewer than 100,000 people may have remained in the far western side of the city, which had been sheltering more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million population before the Israeli assault began in early May.
The military accused Hamas of using Palestinian civilians as human shields, an allegation Hamas denies.
“The soldiers located inside a civilian residence large quantities of weapons hidden in wardrobes, including grenades, explosives, a launcher and anti-tank missiles, ammunition and arms,” the military said in a statement on June 20.
Hamas’ armed wing said on June 20 its fighters hit two Israeli tanks with anti-tank rockets in the Shaboura camp in Rafah and killed soldiers who had tried to flee through the alleys.
In nearby Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike on June 21 killed three people, including a father and son, medics said.
In a parallel move, Israeli forces continued a new push back into some Gaza City suburbs in the north of the enclave, where they fought with Hamas-led militants. Residents said the army forces destroyed many homes in the heart of Gaza City on June 20.
Later on June 21, an Israeli air strike on a facility in Gaza City killed five municipal workers, the territory’s Civil Emergency Service said. It added that rescue teams were searching the rubble for more missing victims.
Israel’s ground and air campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct 7
The offensive has left Gaza in ruins, killed more than 37,400 people, according to Palestinian health authorities, and left nearly the entire population homeless and destitute. REUTERS
