By Israeli forces escalated their military strikes on Gaza on Friday, with intense fighting reported in Jabalia in the north and tanks advancing further into Rafah in the south, according to residents and medics.
Medics reported at least five Palestinians were killed in Jabalia when houses were hit, and many others are believed to be trapped under the rubble. The heavy bombardment has made it difficult for rescue teams to reach the area.
In Rafah, a city bordering Egypt, explosions and smoke were seen rising as Israeli tanks pushed further into the eastern district of Jneina. The escalating assault has caused hundreds of thousands of people to flee from what was one of the few remaining places of refuge.
Judges at the U.N.’s top court were scheduled to rule later in the day on South Africa’s request to order Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah and withdraw from Gaza, as part of a broader case accusing Israel of genocide.
The Israeli military launched its assault on Gaza following a Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of 1,200 people and more than 250 hostages being seized, according to Israeli reports. Since then, Gaza health authorities report that Israel’s incursion has killed more than 35,000 people.
The Israeli military announced it had recovered the bodies of three hostages taken into Gaza on October 7. The bodies of Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum, and Orion Hernandez Radoux were found overnight in a joint operation by the army and intelligence services in Jabalia.
Israel has stated that its twin goals in Gaza are to bring back the remaining hostages and to destroy Hamas. “We will not stop fighting for their freedom,” said military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari in a televised statement.
Simultaneous Israeli assaults on the northern and southern edges of Gaza have caused a new exodus of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and cut off main access routes for aid, raising the risk of famine.
Israel had previously claimed it cleared Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, earlier in the war but returned this month to prevent Islamist militants from regrouping. The area has seen intense fighting in recent weeks.
Residents reported on Friday that tanks had destroyed the local market, and bulldozers continued to raze shops and property in Jabalia’s narrow alleys. Hamas’s armed wing claimed its fighters had engaged three tanks in the area.
Tanks also advanced close to the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital, where medics reported Israeli fire had caused the suspension of operations at the last functioning medical facility in the northern Gaza Strip.
Source: Reuters
