al jazeeraAt least 12 people have been reported killed in attacks on Rafah overnight as the Associated Press news agency reports that Israeli tanks have pushed close to Rafah’s border crossing with Egypt.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh says the group has accepted a Gaza ceasefire proposal put forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says the proposal is far from Israel’s demands but that the Israeli government will send a delegation to Cairo for talks. Israel’s war cabinet also decided that its military would continue operations against Rafah, with the army announcing striking targets in the east of the city.
UN agencies and aid groups warn of devastating consequences of any Israeli military assault on Rafah after Israel ordered tens of thousands of Palestinians to evacuate ahead of attacks.
At least 34,735 people have been killed and 78,108 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive.
The Israeli military has killed several Palestinians in separate air attacks across Gaza, the Wafa news agency reports.
An Israeli bomb has struck a house in central Rafah’s administrative district, killing one person and injuring others, Wafa reports. Earlier we reported that at least 12 people were killed in three separate strikes on Rafah, as the Israeli military intensifies its attacks on the city in southern Gaza.
Wafa also reports that three people were killed in an Israeli air attack on a house in the al-Sabra neighbourhood south of Gaza City, while another person was killed when an Israeli bomb struck a house in the al-Shati refugee camp west of Gaza City.
Hamas says it has agreed to an Egyptian-Qatari proposal to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza, but Israel says the deal falls short of its demands.
According to a copy of the proposal that Hamas says it has agreed to, there will be three phases to ending Israel’s war on Gaza.
In phase one, there will be a temporary cessation of hostilities between Hamas and Israel as well as a withdrawal of Israeli forces to the east and the current border region between Israel and the Palestinian territory.
During the same phase, Israeli warplanes and drones would also stop flying over Gaza for 10 hours each day, and for 12 hours on days when captives are to be released.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan has denounced a UN General Assembly draft resolution that would recognise Palestine as qualified to become a full UN member, saying it goes against the organisation’s founding Charter.
“If it is approved, I expect the United States to completely stop funding the UN and its institutions, in accordance with American law,” Erdan said.
US law stipulates that Washington can’t fund any UN body if it grants full membership to any group that lacks “internationally recognised attributes” of statehood.
The resolution, which General Assembly members could vote on this Friday, will serve as a global survey on support for the Palestinian bid.
If passed, the resolution would recommend that the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favorably”, after the US vetoed the Palestinian application for full membership last month.
Any application to become a full member requires approval from all 15 UNSC members and then the General Assembly.
A Palestinian security official and an Egyptian official have told the Associated Press (AP) news agency that Israeli tanks have entered Rafah, reaching to within 200 meters (almost 220 yards) from Rafah’s border crossing with neighbouring Egypt.
The Egyptian official told AP that the operation appeared to be limited in scope. The official, as well as Al-Aqsa TV, said Israeli officials had informed the Egyptians that its forces would withdraw after completing the operation.
The Israeli military declined to comment on the reported tank incursion.
AP said the Egyptian official, located on the Egyptian side of Rafah, and the Palestinian security official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the press.
Mr.BadGuy
Publisher
Mr.BadGuy
Publisher
These soldiers are from a country whose president is a Jew Zelensky. Orthodox churches are also being destroyed in this country. Synagogues are not touched. Surprisingly, it turns out that Jews get along well with the Bandera Nazis.