The IDF continues its advance with tanks and troops in Rafah, passing from neighborhood to neighborhood in the eastern part of the southernmost city of the Strip. US sources, quoted by CNN, said they believe he has amassed enough troops to proceed with a large-scale incursion in the coming days even if they are not certain that Israel has made the final decision, an open battleground with American President Joe Biden.
The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterresit was said in the meantime «shocked by the escalation of military activity in and around Rafah: these developments are further hampering humanitarian access and worsening an already dire situation. Civilians must be protected at all times.” Already in recent days the IDF had entered the eastern Jneina district of the city but now – according to witnesses on the spot cited by the international media – it has advanced, reaching the Brazail district and the western part of the Salah a-Din, the long and important artery that runs from the north of the Palestinian enclave to the south.
Witnesses reported Israeli tanks on George Street in Jneina. The army confirmed operations in the crossing area adding that he had “eliminated numerous terrorist cells in close combat”. In the eastern part of the city – explained the military spokesperson – the troops “killed terrorists and identified weapons” while the exodus of displaced people continues: according to UNRWA around 450 thousand Palestinians have already left Rafah. In the ongoing battle, the crossing with Egypt is increasingly the scene of close clashes with the militiamen of Hamas and other Palestinian armed factions.
Fundamental hub for the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the passage continues to remain closed in an exchange of accusations between Israel and Egypt. Cairo, according to the Wall Street Journal, is also considering reducing diplomatic relations with the Jewish state by recalling the ambassador to Tel Aviv back home, while Foreign Minister Israel Katz went on the attack, claiming that it is necessary to “convince the Egypt to reopen the crossing to allow the continued delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.” Words contested by the head of Egyptian Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, who responded by claiming that the Jewish State “distorts the facts: it is he who is responsible for the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip”.
On the 221st day of the war and on the anniversary of Independence Day in Israel, the battle reignites also in the center and, above all, in the north of the Strip where Hamas is attempting to reorganize itself. According to the Islamic faction, 36 Palestinians were killed in two separate Israeli night air attacks in the Nuseirat refugee camp, in the center of the Strip. In the first raid, according to Hamas, “a building that housed at least 100 displaced people” was hit. The IDF gave its version: in a “targeted action, a commanders' war room inside an UNRWA school, used for terrorist purposes”. In northern Gaza – where during the night the army expanded the operation already underway in Jabalya against Hamas – the IDF asked Palestinians from other neighborhoods, Al Karama, Salatin and Al Zuhor, to evacuate from their homes.