Fierce preventing in northern Gaza as support begins to roll off US-built pier By Reuters

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli forces battled Hamas fighters within the slim alleyways of Jabalia in northern Gaza on Friday in a few of the fiercest engagements since they returned to the world every week in the past, whereas within the south militants attacked tanks massing round Rafah.

Residents mentioned Israeli armour had thrust so far as the market on the coronary heart of Jabalia, the most important of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, and that bulldozers have been demolishing houses and retailers within the path of the advance.

“Tanks and planes are wiping out residential districts and markets, shops, restaurants, everything. It is all happening before the one-eyed world,” Ayman Rajab, a resident of western Jabalia, mentioned through a chat app.

Israel had mentioned its forces cleared Jabalia months earlier within the Gaza struggle, triggered by the lethal Hamas-led assaults on southern Israel on Oct. 7, however mentioned final week it was returning to forestall Islamist militants re-grouping there.

In southern Gaza bordering Egypt, thick smoke rose over Rafah, the place an escalating Israeli assault has despatched a whole lot of hundreds of individuals fleeing from what was one of many few remaining locations of refuge.

“People are terrified and they’re trying to get away,” Jens Laerke, U.N. humanitarian workplace spokesperson, mentioned in Geneva, including that the majority have been following orders to maneuver north in the direction of the coast however that there have been no protected routes or locations.

Because the preventing raged, the U.S. navy mentioned vans began shifting support ashore from a short lived pier, the primary to achieve the besieged enclave by sea in weeks.

The World Meals Programme, which expects meals, water, shelter and medical provides to reach via the floating dock, mentioned the help was transported to its warehouses in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza and instructed companions it was prepared for distribution.

The United Nations earlier reiterated that truck convoys by land – disrupted this month by the assault on Rafah – have been nonetheless essentially the most environment friendly means of getting support in.

“To stave off the horrors of famine, we must use the fastest and most obvious route to reach the people of Gaza – and for that, we need access by land now,” deputy U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq mentioned.

U.S. support was arriving in Cyprus for supply to Gaza through the brand new pier, Washington mentioned.

Hamas demanded an finish to Israel’s siege and accused Washington of complicity with an Israeli coverage of “starvation and blockade”.

The White Home mentioned U.S. nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan would go to Israel on Sunday and stress the necessity for a focused offensive in opposition to Hamas militants reasonably than a full-scale assault on Rafah.

A bunch of U.S. medical employees left the Gaza Strip after getting caught on the hospital the place they have been offering care, the White Home mentioned.

HUMANITARIAN FEARS

The Israel Protection Forces mentioned troops killed greater than 60 militants in Jabalia in current days and situated a weapons warehouse in a “divisional-level offensive”.

A divisional operation would usually contain a number of brigades of hundreds of troops every, making it one of many greatest of the struggle.

“The 7th Brigade’s fire control centre directed dozens of airstrikes, eliminated terrorists and destroyed terrorist infrastructure,” the IDF mentioned.

At the very least 35,303 Palestinians have now been killed, in accordance with figures from the enclave’s well being ministry, whereas support companies have warned repeatedly of widespread starvation and dire shortages of gasoline and medical provides.

Israel says it should seize Rafah to destroy Hamas and make sure the nation’s security. Within the Hamas assault on Oct. 7, 1,200 folks died in Israel and 253 have been taken hostage, in accordance with Israeli tallies. About 128 hostages are nonetheless being held in Gaza.

Israel mentioned on Friday that its forces retrieved the our bodies of three folks killed on the Nova music pageant in Israel on Oct. 7 and brought into Gaza.

In response, Hamas mentioned negotiations have been the one means for Israel to retrieve hostages alive: “The enemy will not get its prisoners except as lifeless corpses or through an honourable exchange deal for our people and our resistance.”

Talks on a ceasefire have been at an deadlock.

‘TRAGIC WAR’

Israeli tanks and warplanes bombarded elements of Rafah on Friday, whereas the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad mentioned they fired anti-tank missiles and mortars at forces massing to the east, southeast and contained in the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

UNRWA, the primary U.N. support company for Palestinians, mentioned greater than 630,000 folks had fled Rafah because the offensive started on Might 6.

“They’re moving to areas where there is no water – we’ve got to truck it in – and people aren’t getting enough food,” Sam Rose, director of planning at UNRWA, instructed Reuters on Friday by phone from Rafah, the place he mentioned it was eerily quiet.

On the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice, or World Courtroom, in The Hague, the place South Africa has accused Israel of violating the Genocide Conference, Israeli Justice Ministry official Gilad Noam defended the operation.

The South African authorized staff, which set out its case for contemporary emergency measures the day past, framed the Israeli navy operation as a part of a genocidal plan geared toward bringing concerning the destruction of the Palestinian folks.