Closing summary
It has just gone 5pm in Gaza and Tel Aviv. We will be closing this blog soon, but you can stay up to date on the Guardian’s Israel-Gaza war coverage here and on the Middle East here.
Here is a recap of the latest developments:
Israeli forces have killed about 300 Palestinian gunmen during an operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah launched on 6 May, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Thursday.
Rafah residents reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire on Thursday. On the ground in the Gaza Strip, witnesses reported fighting in central and western Rafah, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). According to the news agency, witnesses also said Israeli forces had demolished several buildings in the city’s eastern areas.
An AFP correspondent reported artillery and gunfire in Gaza City’s southern neighbourhood of Zeitun, in the territory’s north, where witnesses saw thick plumes of smoke rising over Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahia.
Israel is in effective control of Gaza’s entire land border after taking control of a buffer zone along the border with Egypt, Israel’s military has said, a move that risks complicating its relationship with Egypt. In a televised briefing on Wednesday, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had gained “operational” control over the Philadelphi Corridor, using the Israeli military’s code name for the 14km-long corridor along the Gaza Strip’s only border with Egypt.
Egypt has rejected Israel’s claims of smuggling tunnels running beneath the buffer zone. Al-Qahera News reported that Israel was using claims of tunnels under Egypt’s border with Gaza as cover for its Rafah offensive, citing a “high-level Egyptian source”. “There is no truth to Israeli media reports of the existence of tunnels on the Egyptian border with Gaza,” the source told Al-Qahera.
Israel sent messages to Tehran via Egypt that it would “compromise” in Gaza to avert an Iranian response to an attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. It cited the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace force, Amirali Hajizadeh, who also said of Iran’s first ever direct attack on Israel: “We had to use a great number of missiles and drones to get through Israel’s Iron Dome, we used 20% of our military capability in the operation.” Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately give a comment to Thursday’s reports, said Reuters.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the international community to ensure Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are not displaced from their war-ravaged territory. “I … call on the international community to immediately provide for long term humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and to end the Israeli siege,” Sisi said. He also called for the international community to “stop any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land”.
A car ramming attack killed two Israeli soldiers near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said early on Thursday. It identified them as soldiers Eliya Hilel and Diego Shvisha Harsaj, both 20 and members of the Kfir brigade. According to Israeli media, the army has launched a manhunt for the perpetrator of the attack. Hamas welcomed the attack near Nablus, saying in a statement it was a “natural response” against the “crimes of the enemy”.
EU workers staged a silent protest over the continuing attacks on Rafah outside the main institutional buildings in Brussels on Thursday. Some held banners declaring “civil servants demand ceasefire in Gaza” while others called for the end to “EU Israel agreements that don’t respect EU values”. It comes less than a week after 200 staffers wrote to protest against what they believe is an insufficient response by the EU to the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Humanitarian aid for Gaza is continuing to depart Cyprus by sea and will be held in floating storage until a US-built military pier undergoes repairs, a Cypriot spokesperson said on Thursday.
Efforts by Israel’s intelligence agencies to undermine and influence the international criminal court (ICC) could amount to “offences against the administration of justice” and should be investigated by its chief prosecutor, legal experts have said. Responding to revelations about Israeli surveillance and espionage operations against the ICC, multiple leading international law experts said the conduct of Israeli intelligence services could amount to criminal offences.
More than 16,000 people are now living in a Deir Al-Balah school, said the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (Unrwa) on Thursday. “The living conditions are dire, with scarce resources, insufficient sanitation facilities and very limited supplies,” it said.
Israel has not given a response to France on Paris’ proposals to reduce tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, France’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. “We have had a relatively positive response from the Lebanese, but I think we have not had any return from Israel at this point,” French foreign ministry spokesperson, Christophe Lemoine, told reporters in a daily briefing.
Janez Lenarčič, the European commissioner for crisis management, called on Israel to “stop its campaign against Unrwa”. In a post on X, Lenarčič said he called on Israe to “refrain from proceeding with law designating Unrwa as a terrorist organisation” and to “comply with its legal obligation to ensure safety and security of Unrwa staff and premises”.
Chinese president Xi Jinping called on Thursday for a peace conference on the war between Israel and Hamas, as he addressed Arab leaders at a forum aimed at bolstering ties with the region. Xi is this week hosting Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Emirati president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and several other Arab leaders.
The charity, ActionAid described Israeli military pressing on with its ground invasion of Rafah as a “flagrant disregard of the binding ICJ ruling issued on 24 May”. Riham Jafari, communications and advocacy coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said: “The last few days have been utterly harrowing. Our colleagues and partners in Gaza are at a total loss as to what they can do and where they can go, when death surrounds them everywhere they turn and nowhere is safe.”
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Thursday in Tehran, Iran’s Student News Network (SNN) said. SNN said that Assad had expressed condolences over the recent death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Iran has started the registration of candidates for an early election next month after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, Iranian interior minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV. “The vetting process will be seven days and then qualified candidates will have almost two weeks for the election campaign,” said Vahidi.
Hundreds of public servants from across Australia and across state and federal agencies have signed an open letter calling for the federal government to “immediately cease all military exports to Israel”. The letter, signed by more than 300 people, notes a warning from UN experts in February that the transport of weapons or ammunition to Israel to be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law. The warning named Australia as an exporter of weapons to Israel, a claim the government denies.
Updated
The charity, ActionAid has released a statement on Israel’s continued attacks on Rafah, saying that the “Israeli military is pressing on with its ground invasion of Rafah in flagrant disregard of the binding ICJ ruling issued on 24 May, which ordered it to halt its offensive in the city”.
Amjad Al Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network (PNGO), an umbrella organisation of 30 Palestinian NGOs and a partner of ActionAid Palestine, said:
We have these attacks on different areas, [such as] Al Mawasi which was considered as a safe place … This is [a] serious situation. Since the beginning of this war, we didn’t witness such escalation on all levels. It has serious implications on the lives of people who are now in very critical conditions due to the shortage of humanitarian aid.”
Riham Jafari, communications and advocacy coordinator at ActionAid Palestine, said:
The last few days have been utterly harrowing. Our colleagues and partners in Gaza are at a total loss as to what they can do and where they can go, when death surrounds them everywhere they turn and nowhere is safe.
The Israeli military has shown total disregard by ignoring the binding ruling from the UN’s top court and pursuing its deadly invasion of Rafah.
It must be held accountable for the horrific attack there on Sunday night and other atrocities since and pressured to stop its offensive. Words of condemnation are not enough, states must take bold action now.”
Amjad, who ActionAid say fled from Rafah earlier in May, described how a shortage of fuel had led to untreated sewage and uncollected rubbish.
Amjad said:
The untreated sewage channels [are now] between the tents, which is a serious concern for the people who are living in these plastic or cloth tents. It has serious implications on the health situation and we have concerns regarding the contagious diseases.
The fuel effects the water operations to produce water for daily use and for [the] desalination plant to produce drinking water. The number of people increased and the water facilities cannot function well to deal with this big number because of the fuel shortage. It’s an unprecedented catastrophe.”
Speaking on behalf of ActionAid, Jafari said: “Yet again, we call for an end to this nightmare and for a permanent ceasefire now.”
Israel has not given a response to France on Paris’ proposals to reduce tensions between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, France’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, reports Reuters.
Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in escalating daily cross-border strikes over the past months – in parallel with the war in Gaza – and their increasing range and sophistication has raised fears of a wider regional conflict.
According to Reuters, France has historical ties with Lebanon and has proposed written proposals to both sides that would see Hezbollah’s elite unit pull back 10km (6 miles) from the Israeli border, while Israel would halt strikes in southern Lebanon.
France’s foreign minister Stéphane Séjourné went to both Lebanon and Israel in April to push France’s efforts, and Israel’s foreign minister was in Paris earlier this month. Lebanon’s foreign minister was in Paris for talks on Wednesday, reports Reuters.
“We have had a relatively positive response from the Lebanese, but I think we have not had any return from Israel at this point,” French foreign ministry spokesperson, Christophe Lemoine, told reporters in a daily briefing.
According to Reuters, the written proposal also looks at long-term border issues and had been discussed with partners including the US, which has its own efforts to ease tensions and exerts the most influence on Israel.
Israel says about 300 Palestinian gunmen killed in Rafah operation since 6 May
Israeli forces have killed about 300 Palestinian gunmen during an operation in the southern Gazan city of Rafah launched on 6 May, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said on Thursday, reports Reuters.
Reuters has published more details on the report (see 11.08 BST) that Israel sent messages to Tehran via Egypt, saying that it would “compromise” in Gaza to avert an Iranian response to an attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria.
Israel has not confirmed or denied it was responsible for the attack in Syria, and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately give a comment on this latest report, said Reuters.
Citing Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, which quotes the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace force, Reuters report that Amirali Hajizadeh said of Iran’s first ever direct attack on Israel: “We had to use a great number of missiles and drones to get through Israel’s Iron Dome, we used 20% of our military capability in the operation.”
Israel’ military spokesperson, Rear Adm Daniel Hagari, said at the time that Iran had launched dozens of ground-to-ground missiles at Israel, most of them intercepted outside Israeli borders by Israel and its allies. They included more than 10 cruise missiles, he said.
Israel, with the help of key western allies including the US, UK and Jordan, claimed to have intercepted 99% of the launches during the mass strike, but added that some ballistic missiles had reached Israel, damaging the key Nevatim airbase in southern Israel which remained operational.
Updated
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Thursday in Tehran, Iran’s Student News Network (SNN) said.
According to Reuters, SNN said that Assad had expressed condolences over the recent death of Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Updated
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent.
EU workers staged a silent protest over the continuing attacks on Rafah outside the main institutional buildings in Brussels on Thursday.
Some held banners declaring “civil servants demand ceasefire in Gaza” while others called for the end to “EU Israel agreements that don’t respect EU values”.
It comes less than a week after 200 staffers wrote to protest against what they believe is an insufficient response by the EU to the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
NOW: Eu workers in silent protest. Calling for ceasefire in the Middle East outside HQ in Brussels pic.twitter.com/dXNKbJdG2v
— Lisa O'Carroll (@lisaocarroll) May 30, 2024
Israeli campaign against ICC may be ‘crimes against justice’, say legal experts
Efforts by Israel’s intelligence agencies to undermine and influence the international criminal court (ICC) could amount to “offences against the administration of justice” and should be investigated by its chief prosecutor, legal experts have said.
Responding to revelations about Israeli surveillance and espionage operations against the ICC, multiple leading international law experts said the conduct of Israeli intelligence services could amount to criminal offences.
The disclosures about Israel’s nine-year campaign against the court were published on Tuesday as part of a joint investigation by the Guardian, the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call. It details how the country’s intelligence agencies were deployed to surveil, hack, put pressure on, smear and allegedly threaten senior ICC staff.
The ICC’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, last week announced he was seeking arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity for Hamas and Israeli leaders. The decision to seek warrants against Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and defence minister, Yoav Gallant, were the first time an ICC prosecutor had taken action against the leaders of a close western ally.
You can read the full piece by Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem and Harry Davies here:
Janez Lenarčič, the European commissioner for crisis management, has called on Israel to “stop its campaign against UNRWA.”
I call on #Israel to:
— Janez Lenarčič (@JanezLenarcic) May 30, 2024
🔴 stop its campaign against @UNRWA;
🔴 refrain from proceeding with law designating UNRWA as a terrorist organisation;
🔵 comply with its legal obligation to ensure safety and security of UNRWA staff and premises.
2/3 pic.twitter.com/XwGNrkuMuz
Humanitarian aid for Gaza is continuing to depart Cyprus by sea and will be held in floating storage until a U.S.-built military pier undergoes repairs, a Cypriot spokesperson said today, Reuters reported.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its “aerial defense systems intercepted a cruise missile from the east that approached Israel earlier today.”
Our aerial defense systems intercepted a cruise missile from the east that approached Israel earlier today.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 30, 2024
No damage or injuries were reported as a result of this incident. pic.twitter.com/qDV80PmkhD
UNRWA said that that are now over 16,000 people living in a Deir Al-Balah school
“The living conditions are dire, with scarce resources, insufficient sanitation facilities & very limited supplies,” it said.
Over 16,000 people now live in this Deir Al-Balah @UNRWA School. Families are living in classrooms, hallways & makeshift shelters built with plastic.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) May 30, 2024
The living conditions are dire, with scarce resources, insufficient sanitation facilities & very limited supplies. #CeasefireNow pic.twitter.com/G6xFrHZ9Qc
An image depicting refugee tents spelling out the phrase “all eyes on Rafah” has become one of the most-shared pieces of content relating to the Israel-Gaza war, spreading rapidly on social media this week. The graphic, which was generated using artificial intelligence, had been shared on Instagram more than 45m times by Wednesday.
Nick Robins-Early, a journalist based in New York, has written a piece for the Guardian about how the AI-generated image swept across social media. You can read it here:
Israel sent messages to Tehran via Egypt that it would “compromise” in Gaza to avert an Iranian response to an attack on Iran’s embassy in Syria, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
According to Reuters, Tasnim’s report cited the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace force.
Iran launched explosive drones and fired missiles at Israel in April in its first direct attack on Israeli territory, a retaliatory strike for what it said was an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate, in which seven officers of the IRGC were killed.
“Israel sent messages through Egypt’s foreign minister that it will compromise in the war in Gaza to avoid Iran’s retaliation”, Amirali Hajizadeh is reported to have said.
Space technology company, Maxar, collected new satellite imagery yesterday (29 May) from Rafah that shows the aftermath of the recent Israeli airstrike near the large tent camp and a United Nations Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) facility in the Tel al-Sultan area in the western district of the city.
Our pictures team have put together the below slider that shows the two images.
Updated
Australian public servants call on government to ‘cease supplying all military parts and weapons to Israel’
Mostafa Rachwani is a reporter for Guardian Australia.
Hundreds of public servants from across Australia and across state and federal agencies have signed an open letter calling for the federal government to “immediately cease all military exports to Israel”.
The letter, signed by more than 300 people, notes a warning from UN experts in February that the transport of weapons or ammunition to Israel to be used in Gaza is likely to violate international humanitarian law.
The warning named Australia as an exporter of weapons to Israel, a claim the government denies. In February the defence minister, Richard Marles, said there had “no exports of weapons from Australia to Israel and there haven’t been for many, many years”. In November, the foreign minister, Penny Wong, said Australia “has not supplied weapons to Israel since the start of the Hamas-Israeli conflict”.
A majority of those who signed the letter work for federal and state government departments, with others working in local government.
“As public servants whose work is to serve our communities, it is our obligation to voice our deep concern that you are leading Australia to be complicit in an additional genocide, an additional colonial project, staining this nation with more war crimes – even more than it lays claim to already – and, in negligence of the public we serve, these war crimes are again in the service of foreign powers,” the letter states.
You can read the full piece here:
Rafah battles intensify as Israel takes over Gaza-Egypt border strip
Rafah residents reported intense artillery shelling and gunfire on Thursday in Gaza’s far-southern city after Israel said it had seized a strategic corridor on the Palestinian territory’s border with Egypt, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Israel said on Wednesday that its forces had taken “operational control” over the 14-kilometre (8.5-mile) Philadelphi corridor on the Gaza-Egypt border, which it claims was used for weapons smuggling.
Egypt, a longtime mediator in the conflict which has become increasingly vocal in its criticism of the Israeli operation, has rejected claims of smuggling tunnels running beneath the buffer zone.
According to AFP, Egyptian officials have said a potential Israeli takeover of Philadelphi could violate the two countries’ landmark 1979 peace deal, though there has been no official comment from Cairo since the military’s announcement.
On the ground in the Gaza Strip, witnesses reported fighting in central and western Rafah, reports AFP.
According to the news agency, witnesses also said Israeli forces had demolished several buildings in the city’s eastern areas where the Israeli incursion began on 7 May, initially focusing on the vital Rafah border crossing, a key entry point for humanitarian aid.
An AFP correspondent reported artillery and gunfire in Gaza City’s southern neighbourhood of Zeitun, in the territory’s north, where witnesses saw thick plumes of smoke rising over Jabalia refugee camp and Beit Lahia.
Updated
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, hit out at the United Nations on Wednesday, questioning the efficacy of the world intergovernmental organisation in light of its failure to stop fighting in Gaza.
Addressing lawmakers from his ruling AK party, Erdoğan said: “Let alone stopping the genocide, the United Nations could not even protect its own personnel or aid workers.”
He added: “Not only humanity but also the United Nations died along with its spirit in Gaza.”
Erdoğan’s comments came as the UN security council met to discuss a deadly Israeli attack on a displacement camp west of Rafah. Erdoğan has been a vocal critic of Israel’s assault on Gaza.
Iran has started the registration of candidates for an early election next month after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, Iranian interior minister Ahmad Vahidi told state TV, according to Reuters.
Once seen as a possible successor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Raisi’s sudden death has triggered a race among hardliners to influence the selection of Iran’s next leader.
“The vetting process will be seven days and then qualified candidates will have almost two weeks for the election campaign,” Vahidi told state TV. The Guardian Council will publish the list of qualified candidates on 11 June.
Reuters reports that moderate politicians have accused the 12-member hardline Guardian Council of disqualifying rivals to hardline candidates, who are expected to dominate the upcoming presidential race.
Updated
“We came to Khan Younis, a city in the south of Gaza where heavy fighting has taken place over the past few months, and it is all but flattened,” said Yasmina Guerda, humanitarian affairs officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Gaza.
“Now tens of thousands of people have started to come back to see what’s become of their homes, to find their clothes, their photographs, their memories, and to figure out if anything can be salvaged,” Guerda added.
Here are some of the latest images of Khan Younis that reflect Guerda’s comments, via the newswires:
Car ramming attack kills two Israeli soldiers in occupied West Bank, says army
A car ramming attack killed two Israeli soldiers near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said early on Thursday.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports that the army had earlier reported a car ramming attack on Wednesday near an Israeli settlement outside Nablus, without specifying who the victims were.
It later identified them as soldiers Eliya Hilel and Diego Shvisha Harsaj, both 20 and members of the Kfir brigade.
According to Israeli media, the army has launched a manhunt for the perpetrator of the attack.
AFP reports that Hamas welcomed the attack near Nablus, saying in a statement it was a “natural response” against the “crimes of the enemy”.
Egyptian president urges international community to 'stop any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land'
Speaking after Xi, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged the international community to ensure Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are not displaced from their war-ravaged territory, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP)
“I … call on the international community to immediately provide for long term humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip and to end the Israeli siege,” Sisi said.
According to AFP, he also called for the international community to “stop any attempt at forcing Palestinians to forcibly flee their land”.
Sisi’s comments come after the Israeli army said on Wednesday it had gained “operational control” over the strategic Philadelphi corridor (see 07.48 BST) along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt.
“Sisi has a deep sense that Egypt is increasingly backed into a corner and wants every support from major countries he can get,” Ahmed Aboudouh, an associate fellow at London’s Chatham House thinktank, told AFP.
Chinese president Xi Jinping called on Thursday for a peace conference on the war between Israel and Hamas, as he addressed Arab leaders at a forum aimed at bolstering ties with the region, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Xi is this week hosting Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Emirati president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and several other Arab leaders.
Itself an oil producer, China has also long imported crude from the Middle East, where it has sought to expand its influence in recent years.
It has positioned itself as a more neutral actor on the Israel-Palestinian conflict than its rival the US, advocating for a two-state solution while also maintaining good ties with Israel.
Addressing delegates, Xi on Thursday expressed support for a “broad-based” peace conference to resolve the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“The Middle East is a land bestowed with broad prospects for development, but the war is still raging on it,” Xi said, reports AFP. “War should not continue indefinitely. Justice should not be absent forever,” he added.
Analysts say China is seeking to leverage the war in Gaza to boost its standing in the region, framing its efforts to end that conflict against perceived US inaction.
“Beijing sees the ongoing conflict as a golden opportunity to criticise the west’s double standards on the international scene and call for an alternative global order,” Camille Lons, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP.
“When speaking about the war in Gaza, it speaks … to a wider audience, and frames the conflict around the opposition between the west and the global south,” she added.
Updated
Israel in effective control of entire Gaza land border after taking Philadelphi Corridor in south
Israel is in effective control of Gaza’s entire land border after taking control of a buffer zone along the border with Egypt, Israel’s military has said, a move that risks complicating its relationship with Egypt.
In a televised briefing on Wednesday, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had gained “operational” control over the Philadelphi Corridor, using the Israeli military’s code name for the 14km-long corridor along the Gaza Strip’s only border with Egypt.
Hagari did not spell out what “operational” control referred to, but an Israeli military official earlier said there were Israeli “boots on the ground” along parts of the corridor. The border with Egypt along the southern edge was Gaza’s only land border that Israel had not controlled directly.
“The Philadelphi Corridor served as an oxygen line for Hamas, which it regularly used to smuggle weapons into the area of the Gaza Strip,” Hagari said, claiming that troops had “discovered around 20 tunnels” in the area.
Egypt’s state-linked Al-Qahera News reported a “high-level Egyptian source” as saying that Israel was using claims of tunnels under Egypt’s border with Gaza as cover for its Rafah offensive.
“There is no truth to Israeli media reports of the existence of tunnels on the Egyptian border with Gaza,” the source told Al-Qahera, which is linked to state intelligence. “Israel is using these allegations to justify continuing the operation on the Palestinian city of Rafah and prolonging the war for political purposes.”
You can read the full story here:
Opening summary
It has gone 9.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv, welcome to our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.
Israeli forces have taken control of a buffer zone along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the country’s military said on Wednesday, giving Israel effective authority over the Palestinian territory’s entire land border.
In a televised briefing, chief military spokesperson Rear Adm Daniel Hagari said Israeli forces had gained “operational” control over the “Philadelphi Corridor”, using the Israeli military’s code name for the 14km-long corridor along the Gaza Strip’s only border with Egypt.
“The Philadelphi Corridor served as an oxygen line for Hamas, which it regularly used to smuggle weapons into the area of the Gaza Strip,” Hagari said, adding that troops “discovered around 20 tunnels” in the area.
Egypt’s Al-Qahera News reported that Israel was using claims of tunnels under Egypt’s border with Gaza as cover for its Rafah offensive, citing a “high-level Egyptian source”.
“There is no truth to Israeli media reports of the existence of tunnels on the Egyptian border with Gaza,” the source told Al-Qahera.
More on that in a moment, but first here is a summary of other main events.
Bombs used in an Israeli airstrike that caused a huge blaze at a tented area for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday and killed at least 45 people, were made in the US, reported the New York Times. It cited visual evidence and weapons experts, including “key” details in weapon debris and a unique identifier code that linked weapon fragments, seen in a video, to an aerospace manufacturer based in Colorado.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday hit out at the United Nations and called on the “Islamic world” to react after the latest deadly Israeli strikes in Gaza. “The UN cannot even protect its own staff. What are you waiting for to act? The spirit of the United Nations is dead in Gaza,” Erdoğan told lawmakers from his AKP party.
The US state department said that it opposes “threats or intimidation” against members of the international criminal court (ICC) in the wake of the Guardian’s reporting on Israel’s secret “war” of surveillance, hacking and threats aimed at sabotaging The Hague’s Israel and Palestine investigation.
The Biden administration said recent Israeli operations and attacks in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah do not constitute a major ground operation that crosses any US red lines, and that it is also closely monitoring a probe into Sunday’s deadly strike on a tent camp it called “tragic”. Speaking after Israeli tanks were seen near al-Awda mosque, a landmark in central Rafah, national security council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that the US was not turning a “blind eye” to the plight of Palestinian civilians.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said on Wednesday that he expected fighting in Gaza to continue throughout 2024 at least.
In northern Gaza, Israeli tanks shelled several Gaza City neighbourhoods, and forces thrust deeper in Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight biggest historic refugee camps, with residents saying large residential districts were destroyed by the army.
The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said they confronted Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs, as well as blowing up previously planted explosive devices.
The Israeli military said three soldiers had been killed and three others badly wounded in combat in southern Gaza on Wednesday, without elaborating. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan radio said the soldiers were hurt by an explosive device set off in a building in Rafah.
A car ramming attack killed two Israeli soldiers near the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said early on Thursday. It identified them as soldiers Eliya Hilel and Diego Shvisha Harsaj, both 20 and members of the Kfir brigade. According to Israeli media, the army has launched a manhunt for the perpetrator of the attack.
Updated
