Israeli tanks push into Rafah as battle rages in Gaza’s north

Cairo, May 14

Israeli tanks forged deeper into eastern Rafah on Tuesday, reaching some residential districts of the southern border city where more than a million people had been sheltering, raising fears of yet further civilian casualties.

Israel’s international allies and aid groups have repeatedly warned against a ground incursion into refugee-packed Rafah, where Israel says four Hamas battalions are holed up.

Israel has vowed to press on into Rafah even without its allies’ support, saying the operation is necessary to root out remaining Hamas fighters.

“The tanks advanced this morning west of Salahuddin Road into the Brzail and Jneina neighbourhoods. They are in the streets inside the built-up area and there are clashes,” one resident said.

Palestinian residents of western Rafah later said they could see smoke billowing above the eastern neighbourhoods and hear the sound of explosions following an Israeli bombardment of a cluster of houses.

Hamas’s armed wing said it had destroyed an Israeli troop carrier with an Al-Yassin 105 missile in the eastern Al-Salam district, killing some crew members and wounding others. According to Gaza health officials 82 Palestinians were killed in the past 24 hours, the highest death toll in a single day in many weeks. — Reuters

World Court to hold hearings over Rafah

THE HAGUE: The UN’s International Court of Justice will hold hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss new emergency measures sought by South Africa over Israel’s attacks on Rafah during the war in Gaza. The measures form part of an ongoing case South Africa filed at the ICJ in December last year.

Blame game over Crossing closure

• Israel said on Tuesday that it was up to Egypt to reopen the Rafah Crossing and allow humanitarian relief into the Gaza Strip, prompting Cairo to denounce what it described as an attempt to shift the blame for the aid blockage
• The Rafah Crossing is on the border between Egypt and southern Gaza, and a vital route for aid going into the coastal territory
• “The key to preventing a humanitarian crisis in Gaza is now in the hands of Egypt…I have spoken to British and German counterparts to persuade Egypt to reopen the crossing,” Israel’s Foreign Affairs Minister Katz said