Israeli raids and fighting in Gaza, Washington reiterates its hostility to an assault in Rafah

Incessant Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip have left more than 80 dead in the last 24 hours, Israel said. Tuesday Hamas, à the time when the United States seeks à dissuade Israel from launching a major offensive à Rafah.

In the eighth month of the war triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack on Israeli soil by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, Israelis commemorate the 76th anniversary of the creation of their state after paying tribute to the soldiers fallen in combat.

In the small Palestinian territory besieged and ravaged by bombings and fighting between soldiers and Hamas, the civilian population, displaced several times since the start of war, is once again on the roads trying to find refuge, even though the UN says that “there is no safe place in Gaza”.

< p>In the early hours of Tuesday, witnesses and AFP correspondents reported strikes on different areas of the Gaza Strip, including in Rafah, in the far south of the strip, where nearly of 1.4 million Palestinians, the vast majority of whom are displaced.

Palestinians search through the rubble of a building destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Nusseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on May 13, 2024. © AFP – –

In the last 24 hours, at least 82 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip, bringing the death toll to 35,173, mostly civilians, in the territory in more than seven months of war, the Hamas health ministry said. Palestinian civil defense counted at least eight dead in a bombing of a building in Nousseirat (center).

Heavy fighting is taking place in eastern Rafah, where Israeli troops entered with tanks on May 7 before taking the eponymous crossing point and closing this crucial entrance for humanitarian convoys transporting aid to a population threatened with famine in Gaza according to the UN.

– Nearly 450,000 displaced in Rafah –

The army ordered civilians in this area to leave on May 6, and according to the UN nearly 450,000 were displaced.

Palestinians carrying their belongings flee an area of ​​Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, May 13, 2024 © AFP – –

The bombings also affected the west of Rafah, a town constantly overflown by Israeli aircraft, according to witnesses.

“Shell fire and air raids are continuous. It's very scary. I'm afraid for my children,” Hadil Radwane, 32, displaced from Gaza in western Rafah, told AFP.

< p>“We fled the north of the territory towards Rafah because of the bombings and now the scenario is repeating itself. We have prepared our things to flee again, but we do not know where to go. We have no place to go go and I don't even have a tent,” she said.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, Palestinians were also ordered to leave certain areas after that fighting has resumed in particular in Jabalia and Gaza City, where according to the army Hamas is trying to “reconstitute its military capabilities”.

Men, women and children queue to receive food rations in Deir el-Balah, central Gaza Strip, May 13, 2024 © AFP – –

After the bloody attack on October 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to annihilate Hamas, which took power in Gaza in 2007 and which he considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union.

To do this, he is determined to launch a major operation in Rafah where, according to him, the last battalions of Hamas are entrenched, to the great dismay of the international community concerned about the civilian population.

– “A mistake” –

An Israeli soldier waves a hand aboard a truck near the border with the Gaza Strip, southern Israel, May 13, 2024. © AFP – JACK GUEZ

Israel's first ally, the United States has also called into question the possibility of eliminating, with such an operation, the Palestinian movement.

“We continue to work with Israel on a better way to ensure the defeat of Hamas throughout Gaza, including in Rafah”, rather than “seeing Israel get bogged down in a counter-insurgency campaign that does not “it won't end,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Monday.

According to him, “it would be a mistake to launch a major military operation in the heart of Rafah which would endanger an enormous number of civilians without a clear strategic gain”.

For the Qatar, mediator with the United States and Egypt in negotiations on a truce associated with a release of hostages, Israel's military operation in Rafah has “set back” these talks which are “almost at an impasse” .

Israeli soldiers and mourners attend a ceremony at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, marking Fallen Soldiers' Remembrance Day, May 13, 2024 © AFP – RONALDO SCHEMIDT

The October 7 attack carried out by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza into southern Israel left more than 1,170 dead, mostly civilians, according to an AFP report established from official Israeli data. More than 250 people were kidnapped during the attack and 128 remain captive in Gaza, of whom 36 are believed to have died, according to the army.

In response, Israel launched intense aerial and artillery bombardments followed by a ground offensive which ravaged the Gaza Strip.

– Aid trucks vandalized –

A photo provided by the Israeli military on May 13, 2024 shows soldiers operating in the Gaza Strip, participating in a Memorial Day ceremony in Israel honoring fallen soldiers and victims of attacks © Israeli Army – –

While the delivery of aid to Gaza has been virtually blocked according to the UN since the closure of the Rafah crossing, the Hamas Ministry of Health has affirmed that the healthcare system in the territory was on the verge of “collapse “lack of fuel to operate hospital generators and ambulances.

A truck carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza is parked on the Israeli side of the Israel-West Bank separation barrier, near the village of Shekef, on May 13, 2024, after being vandalized by activists in Israel © AFP – Oren ZIV

Israeli police have opened an investigation after activists in Israel blocked and vandalized at least seven humanitarian aid trucks destined for the Gaza Strip.

< p>“We have hostages in Gaza and no humanitarian aid should be delivered until our hostages have returned home safely,” Hana Giat, one of the activists, told AFP.

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