Rafah bombed. Photo: AFP.
Israel announced Thursday that its military will “intensify” ground operations in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, despite international warnings against a large-scale offensive in a city where hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians sought refuge.
“More troops will enter” Rafah, and “the activity [militar] It is going to intensify,” declared Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
This invasion and its consequences for civilians worry the international community, starting with the United States, Israel’s main ally.
In an attempt to end the war, the Arab League meeting in Bahrain called for the establishment of a UN peacekeeping force in the occupied Palestinian territories until the two-state solution is implemented.
The Israeli army reported that five soldiers were killed by “friendly fire” against a building where they were meeting on Wednesday night in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
More than 80 thousand Palestinians flee Rafah amid Israeli bombings
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The United States announced that its troops finished installing a temporary pier on a beach in Gaza, intended to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid.
“The dock has been successfully placed on Gaza Beach,” said Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command.
Humanitarian aid is expected to “begin to disembark in the coming days,” the US military command for the Middle East (Centcom) indicated on the X social network.
The dock, costing at least $320 million, is part of international efforts to circumvent restrictions on land access to the Gaza Strip imposed by Israel.
The UN estimates that famine threatens most of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people.
