DEIR AL-BALA, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hamas Gaza More than seven months after the start of a massive Israeli air, sea and land offensive, air raid sirens sounded as far away as Tel Aviv on Sunday in a show of Israeli resilience.
It was believed to be the first long-range rocket attack from Gaza since January, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The military wing of Hamas claimed the attack. Palestinian militants have been firing sporadic rockets and mortar shells at communities along the Gaza border, and the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group said late Sunday it had fired rockets at a nearby community.
The Israeli army said eight shells fired from a southern Gaza city had entered Israel. RaphaThe site where Israel launched its latest incursion. The army said “numerous” projectiles had been intercepted, with spokesman Daniel Hagari saying the Rafah launch pad had been destroyed.
Relief trucks entered the Gaza Strip from southern Israel early on Sunday under a new agreement with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah checkpoint earlier this month, but it was not immediately clear whether humanitarian groups would have access to aid supplies because of the fighting.
Egypt has refused to reopen its side of the Rafah crossing until control of the Gaza Strip is returned to the Palestinians. Following a phone call between US President Joe Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt agreed to temporarily allow passage through Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, the main cargo terminal in the Gaza Strip.
But Israeli attacks in Rafah have left the Kerem Shalom checkpoint largely inaccessible, and although Israel says it has allowed hundreds of trucks through, UN agencies say it is generally too dangerous to retrieve aid.
Some 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, a figure that does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. The health ministry said the bodies of 81 people killed in Israeli attacks had been brought to hospitals in the past 24 hours.
About 80 percent of the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million residents have been forced from their homes, severe hunger is widespread, and UN officials say parts of the strip are Experiencing hunger.
Hamas caused the war October 7th attack on IsraelPalestinian armed forces killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Hamas is still holding about 100 hostages and about 30 bodies, even after most of the hostages were released in a ceasefire last year.
Southern Gaza is virtually cut off from aid
Egypt’s state-run Al-Kahera TV aired footage of what appeared to be trucks entering the Gaza Strip through Kerem Shalom. Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in Sinai, which is responsible for delivering aid from the Egyptian side of the Rafah checkpoint, said 200 aid trucks and four fuel trucks were due to be sent to Kerem Shalom on Sunday.
Southern Gaza has been largely cut off from aid since Israel launched a limited incursion into Rafah on May 6. More than one million Palestinians have fled the city since then, most of them from other parts of besieged Gaza.
North Gaza still receives aid through two land routes that Israel opened amid global outrage. Seven aid workers killed in Israeli attack During April.
Dozens of trucks enter Gaza every day through a US-built floating dock, but that capacity is far short of the 150 that authorities had hoped for – aid groups say 600 trucks a day are needed.
Netanyahu resists pressure to end war
Netanyahu said Israel needed to capture Rafah, eliminate any remaining Hamas forces and achieve a “complete victory” against the militants, who have recently regrouped in other parts of Gaza where the army is active.
Netanyahu is under increasing pressure to reach a deal with Hamas to release the remaining hostages, but Hamas has refused to do so without guarantees. End of the War And a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops, something Prime Minister Netanyahu denies.
Thousands of people rallied again in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand the return of the hostages, leading to clashes between police and protesters. They were calling for Netanyahu’s resignation and new elections.
The war will leave Israel increasingly isolated on the world stage.
Last week, three European countries They will recognize a Palestinian stateChief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court An arrest warrant was requested Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant and three Hamas leaders attended.
Friday, International Court of Justice The UN Supreme Court has ordered Israel to halt its military attacks in Rafah and said it must allow war crimes investigators access to Gaza.
Israel is unlikely to comply and has condemned the ICC’s move to seek an arrest warrant. Israel says it makes every effort to avoid harming civilians and blames Hamas for any civilian deaths because the group operates in densely populated areas.
Israel denies reports of captured soldiers
Hamas claimed to have captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in northern Gaza, and released a video late Saturday showing a wounded man being dragged into a tunnel. The Israeli military denied that a soldier had been captured, and Hamas offered no other evidence to support the claim.
In a separate development, the Israeli army said it had detained a suspect after a widely circulated video showed a man dressed as a soldier threatening rebellion, saying tens of thousands of soldiers were ready to defy the defense minister’s proposal that the Palestinians should rule Gaza after the war, and would pledge allegiance only to Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Military spokesman Hagari said the man had been removed from the reserves. The man’s identity has not been released. It is unclear when or where the video was filmed. The prime minister’s son, Yair Netanyahu, shared it on social media, drawing criticism from political opponents. The prime minister’s office issued a short statement condemning all forms of subordination to the military.
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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo.
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