CNN
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The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed in a statement on Friday that Israeli troops remain present in central Rafah, despite international concern and outrage over the military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city.
The IDF statement confirmed what witnesses told CNN earlier this week, who said tanks had been spotted in central Rafah for the first time since they entered the city earlier this month.
“Israel Defense Forces forces in central Rafah discovered Hamas rocket launchers, terror tunnels and weapons. Forces also dismantled a Hamas weapons storage facility in the area,” the IDF said in a statement.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday it had established “operational control” of the Philadelphia Corridor, a 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) buffer zone on the Palestinian side of the Egypt-Gaza border.
Palestinian telecommunications company Jawwal said in a statement that access to mobile phone services in Rafah was suspended on Thursday due to continuing Israeli military attacks.
Israel’s invasion of Rafah in early May marked a new phase in the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians and displaced much of the Gaza Strip’s population, according to local health officials, sparking a humanitarian catastrophe that has stunned international organizations.
Israeli airstrikes on a displaced person’s camp in the city over the weekend killed dozens of people, sparking outrage around the world and saying two Hamas leaders were also killed in the strikes.
Footage seen by CNN showed the camp engulfed in flames as dozens of men, women and children desperately tried to hide from the nighttime attack, and charred bodies, including those of children, were pulled from the rubble by rescue workers.
“Tragedy is beyond description,” US Vice President Kamala Harris said of the incident on Tuesday, but neither she nor President Joe Biden said the attack exceeded the limits of US assistance.
In an interview with CNN earlier this month, Biden said he would not allow specific US weapons to be used in a major attack in Rafah.
The IDF’s presence in the center of Rafah was confirmed shortly after the country announced it had ended its operations in east Jabaliya in the northern Gaza Strip.
The army said in a statement that its forces had destroyed more than 10 kilometers (six miles) of tunnels and weapons-making facilities in Operation Jabaliya, which began earlier this month and involved what the IDF described as “heavy fighting and close-quarters combat” with militants.
The statement also said the bodies of seven hostages were recovered during the operation. The hostages were killed on October 7 and their bodies were later transferred to Gaza.
But Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told CNN on Friday that the Israeli military presence had turned Jabaliya into a “disaster zone” and that “entire residential areas” had been destroyed.
“Unfortunately, Jabaliya refugee camp is not suitable for living,” Basar said. “There are no wells, no schools, no hospitals, everything is completely destroyed. There is nothing to support the residents of the area, the houses where many martyrs and residents lived have collapsed and it is not possible to retrieve their bodies from under the rubble.”
Israel resumed fighting in northern Gaza earlier this month, despite announcing in January that it had dismantled Hamas’ command structure in the area.
The renewed fighting highlights the challenges Israel faces in achieving its goal of destroying Hamas, with a senior security official warning this month that the war could drag on into next year.
