US says Israel assures it Rafah operations will be ‘limited’
White House national security spokesman John Kirby tells reporters during a news briefing that Israel has informed the US that its operations in Rafah will be focused on blocking weapons and financial support from being smuggled into Gaza.
The US has warned Israel against an assault on Rafah, which humanitarian groups say would have cataclysmic results for the hundreds of thousands of displaced people originally instructed by Israel to relocate there, but Washington has given few signs that it would dampen its support for Israel’s war if such an assault moves forward.
‘They have gone crazy’: Intense tank fire on Rafah
Rafah residents report heavy tank shelling in the evening in some areas of eastern Rafah.
“They have gone crazy. Tanks are firing shells, and smoke bombs cover the skies and with smoke over al-Salam and Jnaina neighbourhoods,” said Emad Joudat, 55, a Gaza City resident displaced in Rafah.
“I am now seriously thinking of heading north, maybe to the central Gaza area. If they move farther into Rafah, it will be the mother of massacres.”
About 1.4 million people have been crammed into tent cities and makeshift shelters and are suffering from shortages of food, water, medicine and other essentials.
Israel bombs Rafah municipal building
Al Jazeera’s correspondent reports that Israeli army artillery fire has hit the headquarters of the local government in Rafah, as it steps up strikes on the southern Gaza city.
Israeli settlers attack aid convoy on way to Erez crossing
Jordan says Israeli settlers have attacked a humanitarian aid convoy on its way to Erez crossing in northern Gaza and “tampered with its contents” in the second such incident in less than a week.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Sufyan Qudah said the convoy, which drove through the Israeli-occupied West Bank from Jordan, later managed to continue its journey and reach its destination in war-devastated Gaza.
“Jordan holds Israel responsible for the attack by extremist settlers … it constitutes a breach of its legal obligations as an occupying power,” Qudah said.
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