Israel tanks enter Rafah as attacks intensify in southern Gaza Strip | DW News

well as Israel continues with some of the fiercest fighting in months in Northern Gaza Israeli tanks have reached some residential areas of Rafa in the South hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled the city ahead of a threatened ground offensive Israel's allies have repeatedly warned against a major assault on Rafa but Israeli military forces have stepped up their activity they say they are targeting several Hamas battalions still hold up there Israeli Apache helicopters on route to Gaza smoke Rises overhead as some of the most intense fighting and weeks rages between Hamas militants and the Israeli Defense Forces the IDF says it currently has three divisions deployed across the Gaza Strip in the south of Gaza forces from the 162nd Division continue operations against terrorist targets and amas hotpots in the Rafa area since the beginning of the operation our forces have eliminated about 100 terrorists as the intensity of fighting increases the death toll has skyrocketed as well according to Hamas Le Health officials in Gaza Tuesday was one of the deadliest days in weeks they say more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the war Israel's offensive in and around Rafa has forced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee and continues to draw St criticism from the International Community the Secretary General is appalled by the escalation of military activity in and around Rafa by the Israeli Defense Forces these developments are further impeding humanitarian access and worsening an already dire situation at the same time Hamas militants continue to fire Rockets into Israel the group which has been declared a terrorist organization by the US and EU has published propaganda videos of insurgents attacking Israeli forces from hidden positions and escaping back into tunnels as the fighting continues the key border crossing in Rafa remains shot preventing vital Aid deliveries entering Gaza as it relates to Aid that has been flowing this week we've seen 50 trucks enter uh Gaza on May 12th uh this is uh not nearly enough more needs to be done and it's another example of why uh the Rafa border crossing needs to be open so we can see further sustained uh humanitarian Aid flow into Gaza according to the United Nations over 1 million Palestinians face catastrophic levels of hunger and are on the brink of starvation let's get more of the story now from our correspondent Tanya Kramer she joins us from Jerusalem Tanya what's the latest on Israel's military operations in in Gaza how have its for how far have its forces Advanced into Rafa well what we're hearing from eyewitnesses then Rafa from residents uh in the area saying they're seeing tanks going deeper into the Eastern neighborhoods towards the center of rafar and there's heavy air bombardment uh as well and intense fighting now the Army has said last night that they are actually um targeting our new Northern Central and Southern Gaza simultaneously from the air Land and Sea so that gives you a description how intense the fighting is and there's also Hamas putting out that they are fighting especially in the north and we've also seen more rocket Fire coming out uh from Gaza in recent days now the military had ordered people in the south from the Eastern neighborhoods of rafar in the past uh week or so to leave the area we understand that over 450 50,000 but of course this number is rather fluid and it's an estimate by un agencies are on the Move uh but we are also hearing uh from uh people in the north they also have been asked in other neighborhoods now to evacuate they're also on the move but some say they're trapped because heavy fighting is going on and of course the situation there is very critical uh many of them don't have transport it's very difficult to move when bombardment is going on and of course all of this is happening today uh Palestinians are commemorating uh nakba day it's a national um commemoration of the loss of their Homeland and the um displacement they experienced over 75 years ago during the Arab Israeli War in 1948 that's very much in the collective memory and of course many are reminded when they see uh those pictures of displacement today in Gaza now the UN and the US Tanya are pressuring Israel to reopen the Rafa border Crossing for Aid deliveries by all accounts the humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic what are the Israel is saying about this well we we heard or saw basically a very public spad uh developing uh last night when the Israeli foreign minister Israel Cutz posted a statement saying uh that uh uh Egypt must must be persuaded to reopen uh the rafar Border Crossing to allow humanitarian Aid in also saying the key to prevent a humanitarian crisis now in the hands of Egypt and that prompted a very angry response by the Egyptian foreign minister Sam shukri saying that it is actually uh Israel that uh captured uh the Palestinian side of the crossing ever since it has been uh closed and that it's that and its military operations around that Crossing in southern rafar uh that is preventing uh any Aid from coming in that's another signal of the you know chill in the relations of these two countries in recent days since uh the Israeli military uh took over the Palestinian side of the crossing last Tuesday now what does it mean uh for eight organizations now the Rafa Crossing remains closed this was the crossing where mainly Personnel go go got in like humanitarian uh humanitarian workers but also Palestinians some of them are going out also patients also in a limited number but of course also the aid uh that comes in Via trucks and that has not been happening we understand K Shalom Israel had said it open it but eight agencies are saying they cannot reach it it's uh the AIS because heavy fighting is there it's un safe there some Aid came in uh through the arys crossing that is in the north of the Gaza Strip but as we heard this is by way not enough and of course that is very difficult now with um more injured people and medical staff they saying you know they don't get the supplies to treat them Tanya thank you very much that was our correspondent Tanya Kramer in Jerusalem

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Length: 7min 16sec (436 seconds)

Published: Wed May 15 2024