Israeli soldiers trapped in the northern enclave of Gaza for the first time since the Israeli army seized the Gaza border on the July 17th, 2014 Gaza War
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel on Sunday through a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. Humanitarian groups may not be able to access aid due to fighting in the area.
The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing, in what Israel called a limited operation into Rafah, halted the flow of aid into the enclave through that portal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has said the operation was vital to defeat the remaining battalions of Hamas and to destroy its military infrastructure, including tunnels.
The Israeli government has said that 14,000 militants and 16,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, without providing evidence.
Hamas claimed to have captured an Israeli soldier during fighting in northern Gaza and released video late Saturday showing a wounded man being dragged through a tunnel. The Israeli military denied any of its soldiers had been captured, and Hamas did not provide any other evidence to substantiate its claim.
Stormy weather made for a rough landing of a small US military vessel near Ashdod on Saturday. The US Central Command said four of its vessels were affected by rough seas in the Mediterranean, with two of them anchored near the pier off the Gaza coast.
The Hamas–Salt-Like Fireball in the Gaza Strip: Witnesses in Gaza and in the Nearby Border Town
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel must take over Rafah in order to eliminate Hamas’ last remaining battalions and achieve its goal of “total victory” over the militants, who have recently regrouped in other parts of Gaza where the military had already operated.
Netanyahu faces growing pressure from the Israeli public to make a deal with Hamas to free the remaining hostages, something Hamas has refused to do without guarantees for an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Israeli leaders have ruled that out.
The Israeli police clashed with protesters in Tel Aviv on Saturday after they demonstrated against the government and asked for the return of hostages. The protesters demanded Netanyahu’s resignation and new elections.
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor requested an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant last week, after three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state.
On Friday, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to end its military offensive in Rafah. Israel must allow war crimes investigators access to the Gaza strip, according to the top United Nations court.
The order is unlikely to be obeyed by Israel and the court is going to issue arrest warrants for its leaders. In order to avoid harming civilians it makes every effort to do so and blames Hamas as they operate in densely populated areas.
Smith told NPR that people were burned alive in their tents. This is something I have not seen before, and I’ve been back in Gaza six-plus weeks. In recent days in the Gaza Strip and in the border town of Rafah, there have been one of the worst massacres I have ever witnessed.
James Smith said that the injured were treated at a trauma stabilization center in Tal al-Sultan and taken to other field hospitals for further treatment. Many hospitals in Rafah and neighboring cities were ordered to be evacuated and shut down by the Israeli military in the past months.
“At around 6:30 p.m. yesterday, I heard a huge noise. I heard an explosion, it sounded like an earthquake,” he told NPR. “I couldn’t get out of the door so I jumped out of the window and saw injured children… one without a head.”
Israeli military attack on a southern border of Gaza: Israel and the question of security and humanitarian aid in the Gaza-Hamas conflict
The Israeli military said it was targeting a Hamas installation and killed two senior Hamas militants. Dozens of Palestinians hid in a neighborhood called Tal al-Sultan, after the strike caused a fire in an area near Rafah. The area was given the safe zone designation by the Israeli military and humanitarian aid was promised there last week.
Israeli media is reporting that officials say that negotiations are supposed to resume next week. There were some high level discussions in Paris this weekend between the Israeli Mossad’s David Barnea, the U.S. CIA’s William J. Burns and the Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahma al-Thani.
The Egyptian army’s spokesman, Col. Gharib Abdel Hafez, wrote on social media that a member of Egypt’s security forces was killed in the incident near the crossing.
“Several hours ago, a shooting incident took place on the Egyptian border. The incident is being reviewed. The Israeli military said there is a dialogue with the Egyptian side.
Rafah’s population had swollen to more than one million as Gazans displaced from their homes fled to the area earlier in the conflict. The Egyptian authorities are concerned about the influx of refugees into the country. Since then, most people have fled Rafah to areas farther from the Egyptian border.
In order to block the tunnels that run from Gaza into Egypt, Israeli leaders need to control the crossing and buffer zone along Gaza’s southern border.