Residents and Hamas media reported that on Monday, Israeli tanks advanced deeper into Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, supported by intense air and ground fire. Simultaneously, troops crossed a vital highway on the outskirts of Rafah in the south. The Israeli military declined to comment. But a Palestinian security official and the Hamas-owned Al-Aqsa TV say tanks entered the eastern outskirts of Rafah, coming within 200 meters (yards) of the border crossing with Egypt.
The military says it is preventing Hamas from rebuilding its rocket launchers in the area. The military also stepped up air strikes on the east side of Rafah, killing people in a house in the Brazilian neighborhood and damaging dozens of other buildings. Several other homes were hit in the city center.
In Jabalia, the tanks were trying to advance towards the heart of the camp, the biggest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps, where people are descendants of families driven from towns and villages in what is now Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of the state of Israel. Some 150,000 people live in the Jabalia camp. Residents, who have been forced to flee their homes, told NPR’s Jeremy Hutton that tank shells were landing at the center of the camp and that air strikes had destroyed clusters of houses.
Israeli forces also launched air and ground attacks on the eastern outskirts of Rafah, which is bordering Egypt’s southern Sinai province. The attack caused the Egyptian border to close, severing the main artery into Gaza for food and medicine. It is still sealed, and the U.N. humanitarian office in Gaza warns of an impending famine in parts of the densely populated enclave.
NPR’s Jens Laerke spoke with White House officials on Monday, who reiterated their concerns to the Israelis that a major military operation into Rafah’s heavily populated areas could be catastrophic. He did not disclose their names because he was not authorized to discuss the private meetings.
Hisham Mhanna, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza, told NPR that a significant military operation in Rafah would be “catastrophic.” He said Israel’s assault on the city has trapped thousands of wounded and chronically ill people, and its hospitals have been overwhelmed. “If fuel continues to be cut off for a long period, it would have catastrophic consequences for health and the entire civilian population of Gaza,” he said.
Meanwhile, Israel’s takeover of the European Gaza Hospital, Rafah’s most prominent, has left patients stranded. NPR spoke with emergency doctor James Smith in Rafah, who says some ill and injured patients are being evacuated from the hospital because they fear what might happen next. He said a few smaller hospitals have also begun to evacuate patients preemptively. Those who remain will be “living in absolute misery,” he added. The situation is a setback for the Biden administration, which has been pushing hard to broker a cease-fire and hostage-release deal.
