RELENTLESS PRESSURE
Israeli forces on Tuesday saved up stress on Khan Younis, the primary southern metropolis they’ve been attempting to seize for weeks. Aerial and tank bombardment thundered via the town in a single day, with at the least 14 folks killed by air strikes because the pre-dawn hours, Palestinian residents and medics stated.
Rafah, simply south of it, was additionally hit by air strikes and tank shelling. Two folks have been killed in a strike on a home in Rafah whereas six policemen died after their automotive was hit, Gaza well being officers stated.
Israeli leaders say Rafah is now a bastion of Hamas fight items and vowed final week to push into the city subsequent, alarming worldwide assist businesses who say 1,000,000 displaced civilians can be in hurt’s method, pinned in opposition to the border fence.
One Israeli official informed Reuters efforts have been underway to coordinate any floor assault with Egypt, together with plans to evacuate displaced Palestinians northwards.
Mahmoud Amer and his household had pitched their tent in a cemetery in Rafah, hoping they’d be safer dwelling among the many useless, together with the conflict’s victims in freshly dug graves.
“It is higher than dwelling in residential areas the place the homes might collapse on our heads,” stated Amer. “There isn’t any water, no correct assist coming in. The state of affairs is so unhealthy. The useless are in consolation, whereas we, the dwelling, are in ache.”
