Residents say clashes were \u2018fiercest\u2019 in months, Palestinian death toll surpasses 35,000
\nCAIRO
\nIsraeli tanks pushed deeper into Rafah on Tuesday, reaching some residential areas of the southern Gazan border city where more than a million people had sought shelter, and its forces pounded the blockaded Palestinian enclave\u2019s north in some of the fiercest attacks in months.
\nIsrael\u2019s international allies and aid groups have repeatedly warned Israel against a ground incursion into Rafah, where many Palestinians fled and according to Israeli forces, four Hamas freedom fighters are still holed up. Israel claims it must \u2018root out\u2019 the remaining fighters.
\nThe White House said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will visit Israel and Saudi Arabia this weekend. The Biden administration declined to comment on a report by Axios that Israel agreed not to expand its Rafah operation significantly before Sullivan\u2019s visit.
\nA US official who declined to be identified told Reuters that Israel promised not to make a major move in Rafah without advising Washington.
\nIsraeli spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari claimed in a briefing that Israeli forces had killed about 100 freedom fighters, located 10 tunnel routes and found many weapons in Rafah since the start of the operation a week ago.
\nFighting has intensified elsewhere across the besieged Gaza Strip in recent days, including in the north, with the Israeli military returning to areas where it had claimed to have already dismantled Hamas. The clashes on Tuesday were the fiercest in months, residents and militant sources said.
\n\u201cWe are operating with determination in all three parts of the Gaza Strip. Forces from the air, land and sea are simultaneously striking terrorist targets,\u201d Hagari said, referring to the enclave\u2019s north, centre and south.
\nThe Palestinian death toll in the war has now surpassed 35,000, according to Gaza health officials, whose figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters. They said that 82 Palestinians had been killed in the past 24 hours, the highest death toll in a single day in many weeks.
\nFierce gun battles raged late on Tuesday in northern Gaza\u2019s Jabalia, a sprawling refugee camp built for displaced Palestinians 75 years ago. \u201cMany people are being trapped in their houses,\u201d Nasser, 57, a father of six, said by phone.
\nIsrael killed about 80 Hamas freedom fighters and destroyed rocket launchers and weapons manufacturing facilities in the heart of Jabalia on Tuesday, Hagari said. He claimed 13 Israeli soldiers were injured on Tuesday, four seriously. In Gaza City, also in the enclave\u2019s north, an Israeli air strike on a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood killed four people and wounded several others late on Tuesday, medics said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Residents say clashes were \u2018fiercest\u2019 in months, Palestinian death toll surpasses 35,000 CAIRO Israeli tanks pushed deeper into Rafah on Tuesday, reaching some residential areas of the southern Gazan border city where more than a million people had sought shelter, and its forces pounded the blockaded Palestinian enclave\u2019s north in some of the fiercest attacks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":407256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-407228","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n