Israel has kept up attacks despite ruling by ICJ on Friday ordering it to stop given high risk of civilian casualties
\n CAIRO
\nIsraeli strikes on a tent camp in an evacuation area west of Rafah killed at least 21 on Tuesday, Gaza health authorities said, and tanks advanced to the centre of the southern Gaza city for the first time after a night of heavy bombardment.
\nTwo days after an Israeli airstrike on another camp stirred global condemnation, Gaza emergency services said four tank shells hit a cluster of tents in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area that Israel had advised civilians in Rafah to move to for safety.
\nAt least 12 of the dead were women, according to medical officials in the Hamas-run Palestinian enclave. An Israeli military spokesperson said: \u201cAs of this time, we are not aware of this incident.\u201d
\nIn central Rafah, tanks and armoured vehicles mounted with machineguns were spotted near Al-Awda mosque, witnesses told Reuters. The Israeli military said its forces continued to operate in the Rafah area, without commenting on reported advances into the city centre.
\nInternational unease over Israel\u2019s three-week-old Rafah offensive has turned to outrage after an attack on Sunday set off a blaze in a tent camp in a western district of the city, killing at least 45 people. Israel said it had targeted Hamas commanders and had not intended to cause civilian casualties.
\nGlobal leaders voiced horror at the fire in a designated \u201chumanitarian zone\u201d of Rafah where families uprooted by fighting elsewhere had sought shelter and urged the implementation of a World Court order last week for a halt to Israel\u2019s assault.
\nTuesday\u2019s attack occurred in an area designated by Israel as an expanded humanitarian zone, to which it had called on civilians in Rafah to evacuate for their own safety when it launched its incursion in early May.
\nIn a diplomatic move purportedly aimed at reining in the violence, Spain, Ireland and Norway were to officially recognise a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
\nThe three countries have said they hope their decision will accelerate efforts towards securing a ceasefire in Israel\u2019s war against Hamas fighters, now in its eighth month, that has reduced much of the densely populated territory to rubble.
\nResidents said Rafah\u2019s Tel Al-Sultan neighbourhood, the scene of Sunday\u2019s night-time strike in which tents and shelters were set ablaze as families settled down to sleep, was still being bombarded.
\n\u201cTank shells are falling everywhere in Tel Al-Sultan. Many families have fled their houses in western Rafah under fire throughout the night,\u201d one resident told Reuters via a chat app.
\nAround one million people\u2013many repeatedly displaced by shifting waves of the war\u2013have fled the Israeli offensive in Rafah since early May, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) reported on Tuesday.
\nA video obtained by Reuters showed families on the move again, carrying their belongings through Rafah\u2019s shattered streets, their weary children trailing behind them.
\n\u201cThere are a lot of attacks, smoke and dust. It is death from God…The (Israelis) are hitting everywhere. We\u2019re tired,\u201d said Moayad Fusaifas, pushing along belongings on two bicycles.
\nIsrael says it\u2019s in combat near Egypt border
\nSince Israel launched its incursion by seizing control of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt three weeks ago, tanks had probed around the outskirts and entered some eastern districts but had not yet rumbled into the city in full force.
\nIn recent days, Israeli tanks have thrust towards western neighbourhoods and taken up positions on the Zurub hilltop in western Rafah. On Tuesday, witnesses reported gunbattles between Israeli troops and Hamas-led fighters in the Zurub area.
\nWitnesses in central Rafah said the Israeli military appeared to have brought in remote-operated armoured vehicles and there was no immediate sign of personnel in or around them. An Israeli military spokesperson had no immediate comment.
\nThe Israeli military said it operated overnight along the Philadelphi Corridor that separates Gaza from Egypt \u201cbased on intelligence indicating the presence of terror targets\u201d.
\nIsraeli troops were engaged in close-quarter combat and were locating tunnel shafts, weapons and resistance infrastructure, it said in a statement.
\nIsrael has kept up attacks despite the ruling by the International Court of Justice on Friday ordering it to stop given the high risk of civilian casualties. Israel has argued that the top UN court\u2019s decision had left it some scope for military action there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel has kept up attacks despite ruling by ICJ on Friday ordering it to stop given high risk of civilian casualties CAIRO Israeli strikes on a tent camp in an evacuation area west of Rafah killed at least 21 on Tuesday, Gaza health authorities said, and tanks advanced to the centre of the southern Gaza […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409423,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-409410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n