Despite mounting concern over civilian toll of its war on Hamas, Israel shows no sign of changing course
\n Washington
\nUS National Security Council spokesman\u2019s statement comes as UNSC meets over deadly Sunday strike
\nRafah, Palestinian Territories, May 29, 2024 (AFP)\u2013Israel carried out fresh strikes on Wednesday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where its forces are battling Hamas resistance fighters, after the UN Security Council met to discuss a deadly attack that sparked a global outcry.
\nDespite mounting concern over the civilian toll of its war on Hamas, Israel has shown no sign of changing course, and international efforts aimed at securing a ceasefire remain stalled.
\nAFP journalists in Rafah reported new strikes early Wednesday, hours after witnesses and a Palestinian security source said Israeli tanks had penetrated the heart of the city.
\n\u201cPeople are currently inside their homes because anyone who moves is being shot at by Israeli drones,\u201d resident Abdel Khatib said.
\nUS President Joe Biden has warned Israel against launching a major military operation in Rafah, but his administration insisted Tuesday that Israel had not yet crossed its red lines.
\n\u201cWe have not seen them smash into Rafah,\u201d said the US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
\nA civil defence official in Gaza said an Israeli strike on a displacement camp west of Rafah on Tuesday killed at least 21 people, after a similar strike over the weekend sparked global outrage and prompted the emergency UN Security Council session.
\nIsrael\u2019s army rejected allegations that it had carried out Tuesday\u2019s strike in a designated humanitarian area.
\n\u201cThe (Israel army) did not strike in the humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi,\u201d the army said in a statement, referring to an area that had been designated for displaced people of Rafah to shelter.
\nOn Sunday, an Israeli strike outside Rafah ignited an inferno in a displacement camp, torching makeshift shelters and killing 45 people, according to Palestinian officials. Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the strike a \u201ctragic accident\u201d, while the army said it had targeted a Hamas compound and killed two senior members of the group. The military later said the weapons it had used \u201ccould not\u201d have caused the deadly camp blaze.
\n\u201cOur munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size,\u201d Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli army, said ahead of Tuesday\u2019s emergency UN session on the strike.
\nAlgeria, which called the urgent meeting, said it had presented a draft resolution to Security Council members calling for an end to Israel\u2019s offensive in Rafah and an \u201cimmediate ceasefire,\u201d according to a draft text seen by AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite mounting concern over civilian toll of its war on Hamas, Israel shows no sign of changing course Washington US National Security Council spokesman\u2019s statement comes as UNSC meets over deadly Sunday strike Rafah, Palestinian Territories, May 29, 2024 (AFP)\u2013Israel carried out fresh strikes on Wednesday in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409639,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-409616","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n