Israeli Forces Push Into Rafah as Gaza Cease-Fire Talks Falter
Israel’s military pressed deeper into the outskirts of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, striking what it said were Hamas tunnel shafts, while negotiations between Israel and Hamas about a cease-fire and hostage release hit another impasse.
Israeli forces haven’t yet launched an all-out offensive to take the southernmost city in Gaza, which Israel’s government says it needs to capture to defeat Hamas’s last intact battalions. But in recent days, Israeli forces have moved into areas east of Rafah, including seizing the main border crossing to Egypt, describing the maneuver as a “precise counterterrorism operation.”
Residents described intensive artillery fire in parts of Rafah during the night. A United Nations official said he could hear loud explosions from across the city. “Real thunder shook us all night,” he said.
The latest round of talks in Cairo about halting the fighting and freeing Israeli hostages held by Hamas failed to bridge differences between the Palestinian militant group and Israel. Negotiators are aiming to resume talks early next week in Cairo or Doha, according to Egyptian officials.
Hamas has agreed to possible terms for swapping hostages abducted by the group on Oct. 7 for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, but with conditions attached that Israel rejects, including a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and an end to the Israeli blockade on the enclave.
Humanitarian-aid workers are warning that Israel’s military operation in eastern Rafah risks worsening shortages of aid for two million people across Gaza. Emergency supplies to the strip have relied heavily on access via the border crossings at Rafah and nearby Kerem Shalom, an Israeli community next to the southeast corner of Gaza.
United Nations officials say aid trucks that Israel has let through the latter are unable to move further into Gaza because of the fighting. “We are not able to get to Kerem Shalom for lack of fuel and given the area is an active combat zone,” said Juliette Touma, a spokeswoman for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees.
The Israeli military agency that liaises with aid groups said Friday that Hamas had fired at the Kerem Shalom crossing area. Hamas said its fighters had shelled an Israeli military target at Kerem Shalom with mortars as well as targeting Israeli tanks advancing toward Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed for many weeks to destroy Hamas’s battalions in Rafah, leading to mounting tensions with the U.S., Israel’s crucial ally, which opposes an all-out ground attack on the city.
The White House has repeatedly demanded that Israel move civilians out of harm’s way. More than a million Palestinian civilians have sought shelter in Rafah after fleeing from Israel’s invasion of other parts of Gaza.
The Biden administration this week paused a shipment of bombs to Israel and said it is reviewing other weapons sales, in an effort to make Netanyahu reconsider his plan to take Rafah. Netanyahu responded that Israel will fight on alone if it has to.
The Israeli military told residents in eastern Rafah to evacuate starting on Monday. It didn’t give a deadline for leaving the affected neighborhoods or say when a broader offensive might start, but said an estimated 100,000 people would be affected. Many people have already headed to a stretch of land along the coast west of Rafah where displaced families are mostly living in tents.
“Driving through Rafah, the tension was palpable,” said Nick Maynard, a surgeon for U.K.-based nonprofit group Medical Aid for Palestinians who witnessed the evacuations earlier in the week. “People were walking with all their belongings, some in cars and on donkeys.”
Israel’s military said it killed about 50 militants in eastern Rafah in its latest operation and was searching the area after finding tunnel shafts built by Hamas. Militants have long used the border area with Egypt to smuggle weapons into Gaza, according to Israel.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s invasion of Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities. The number doesn’t distinguish between civilians and militants. Israel’s military says it has killed around 13,000 militants from Hamas and other groups. Some Israeli military officials have said the total estimated death toll could be broadly right.
The invasion of Gaza followed Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, which killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israel.
—Stephen Kalin and Anat Peled contributed to this article.
Write to Chao Deng at [email protected] and Summer Said at [email protected]