Israeli forces advance forward into Rafah during a fierce combat night

On Wednesday, amid one of the most intensive bombardments of the southern Gaza city since Israel began its offensive there this month, Israeli tanks moved to the edge of a busy sector in the center of Rafah.

Following Israel’s attack on Rafah, which is located on the southern edge of Gaza, hundreds of thousands of people have left the enclave, which was home to half of its 2.3 million residents. Additionally, it has closed off Gaza’s primary humanitarian entry points, raising concerns of starvation and mass fatalities throughout the world.

Israel claims that in order to eliminate the final battalions of Hamas fighters it believes are taking refuge in the city, it is forced to launch an attack. Since the beginning of the month, its forces have been gradually infiltrating Rafah’s eastern suburbs.

Tanks have reportedly taken up new positions on Wednesday along the southern border fence with Egypt, further west than previously reported by militants and residents. They are currently positioned on the outskirts of the Yibna neighborhood in the heart of Rafah. The combat had been fierce, so they hadn’t yet penetrated the district.

The armed wing of Hamas reported that it had used anti-tank rockets to target two armored military carriers near a border fence gate.

Israeli drones, according to Palestinian residents, were firing into the Yibna area and had begun fire on fishing boats on the Rafah beach over night, setting several of them on fire.

“Israeli fire from drones, helicopters, warplanes, and tanks has not stopped all night,” one Rafah resident claimed, pleading for his identity to be kept secret to preserve his safety.

Using a chat app, he told Reuters, “Tanks made a limited push southeast, still limited but they have advanced under heavy fire all night,”

Regarding Rafah, the Israeli military did not immediately provide an update. In targeted operations in Khan Younis, immediately north of Rafah, and in the northern Gaza Strip, where its troops have returned in a significant operation in an area where they claimed to have decimated Hamas months ago, Israel claimed to have killed several fighters.

Despite international calls for caution, UNRWA, the primary United Nations agency in Gaza, reported on Monday that more than 800,000 people have left Rafah since Israel started attacking the city in early May.

Following a Hamas-led raid on southern Israeli villages on October 7, in which fighters killed 1,200 people and took over 250 captives, Israel began its assault on Gaza. According to Gaza health authorities, Israel’s assault has killed over 35,000 people since then, and many more are thought to be buried beneath the debris.

After carrying out a strike in Khan Younis, the Israeli military claimed to have killed two more militants and Ahmed Yasser Alkara, a prominent Hamas operative.

“Alkara took part in the Oct. 7 massacre in communities in southern Israel and was a significant anti-tank missile operative who carried out attacks on IDF troops during the war,” according to a military statement.
The statement added that five more extremists who had been operating out of a school were also slain.

Seven individuals were murdered in one house in the central Gaza Strip village of Zawayda by an Israeli air attack, according to medical personnel.

Parallel to the Rafah assault, Israeli forces have been waging a ground offensive in Jabalia, the largest of the eight historical refugee camps on Gaza’s northern frontier, for the past two weeks.

Health officials and locals report that the operation, which took place in an area from which Israel withdrew its soldiers after declaring that it had “dismantled” Hamas in January, has demolished entire residential neighborhoods and killed hundreds of people. Israel claims that in order to stop Hamas from relocating there, it was forced to return.