Israeli tanks reach Rafah center, hostilities continue - ВВС
Kyiv • UNN
Israeli tanks reached the center of Rafah city in the southern Gaza Strip and seized a strategic hill near the border with Egypt, effectively controlling the entire Gaza side of the border.
According to eyewitness reports, Israeli ground troops reached the center of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip and seized a strategically important hill. This UNN writes with reference to ВВС.
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Eyewitnesses and local journalists report that Israeli tanks reached the Al-Awda traffic circle, which is considered a key landmark in Rafah. The traffic circle, located 800 meters from the Egyptian border, is home to major banks, government offices, businesses and stores.
Earlier, locals told the BBC that tanks had captured Zorub Hill, located 2.5 kilometers northwest of the Al-Awda traffic circle. The hill is the highest point on the border with Egypt, and its capture means that the entire Gaza side of the border is now effectively under Israeli control. In fact, Israel controls the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land along the border to the sea.
Israeli forces began ground operations against Hamas and infrastructure in eastern Rafah on May 6. Since then, tanks and troops have been gradually advancing into the built-up eastern and central neighborhoods and north along the 13-kilometer border with Egypt. Now they have reached the city center for the first time.
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The Israeli military did not comment on the report, but issued a statement saying that overnight troops operated in the Philadelphia Corridor, conducting operational activities based on intelligence indicating the presence of terrorist targets in the area. It was also reported that troops engaged in close combat with terrorists and located tunnel shafts, weapons and other terrorist infrastructure in the area.
Recall
According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, at least 45 people - more than half of them children, women and elderly people - were killed on Sunday night when an Israeli airstrikecaused a massive fire in a displaced persons camp near a UN logistics base in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood. Hundreds more suffered severe burns, fractures and shrapnel wounds.
The Israeli military said two senior Hamas officials were the target of the attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there had been a tragic incident and promised a thorough investigation.
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