By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO (Reuters) -Israeli forces battled Palestinian fighters in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday, striking areas in the centre of the coastal enclave where thousands of Palestinians displaced from their homes have been seeking shelter.
Residents in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, said fierce battles raged between Hamas-led fighters and Israeli forces, especially in the centre and in western areas where tanks had advanced in the previous two days.
The armed wings of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas Islamist militant groups said fighters confronted Israeli forces with anti-tank rockets and mortar bombs.
The Israeli military said its soldiers had killed a group of fighters who were moving towards them, and destroyed ammunition, tunnel shafts and infrastructure in Tel al-Sultan, in the eastern part of the city.
A ceasefire effort led by Qatar and Egypt and backed by the United States has so far failed because of disagreements between the combatants, who blame each other for the impasse.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday ordered a delegation charged with negotiating a hostage deal to be dispatched on Thursday, his office said.
Netanyahu held a meeting on Sunday with the delegation and senior members of Israel’s defence establishment, a statement said, without giving the delegation’s destination.
Israeli strikes in the previous 24 hours killed at least 64 and wounded more than 100 others, the local health ministry said. At least 22 were killed by strikes on Sunday, according to the Hamas-run Gaza government media office.
Israeli strikes in areas of central Gaza in the past week have been focused on the Al-Nuseirat camp, where dozens of people have been killed.
“We hear the sounds of explosions in Nuseirat and we see the smoke rising from here in Deir Al-Balah, the last refuge you can say and we are being terrorized by the feeling tanks may roll here,” said Tamer Aburakan, a resident of Gaza City, now displaced in the central area of Deir Al-Balah.
“Where should we go next? The entire Gaza Strip is under fire and we are being hunted like deer in a forest. When is enough? When the war will ever end?” he said via a chat app.
TENSIONS HIGH
Israel vowed to eradicate Hamas after its fighters killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostage in an attack on Oct. 7 last year, according to Israeli tallies. At least 38,983 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory offensive since then, Gaza health authorities say.
Tensions are high in the region, with concerns remaining over a possible spread of violence.
Israeli jets struck Houthi military targets near Yemen’s Hodeidah port on Saturday, a day after a drone launched by the Iranian-backed group hit Tel Aviv, and separate Israeli strikes targeted a depot storing ammunition belonging to Lebanese armed group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, security sources said.
Israel said on Tuesday it had eliminated half the leadership of Hamas’ military wing and killed or captured about 14,000 fighters since the start of the war. Israel says 326 of its soldiers have been killed in Gaza.
Hamas does not release casualty figures and says Israel exaggerates its reports to give the impression of a “fake victory.”
(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch, Editing by Timothy Heritage and Giles Elgood)
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