Israel strikes southern Gaza, vows ‘powerful’ Rafah operation

GAZA STRIP: Israel launched a new wave of deadly strikes on southern Gaza Thursday after vowing to push ahead with a “powerful” operation in the overcrowded city of Rafah despite growing international condemnation.

After more than four months of a war that has flattened vast swathes of Gaza, displaced most of the territory’s population and pushed people to the brink of starvation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted it must press ahead into Rafah for “complete victory”.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven into Gaza’s southernmost city, seeking shelter in a sprawling makeshift encampment near the Egyptian border.

“We were displaced from Gaza City to the south,” said Ahlam Abu Assi. “(Then) they told us to go to Rafah, so we went to Rafah.

“We can’t keep going and coming,” she added. “There is no safe place for us.”

Netanyahu vowed to crush Hamas in response to the militant group’s October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

At least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

“We will fight until complete victory and this includes a powerful action also in Rafah after we allow the civilian population to leave the battle zones,” Netanyahu said in a statement on his official Telegram account.

Australia, Canada and New Zealand were the latest to warn Israel not to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, issuing a joint statement saying it would be “devastating” for the 1.5 million Palestinians trapped there.

“There is simply nowhere else for civilians to go,” they said.

The Israeli army said troops had carried out “targeted raids” in the southern city of Khan Yunis overnight and killed a “number of terrorists”, as well as striking what it said was “underground terrorist infrastructure”.

The Hamas-run health ministry said 107 people, “mostly women and children,” had been killed in the overnight attacks.

In Cairo, efforts to secure a ceasefire entered a third day, with negotiators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt trying to broker a deal that would suspend the fighting and see the release of the roughly 130 hostages still in Gaza, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.