Fierce combat is under way in eastern Rafah with Hamas fighters ambushing tanks and troops with improvised explosive devices, rockets and sniper fire as Israeli forces push deeper into the city sheltering 1.4 million Palestinians.
A State Department report says Israel’s use of US-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law, but Washington will continue to supply arms to Israel for now.
Israeli tanks seal off Rafah from the south and complete the encirclement of the “red zone”, where Israel’s military has ordered 100,000 displaced Palestinian residents to evacuate as the Israeli war cabinet authorises an expansion of operations in the southern city.
UN Security Council members have called for an independent and comprehensive investigation into mass graves in Gaza where hundreds of bodies – including women, children and the elderly – have been discovered around the Nasser and al-Shifa Hospitals.
At least 34,943 people have been killed and 78,572 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive.
